Built a bass reflex with Fostex FE166En (not the right enclosure any way)

Naveenbnc

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Hi all,

I know that Bass reflex is "not" recommended for Fostex FE166En.
It is more suitable for back loaded horn type of enclosure. Since that is time taking and laborious, I went ahead and made a bass reflex.
Its like a hit and miss chance i took, and something like a practice for me to build enclosures.

I didn't use any fasteners, and finished with only glue. I found it to be pretty strong with glue alone!!
I had a lot of difficulty in placing the parts perfectly at 90 degree to one another.
And I couldn't buy any barclamps or F clamps in time.

So I bought an aluminum angle and cut it into 4 pieces, and used them for positioning.
Sad thing i realized later is that they are not 90 degree either. :D
They are 89 degree, and slightly bent inwards. So they are not holding the mdf pieces in perfect position.
After trying many ideas, i added a few layers of carpenter tape at the corner, and made them match to 90 degree.

Another thing is, I made the front baffle lying on the floor, and positioned the sides, and the top and bottom, and glued them all at once.
It worked out well, But not easy. I used the aluminum angles for positioning, and tied the whole box with a strong packing wire as hard as i can.
This is not the best approach anyway, and in my next build I will take a different route.

Had to roam around too many shops and places to get basic connectors like speaker spade connectors, etc etc. This killed a lot of time.

However the box turned out better than I expected, and I installed the drivers.
Now how does it play?

Well its too early to judge, since the driver needs some break in time, and the enclosure itself is not the right design for it.
But it is not bad either.
The acoustic guitar & veena kind of instruments are crystal clear and nice.
Vocals are good in some songs and bad in others.
Basically, the initial observation is that the highs are good, and instruments are good.
But certainly unsuitable for bollywood kind of music.

I will allow it to run for a while and after the break in period, if I find it worth building a Back loaded horn, I will give a try.
Other options are to make it a multi way speaker after i understand the strong and week areas of this driver properly.
Till then I will leave it without any painting etc.



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From asking a lot of questions to actually getting your hands dirty......You have come a long way Naveen and I congratulate you for that.

If you can share the driver details, I'll help you with an enclosure design (ported and sealed) that will bring out the best from the driver.
Let us prove to ourselves that Fostex drivers sound as good in sealed as well as ported enclosures and not just in horn loaded ones.

Congrats again!! Good going, keep it up.

Regard,

Ravindra.
 
Dear Ravindra,
Thanks a lot for the encouragement:):) Its like a boost to go ahead further.
Heavy office work and my 2 year old kid is making it hard to allocate time to learn the design principles and software.
I am trying whenever i could find a little time :):)

Great going @Naveenbnc .. From trying different speakers and now DIY.. Great stuff.. I hope to lookup to you some day..
Thanks elangoas...:):) target is to build complete 7.2 speaker package for ht.
Before that, still a lot to learn :)

From asking a lot of questions to actually getting your hands dirty......You have come a long way Naveen and I congratulate you for that.

If you can share the driver details, I'll help you with an enclosure design (ported and sealed) that will bring out the best from the driver.
Let us prove to ourselves that Fostex drivers sound as good in sealed as well as ported enclosures and not just in horn loaded ones.

Congrats again!! Good going, keep it up.

Regard,

Ravindra.
This is the specs sheet I got for this driver. Thanks again Ravindra :)
 

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The DIY full range build was exclusively showcased for Hyderabad HFV members during the mega bookshelf speakers shootout ; the other contenders were audionote AX2, ATC SCM 11, Ascends & Pmc db1i. We cannot forget the smile on our faces, of appreciation the moment DIY speaker was played. They were quite sweet sounding which handled the mids and upper range quite graciously. Though the bass was lacking, but the tonal accuracy was quite intact. This different design might mitigate the issue. Adding a sub in 2.1 config was all that was required to complete the tonal coverage. The pairing with a tube amplifier was very good. All in all it was a Very well executed DIY. All the best wishes for Naveen in the future.
 
Dr.Karthik, thanks a lot for the compliments I tried it in 2.1 with my sub. It was quite good that way. However it has its limitations in handling some specific types of music. Whatever I could observe, It's more suitable for Ilayaraja kind of music. IL give it some run time, and then I'll see if I can make it further better. Your livefeedback is critical though
 
IL give it some run time, and then I'll see if I can make it further better.
Yes don't hurry up with the next build, let it burn in for some time. Have you tried closing the port or positioning it too close to the back wall?
Anyway next meeting will more likely to have OBs
 
Rock n' Roll! I was wondering what's with the plethora of questions....I see that you have crossed over to the other side.
Did you get it cut with a CNC machine? details please. perhaps a video also?
 
