Fostex Fe166En build

@Vivek Rao
Thanks to Vivek for lugging his cute all-in-one tube amp and a wonderful 2 hrs listening session :clapping:

The tube is just a magic which reverberates long after you switch off the amp and I just loved the way the Fostex are singing with a tiny 3+3W SET amplifier. Wide and deeper soundstage with superb all round presentation almost like a live performance.
 
@Vivek Rao
Thanks to Vivek for lugging his cute all-in-one tube amp and a wonderful 2 hrs listening session :clapping:

The tube is just a magic which reverberates long after you switch off the amp and I just loved the way the Fostex are singing with a tiny 3+3W SET amplifier. Wide and deeper soundstage with superb all round presentation almost like a live performance.
Thanks Ramesh for the musical evening. Yes your Fostex does shine as expected with the SET tubes. Enjoyed the Ghazals - the soundstage setup by your speakers was a wonderful experience.
On top of this it was nice to spend time with a true DIY addict ! Cheers

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
 
Missed a good meet and audition then.. :sad:

Thanks Ramesh for the musical evening. Yes your Fostex does shine as expected with the SET tubes. Enjoyed the Ghazals - the soundstage setup by your speakers was a wonderful experience.
On top of this it was nice to spend time with a true DIY addict ! Cheers

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
 
Started to break-in driver, high frequency detail seems to be very good for normal listening.

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During this, was able to get a pair of Altec drivers, so gave it a shot to see how they perform without any baffles, this was done as a mere curiosity than a test, and i was really surprised by the quality of sound, and when driven by a tube amp, they were incredible. There was some EQ done to remove the huge bump in upper mid freq.

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After listening for some time, wanted to see how it performs with a little bit of help from a tweeter, so a tweeter was placed beside the Altec with a basic first order crossover.

So this made me to decide on a 2 way FAST setup, with active crossover.

Fostex may endup in a ported enclosure driven >200 Hz, LF handled by Altec

Thanks
Har297
 

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As a ultimatum to this, A ported enclosure with volume ~120 lts is built for Altec drivers and Fostex resides in ~19 Lts Sealed enclosure. 25mm MDF was used for outer walls, with front being double thick. Interior bracing for the larger enclosure uses 19mm Ply.

Currently only Altec's are mounted in a unstuffed cabinet, Vocals sound sweet with plentiful low end.

Thanks all for your guidance...

Regards
Harsha
 
Is it possible to see photos of the room that you want the speaker to sing? The room can dictate a lot of your design considerations. It will be wonderful if you can mark location of your speakers that you think is appropriate.
For example a BLH may look gigantic if you intend to listen music on a low seating arrangement. A folded MLTL may actually be the right compromise in that case.

I have tried folded TL with reducing opening with very compact designs. One is on the process of getting assembled as we speak. They are a good compromise for single driver design.
 
Finally this combination was put to test last week, a 2 way using Fostex crossed at 100 Hz, and <100hz being handled by Altec. In this combination imaging was superb and vocals were excellent.

But when i compared this with compression drivers instead of Fostex, Compression drivers performed much better in reproduction of finer details, and i felt it to be better match for Altecs, So i may be selling Fostex shortly but not sure because Fostex are not fully broken in with hardly 15-20 hours of usage.

Thanks
Harsha
 
1) You can try mass loaded tapered folded transmission line speaker using MJK's table. I think it will be a good one.

2) You can try PVC piping system for a fun trial too. May be that will be sounding super cool too.
 
IME, the FE166EN is not a good driver for TQWT. It goes well only with BLH design due to very low Qts. If you want to try TQWT opt for FF165WK, they are better option than FE166en for TQWT with low stuffing.

Without the mathcad it will be impossible to get the TQWT design right with just the MJK alignment tables. If you have LA use that to get the simulator right.
 
Hi all, I have a pair of Fostex FE166EN.
I know bass reflex is not a good option for them, and they are best suited for BLH design.

