Floorstanding Speakers with Special Edition Fostex FE203En-S Drivers

[virajsingh]

Hi Guys,

A year ago I bought a pair of Fostex FE203En-S Special edition full range drivers (I understand that only 500 pairs were produced) from Germany (Germany has been good to me; also got my Technics 1210 MKII TT from there). Their spec are as follows:

ES Banana pulp cone with lightweight corrugated cloth surround. The paper cone and damper has a three-point bonding adhesive in conjunction with the voice coil. The three-point bonding method increases the strength of the cone neck. Nickel plated copper magnet circuit treatments on top and bottom plates, with copper ring used to reduce current distortion. Large 180mm diameter low distortion ferrite magnet circuit. Rigid aluminum die cast chassis.

Format: 20cm Full Range (8")
Impedance: 8 ohm
Resonance Frequency (Fs): 43Hz
Frequency Range: F0 to 20kHz
Sensitivity: 99dB @ 1W/1M
Music Power Handling: 100W
Moving Mass (Ms): 12g
Qts: 0.14
Effective Vibration Radius: 8.1cm
Magnet Weight: 1,836g (4.04 pounds)

I had them for 3-4 months sitting in boxes as I was too lazy to attempt getting the recommended back loaded horn made for them. Subsequently I was able to buy very solidly built cabinets for Fostex FE208EZ sigma from fellow Delhi based HFV member (Cybervinay; btw he too has a pair of these full range drivers).

Ever since then I have had my drivers in these cabinets and I am really liking the full and rich sound I get from the speakers with the speakers playing very high into the upper frequencies. And I also find the bass more than adequate. They are fast and dynamic and I don't think the horn is muddying the bass. With my 8 Watt SET amp I just have to play them at 8/9 o'clock to fill in the room with all the music and I have never gone beyond 12 o'clock (at that level i could have my entire complex listening to my rock albums). Each speaker I guess must be weighing over 50 kgs.

I however have a couple of question and would be grateful for more knowledgeable forum members to enlighten me.

(a) Do you think it would have made considerable difference if i had actually mounted my drivers in cabinets suggested by Fostex? I believe that the cabinet really works on the bass end of the music. The FE203En-s cabinet details maybe see here (http://www.madisound.com/pdf/FE203En-S_CabPlan.pdf) and the details of Fostex recommended cabinets for FE208EZ sigma maybe seen here (http://www.madisound.com/pdf/fostexcabs/208ez_enclrev.pdf)

(b) You would notice in spec sheet of FE203En-S that there are 3 graphs of freq. response vs. spl at 0, 30 and 60 degrees. I guess degree here refers to temperature (correct me if I am wrong). Does this mean that the the high frequency response of the driver/speaker would improve in winters?

Please do share your insights on my queries. I shall take some pictures and post them soon (I need to do some make over and replace the black grill cloth covering the open end of the horn and also get them polished).

Cheers
Viraj Singh

 

[jls001]

Degree here refers to the angle of measurement with respect to the axis of the driver. 0 means straight ahead, directly in front of the driver. 30 and 60 are degrees off this straight line. Zero is in-axis. Rest are off axis.

 

[corElement]

With sensitivity like that, you should get the SET 2a3 from Viren. It will do proper justice to 99db sensitivity

May I ask how much the drivers cost you and how you find the sound compared against other speakers/fostex's?

 

[GeorgeO]

(a). Many Fostex drivers have been built using different enclosures and give good results. I built one using the 167E, in an MLTL emcl, it needed a sub, and have listened to Anilva's BLH using the 208, which has outstanding low frequency. If you like what you hear then you are ok, I think.

 

[virajsingh]

Degree here refers to the angle of measurement with respect to the axis of the driver. 0 means straight ahead, directly in front of the driver. 30 and 60 are degrees off this straight line. Zero is in-axis. Rest are off axis.

Thanks Jls....Early today morning (that time when one is not either asleep or awake) I too had this brainwave that the degree here was referring to off axis...

 

[virajsingh]

With sensitivity like that, you should get the SET 2a3 from Viren. It will do proper justice to 99db sensitivity

May I ask how much the drivers cost you and how you find the sound compared against other speakers/fostex's?

CorE...These were listed at Euro 239 each on HIFISOUND - der Hifispezialist aus M?nster (their last pair was bought by me). I was able to claim VAT refund so their cost to me was Euro 200 each. I did not not pay any customs duty while carrying them back in person. Madisound which had got 25 pairs for US market had sold these for US$ 300 each (they disappeared rather quickly from madisound).

I am given to understand that the main problem that full range drivers have is that do not play well the low and high frequencies. With this driver I have found that there is good bass and that the sizzle of the high frequencies is also there. I find too much bass a bit bothersome so am happy with the bass that these speakers produce and can listen to them for hours at end. The midrange and the vocals are very life life and they really shine. There is a certain coherence about the full range drivers and this driver in my opinion comes quite close to addressing the shortcoming of a full ranger. I am sure there is room for improvement and someone with more experience can possibly make these drivers work even better.

I wonder what will be the impact on high frequencies if I was to add a horn super tweeter T900A (as recommended by Fostex) and whether I would like the extension in high frequencies and introduction of crossovers (if T900A was cheap I could have tried that; If someone has horn tweeters in Delhi perhaps I can borrow to try them out with my full rangers). I have another speaker with a 6 inch fostex full ranger and compared to that the high frequency response of FE203En-S has more sizzle and sparkle.

I have Lyrita's 845 SET amp and I agree that I should try these out with Lyrita's 2A3 amp.

 

[corElement]

No! no crossover! Stick with the single driver!