Dr.Karthik, thanks a lot for the compliments I tried it in 2.1 with my sub. It was quite good that way. However it has its limitations in handling some specific types of music. Whatever I could observe, It's more suitable for Ilayaraja kind of music. IL give it some run time, and then I'll see if I can make it further better. Your livefeedback is critical though

To my mind and from what i have heard - the best fostex is the Fe126

The Fe166 has more presence

i would suggest to build the cabinet exactly to plan and give it some months of listening and then play around with it..

and you are right - it suits best for certain types of music and it can be a hugely enjoyable speaker for instrumentals, jazz etc... and not for electronica or fast / heavy rock ..

for larger rooms - you need a larger cabinet..

good going on the getting your hands dirty part - may you hit pay dirt soon ;):)

regards
 
To my mind and from what i have heard - the best fostex is the Fe126

The Fe166 has more presence

i would suggest to build the cabinet exactly to plan and give it some months of listening and then play around with it..

and you are right - it suits best for certain types of music and it can be a hugely enjoyable speaker for instrumentals, jazz etc... and not for electronica or fast / heavy rock ..

for larger rooms - you need a larger cabinet..

good going on the getting your hands dirty part - may you hit pay dirt soon ;):)

regards
You are very right !!!
For instrumental and jazz....it's really good. Particularly the demo files of guitar were awesome, and surprisingly detailed. Fast beat and electronic kind of songs are not suitable. Since I can't play it more hours daily, I'm ready to give to our Hyderabad FMs, to use it for some days. :D
 
You are very right !!!
For instrumental and jazz....it's really good. Particularly the demo files of guitar were awesome, and surprisingly detailed. Fast beat and electronic kind of songs are not suitable. Since I can't play it more hours daily, I'm ready to give to our Hyderabad FMs, to use it for some days. :D
That's the spirit.:cool:
 
Rock n' Roll! I was wondering what's with the plethora of questions....I see that you have crossed over to the other side.
Did you get it cut with a CNC machine? details please. perhaps a video also?
Yes....they are cut in a CNC. But it was a huge headache before finding a CNC guy with a reasonable cost.:D:D

Few guys quoted 5,500 to cut half a sheet of mdf. (Including material)

Still it's too much for the job. Both BS are made of a little less than half sheet of mdf.
And I know very well from the beginning, that this driver is not of my type. It's more towards audiophile category.

Sincece 5.5k is too much for CNC, I tried with two local carpenters. And paid them some money, scrapped half sheet of mdf, and wasted 3 days, and lot of efforts. Whatever best we tried, the cuts are 2 to 3mm off !!! Carpenters are saying this is good enough, :D:D and I'm aiming for perfection, and they won't understand why I'm so particular :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Finally I got ready to buy a Bosch wood cutting machine to do it myself. But I have a small kid, and i have dust allergy. I get cold easily with dust.

I kept on searching for CNC guys, and finally I found one, who charged less than 1k. And I couldn't control my excitement. Applied one day leave to office, and got it cut. :p:p
 
Yes....they are cut in a CNC. But it was a huge headache before finding a CNC guy with a reasonable cost.:D:D

Few guys quoted 5,500 to cut half a sheet of mdf. (Including material)

Still it's too much for the job. Both BS are made of a little less than half sheet of mdf.
And I know very well from the beginning, that this driver is not of my type. It's more towards audiophile category.

Sincece 5.5k is too much for CNC, I tried with two local carpenters. And paid them some money, scrapped half sheet of mdf, and wasted 3 days, and lot of efforts. Whatever best we tried, the cuts are 2 to 3mm off !!! Carpenters are saying this is good enough, :D:D and I'm aiming for perfection, and they won't understand why I'm so particular :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Finally I got ready to buy a Bosch wood cutting machine to do it myself. But I have a small kid, and i have dust allergy. I get cold easily with dust.

I kept on searching for CNC guys, and finally I found one, who charged less than 1k. And I couldn't control my excitement. Applied one day leave to office, and got it cut. :p:p

Your energy levels are unmatched, start to finish in less than a week.
 
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