Terry Cain's Abby and the Fostex 166esr

I have a pair of Fostex 166esr on a shelf, part of the to do list. Does anyone have a plan of the Abby cabinet? I am assuming that they are not being produced as a commercial product by Terry's family. I did the search function, and found some discussions, however no actual plan.

Thanks, Joseph
 
Joseph - Dave at Planet10 can pipe in here, but IIRC, Scott Lindgren and he drafted something a few years ago that was along those same lines, but for reasons that currently escape my recollection, I don’t think they were ever published. Beltane, or some such pagan solstice festival name?
 
I have a pair of Fostex 166esr on a shelf, part of the to do list. Does anyone have a plan of the Abby cabinet? I am assuming that they are not being produced as a commercial product by Terry's family. I did the search function, and found some discussions, however no actual plan.

You won't. They were a commercial product, not a DIY offering and as far as I know they died with the company. No plans were ever released.

I seem to remember Terry tried the FE166ES-R in the Abby but not surprisingly it wasn't an ideal match; it's over-damped & that big motor structure also choked the pipe somewhat. You could to a point correct for the former with a high output impedance amplifier or significant series R, the latter is more problematic. That unit really wants a big[ger] horn.
 

GM

Member
Joined 2003
Yeah, with 6.5 ohms series resistance [based on published specs], a ~Vb = Vas, ~Fb = Fs Abby is doable where the Abby appears to be basically the old Lowther club's Voigt Pipe tuned to 50 Hz with an added BSC/supra baffle and modest spiked? base:
Cain & Cain Loudspeakers
Lowther Club Of Norway - The Voigt Pipe

GM

edit: based on a ~2*50/0.42 Qts' mass corner the supra baffle in theory should be ~12.82"/32.56 cm in diameter.
 
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Blumenstein Audio owns Cain & Cain Audio

You won't. They were a commercial product, not a DIY offering and as far as I know they died with the company. No plans were ever released.

I seem to remember Terry tried the FE166ES-R in the Abby but not surprisingly it wasn't an ideal match; it's over-damped & that big motor structure also choked the pipe somewhat. You could to a point correct for the former with a high output impedance amplifier or significant series R, the latter is more problematic. That unit really wants a big[ger] horn.

Hi Scott! As some of you know I was an apprentice of Terry Cain's for four years before he passed away.

Contrary to rumor, I currently own the name and rights to the Cain & Cain product line, as Lovecraft Designs (Jason Flannary) who is long out of business by now, never actually bought the name or licensing.

As a matter of fact, I am currently designing a few reissued Cain & Cain models that will be released as acoustically/electrically updated editions in Birch plywood or Bamboo ply with new driver options in some cases. The first model up for reissue is actually the Walla Walla Wall of sound using the Fostex FE168EZ.

I also now offer an $99 acoustic and internal wire upgrade kit for historic Cain & Cain models that is similar to the Depth of Field kit I offer for older Blumenstein full range speakers.

Back to the question at hand, I actually own the FE166ES-R and love them in a variety of speakers. They were great in the Abby's. As has been mentioned, some modification is necessary to get the magnet to fit. I did not find them overdamped. They worked great in the Abby's but I do prefer a back loaded horn for them.

Cheers!

Clark
 
Contrary to rumor, I currently own the name and rights to the Cain & Cain product line, as Lovecraft Designs (Jason Flannary) who is long out of business by now, never actually bought the name or licensing.

Excellent. Very glad to hear it hasn't entirely gone. I assumed if anyone had any details it would be yourself for obvious reasons, but that the company & its products were now out quietly out to pasture.

As a matter of fact, I am currently designing a few reissued Cain & Cain models... The first model up for reissue is actually the Walla Walla Wall of sound using the Fostex FE168EZ.

Now there's a name from the past. :) That wide-baffle & side-terminus has its advantages if the space is available.

Be nice if you could do an Abby variation at some point, although I imagine the shipping would be a little pricy. Those things helped bring more mainstream attention to wideband drivers 15 years back, which was no bad thing.

Back to the question at hand, I actually own the FE166ES-R and love them in a variety of speakers. They were great in the Abby's. As has been mentioned, some modification is necessary to get the magnet to fit. I did not find them overdamped. They worked great in the Abby's but I do prefer a back loaded horn for them.

Good to know. It was a hazy recollection of Terry's comment (which I've now dug out of my records) that I was thinking of:

Abby cabinet? No, this driver (fe166esr) will benefit from hornloading in a properly sized horn. Not only that, the massive magnet won't fit through Abby's cutout. BTW the magnet/cutout only clears the frame dimension by 3/16", making backcutting and beveling mandatory for enrgy transfer in to the cabinet.

I suspect at the date of writing that though, Terry hadn't actually had chance to try it (or not for long anyway), so presumably was able to experiment a little further.
 
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OK, a few of these old projects remind me of the old Top Gear comment: 'Some say he only knows two facts about ducks, and both of them are wrong', but still interesting. :)

Yeah, I kept JJ's rude/abusive PM rants telling me how wrong/clueless, etc., I was, especially WRT any sort of pipe loading to the point where I should be banned from all things audio related till it became obvious he was no longer active.

GM
 
FE166ES-R in different cabs

Correct, Terry made that comment before he had listened to them in the Abbys. But it did work when I tried it. I personally prefer the FE166En (normal) driver for the abby or the FF165wk driver as an upgrade to the FF165k nearfield version.

I am currently building a custom pair of Gordon Rankin WWWS in Bamboo right now. The FE168EZ is what that enclosure is designed for. I heard the experiment with the 166ES-R in there and indeed it sounded really good.

Cheers!

-Clark
 
Walla Walla Wall of Sound (I assume).
 

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