But since I'm a beginner in box building, I'm trying to build company proposed bass reflex design. ( I know this is not ideal)

Need a small suggestion please.... Should I fill the box with a little layer of foam inside? I mean does the foam reduce the box volume ?
 
just make the box as it is described in the drawing.

fit the driver and try the sound

use foam to taste..

regards
 
I will suggest you to use felt instead of foam. Do not use any stuffing either. As suggested by mpw add stuffing to taste after listening.
 
Mpw & Hari, thankyou very much for the suggestions

By the way....this is a full range driver. So no crossover is needed. Can I connect it directly to my Yamaha amp??? I mean, no need to add any electronics in between. Like resisters, capacitors etc. Am I correct ???

(I'll check the power ratings though)
 
Thank you mpw, the box is nearly done, starting to enjoy diy fun. I'll share the details in a separate thread ,
 
on the net you will find photos & videos of

similar build

photos of innards of the speaker boxes

please study the same and connect carefully

try to use a good quality copper wire ( maybe 12 gauge or 14 gauge ) from the speaker terminals to the speaker driver itself

do proper routing and neat work.

good luck !
 
You shall get more improved benefit by using single core enamled 18 swg copper wire from amp to driver terminal
 
Hello all, I have a question please...

I made the bassreflef with FostexFE166EN. I want to try it for a while, and later I will build back loaded horn. Right now it played only for 3 -4 hours. So it's a long way to break-in.

Initial impression was that it is nice for vocals, guitar, and other instrumental music. Ilayaraja kind of music played well. But I felt unsuitable for latest bollywood kind of music.

The question is .... After break-in period, if I make the back loaded horn, will it be suitable for latest bollywood kind of music?? Forget about great bass. IL use a sub.

Is it worth building the BLH? Or even after that it will be suited to only a few kinds of music?? Any suggestions please....
 
Hello all, I have a question please...

I made the bassreflef with FostexFE166EN. I want to try it for a while, and later I will build back loaded horn. Right now it played only for 3 -4 hours. So it's a long way to break-in.

Initial impression was that it is nice for vocals, guitar, and other instrumental music. Ilayaraja kind of music played well. But I felt unsuitable for latest bollywood kind of music.

The question is .... After break-in period, if I make the back loaded horn, will it be suitable for latest bollywood kind of music?? Forget about great bass. IL use a sub.

Is it worth building the BLH? Or even after that it will be suited to only a few kinds of music?? Any suggestions please....

BLH enclosure will help if you want to 'extract' bass from the driver/ enclosure combo.
If, you are going to use a woofer, anyway, BLH build does not make sense.

I suggest you make a bass reflex enclosure with 7.6Ltr volume and have a port on the same side of the driver.

Material 12mm MDF
Enclosure W x D x H: 22.5cms x 14.5cms x 34cms
Port W x H x D: 4.7cms x 4.7cms x 8cms
Crossover: 100Hz
 
Hello all, I have a question please...

I made the bassreflef with FostexFE166EN. I want to try it for a while, and later I will build back loaded horn. Right now it played only for 3 -4 hours. So it's a long way to break-in.

Initial impression was that it is nice for vocals, guitar, and other instrumental music. Ilayaraja kind of music played well. But I felt unsuitable for latest bollywood kind of music.

The question is .... After break-in period, if I make the back loaded horn, will it be suitable for latest bollywood kind of music?? Forget about great bass. IL use a sub.

Is it worth building the BLH? Or even after that it will be suited to only a few kinds of music?? Any suggestions please....

Hi,

I tried something very similar, but it is really remarkable how much difference it makes after just some 50-60 hours of burnin, Whole spectrum will sound better. I have not experienced this with other drivers that i have used.

Bass department i am not sure how much better a BLH will make, ultimately it depends on taste.

I am currently using 166En for freq upwards of 100 Hz, must say it is performing very good. With low end supported by a Sub/alike ,It really stands on it's own. Addition of tweeter for HF extension i did not feel as a necessity as a bit of Eq upwards of 16k is meeting my taste.

All i can suggest is give it some more burn in time.

Thanks
Harsha
 
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