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Semi -DIY Fostex FE166E

Postby EWBrown » Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:33 am

Distantly related to the FE103 in a bookshelf:

Bottlehead describes what he calls the "SEXy" speakers, intended to be used wit the "SEX" amp kit (2WPC 6DN7 SET), or any low-powered amp.

Basically install a Fostex FE166E into a sealed a Parts Express 0.25 cubic foot enclosure. (actually, do this twice). Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_08

The only "dog work" is routing out the hole to fit the speaker, which really should be done with a plunge router and a circle jig. The replacement front baffles are inexpensive, so if you goof, it's only about 8 bucks and a few cuss words to try again Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_01
Install two binding posts, wire it up, and throw in a little bit of "stuffing".

Frequency response will be from about 100 Hz to 20 KHz, after initial break-in. A simple BSC line-level network is described, for those who want tofine-tune the response.

If you want / need deper bass response, use these in conjunction wit a 10 inch, approx 100 watt powered subwoofer. I mostly use these without the subs, they're just about perfect, as-is, for most acoustic music.

All the technical details can be found here:

http://www.bottlehead.com/loosep/S.E.Xy%20speakers.html

Picture (from the BH site) with the Dayton powered Subwoofer:

(since I was too doggone lazy to take the photo myself, and now they're down in my NC place)

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/ed B in NH
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Postby Geek » Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:48 pm

So, just what does one do with a pair of Aurasound NS3-198-8A's on hand? Call for a pair of dollar ApexJr. tweeters and go nuts on a little two-way I designed for multimedia use.

The baffle is laminated pine with a 1/8" chatke-kok bezel for the speakers in a design inspired by Chris B. over at DIY.

Finish is 3 simple layers of Minwax hand rubbed. The cab is painted with enamel and sputtered with black laquer.

(dead links deleted)

These two were difficult to cross and the online calc's and spreadsheets were less than helpful. Final values done with a speaker testing setup and FFT:
(dead link deleted)

Cheers!

** edit **

Sorry, webhost died. I will have to find copies of the pics and reupload Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_13
Last edited by Geek on Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Blair » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:04 pm

Here is mine for now. I build about 7-10 pairs a year and give them away to friends.

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Postby WA4SWJ » Thu Nov 22, 2007 8:07 pm

Here's a new set of MTM's I built a couple of weeks ago.

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They sound fantastic. My GSG is especially good with these.

Regards,
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Postby Shannon Parks » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:12 am

Nice MTMs, Ed. How long does the assembly take? Does the cherry finish look as good close up as in the pics? Which tweeter did you get? Sorry for all the questions.... :)
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Postby WA4SWJ » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:49 am

Hi Shannon,

These are ZaphAudio BAMTM's. The mids are Dayton DA175's and the tweeter is a Seas 27TBFCG. They sound very good.

Web site is www.zaphaudio.com

The enclosures are from Parts Express and yes, the finish is beautiful. All I did was route out the front baffle, mount the drivers, build the crossovers and finish the assembly. It took me two days of moderately dedicated work to get them done.

I've built 3 sets of speakers that John designed and they are all great speakers.

Hope you're having a great tube-filled holiday!
Ed Long
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Fonken Floorstander MKII

Postby ecir38 » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:39 pm

Just finished these this week. They are pretty sweet with the 300B G*S*G and a powered sub. Cost was under $200 for my entry level into fullrange.

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http://www.planet10-hifi.com/fonken.html
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Postby soundbrigade » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:03 am

Recently assembled a pair of bookshelf speakers using a 5" TangBand (W5-704S) and the little 28-872 (don't think I got the numbers correct??). The box is 19mm MDF, clad with real leather and the baffle is 16mm oiled walnut (couldn't get any thicker). The heels (5") belongs to my wife.

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Jeschke Voigt Pipes with Sammi 8" drivers

Postby hembrook » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:31 pm

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Postby WA4SWJ » Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:16 pm

Wow! Those speakers look awesome!! Beautiful method of using multiple wood strips for the large boards. How do they sound? (I know that's subjective.)
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Postby hembrook » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:25 pm

WA4SWJ wrote:Wow! Those speakers look awesome!! Beautiful method of using multiple wood strips for the large boards. How do they sound? (I know that's subjective.)


Thanks! I did cheat slightly. They are strip laminated Eucalyptus. They are sold as workplace tops, about 22 Euros a board. The boards are 2200mm long by 500mm wide by 19mm thick. The boards are finger-jointed on the short seams, then strip laminated on the long seams. I used 3 boards for the 2 speakers.

The drivers are Sammi (Korea) 8" full range, 50W rated 8 ohm. They advertise 52.9~12,000 Hz or so. In theory I need a tweeter. They are 96 dB which really rocks the house with my 6A5G GSG.

I have assembled them after glue-up and only partially stuffed (I stuffed the very top during glue-up, as you can see in the pics) and so far I am not happy with them. Certain notes sound swallowed. Places are brilliant, but others are not. Likely I need a tweeter. a 2microfarad cap in series with a 1" cone I have would work fine for a first order 6db crossover at 10k.

I am dubious about the drivers, which likely will find themselves in a 4x8 guitar cabinet soon enough. They were $10 a piece in quantity from a guy who bought a crate of them to make PA cabs, then changed to 10" drivers, and had the 8" as surplus.

I will look into a cheap pair of Pioneer 8" full range as well as Fostex drivers. It may not be the drivers. It may be my stuffing.

We had sun today, so I spent the afternoon in the back yard with a jiggle sander. Last night I used a router to knock the corners off and start sanding. Today I went thru 40(!) (for the seams) 80 then 100 and finally 180 grit before rubbing in (foam brush and hands) a coat of boiled linseed oil.

Tomorrow I will load the cabinets with a sheet of eggcrate right behind the driver and then I will tease out and stuff some fiberfill down to the cone. I'll see what difference that makes.
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Postby SDS-PAGE » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:43 pm

This is the first time that I've heard of Sammi speakers. I went to their website to learn more about the company. Reading in Korean, I see that they are the pioneers of speaker manufacturing in Korea. I thought everything was made by LG, Samsung, and Hyundai. It's cool to see specialized companies such as this at home.
So, are they any good? It's ok, you can be honest. Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_16
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So Far, they sound like PA speakers

Postby hembrook » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:58 am

I got the cabiinets oiled and stuffed this weekend, and 77SeriesIII and I were going to do a taste test with our GSGs (mine with 6A5G and 6B4G, his with 300B) and we had "Technical Difficulties" which rendered this tough.

To me they sound more PA than HiFi

I am thinking of getting some of the 8" Pioneers folks love as well as some Fostexs. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Postby Aler » Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:21 pm

This is my first day here and here is part of my DIY speakers and amps

The Fostex Fe87
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A tangband W4-1054 (good look but bad sound :( )
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And my EL34 S.E., Audio Nirvana 1.3 and Tang Band W4-1052 Monitor experiment
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Postby wiredbecker » Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:19 pm

Just started modifying these $20 AR2s last night with my buddy Zilch.

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Only one of the four crossfiring mids were functional.
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