got burnt on my bargain 3FE22 pair ?

other one the same (huge) dustcap but very messy appplication of adhesive

Is this a legit variation ? If so, whats the response? (my measuring stuff is out of order)


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That dust cap is huge. The cone is usually very deep with a small round paper dust cap made of same material as cone. On 3FE22 there should be a small thin nickel plated neodymium magnet. Does the basket and magnet look like this?

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The box is smaller and has white closed cell polyethylene foam with a cutout for the basket. Box will have an oval Faital Pro sticker with model number.
 
basket, magnet and label are legit. I'd think a dustcap that large would introduce some real problems in the response and act as a mechanical lowpass filter. My eyesignt's not great and didn't notice with the original size Ebay picture (certainly need to pay better attention :( )

The other driver's dustcap cement is smeared on.
 
That doesnt look right at all!

Recently I was burned with cheaper end Monacor SP40, having off centre dustcap (was very wonky) and glue spatter on the cone. Audible THD at very low levels. I got then at something like a quarter of the RRP, due to them being an add on purchase (with a large company we all know)

I returned the defective unit, and was refunded. I bought another unit independently for £11.

Now all is well!
 
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I wonder what a larger than voice coil dustcap was added? It adds a small amount of mass and that may hurt the upper end response. Plastic dome may give smoother overall response though. Were these a bunch of drivers with damaged (dented dustcaps) and they glued a coverup in order to resell them? I have a couple Faital pro's with a dented dustcap.
 
yep - not having X-ray vision, that's my guess for the replacement dustcap reason. - - otherwise even for frequency shaping, it doesn't make much sense. I'll have to measure one and see what it does for FR. (probably takes a big hit on distortion but TrueRTA isn't really good for that metric)

I wrote a note to Faital but don't expect a reply. (The seller says Faital said the mod is "ok".)
 
I couldn't perform THD but did drive ~2.83V sine into the driver at a few points .

The modification in my opinion did more to make it ragged than distort (unless some spot inbetween tones) - it was definitely ear splitting as hearing protection wasn't available other than paper towel pieces (after 3 seconds of ear numbing ~3KHz)

I don't think the resultant driver is as smooth as my stock 4fe32. It might make a pretty good little midrange
in a classic 3 way system.

A mini array of 4 - stock 3FE22 per side with a "FAST" configuration should be good (olther than cost) for a small room
and pretty good dynamics.

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given my intent that a 3" driver is for a uber dynamic low-Z headphone (or with that failing, a littlle "FAST"), this moidified driver is too rough. It might work on a midrange horn but don't know how it would match up to my old tractrix w. 2.5"x2.5" square throat -? Here's a graph I posted a few years back with 4FE32 vs CHN50 driving a rectangular mouth 250Hz tractrix horn.

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here's the modified 3FE22 very loosely coupled to a 250Hz tractrix horn (throat is larger than speaker frame). Reponse is improved but don't think its loud enough for typical front loaded horn system. It probably would work with some direct radiating woofers.

tighter coupling would give more on the low end



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@freddi, have you considered contacting eBay? He said his mod did not affect performance, your listening session and subsequent measurements proved otherwise. Did you use PayPal, they'll get you your money back too, misrepresented item does not work as expected.
 
Sorry for reopening a somewhat old thread, but wanted to provide a bit of closure. I just tried installing a set I bought from the site, and did not like the sound. Searching for info I found this thread, and I realized my speaker was also one of the modified ones with the large dust cap.

Considering I don't have much to loose, I removed the dust cup; lo and behold under it was the normal, small paper dust cap - with a small dent. So looks like someone decided to hide a mostly cosmetic thing (which I could easily address by sucking it out with a small pipe) with a huge and heavy dust cap...

The glue was abundant and hard, removal took a small layer of the paper cone even while using solvent; but I am still better off like that, the speaker now works as it was designed.