Yet Another Frugal Horn

arunlouie

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Here goes my first DIY post. After many recommendations and build threads I (too) decided to have Frugal Horn MK3 as my primary stereo setup. With months of hesitation decided to go ahead when one of my friends travelling from Singapore got a MA CHR 70 pair. But I didn't start with the build by then.

After going through Manniraj & Bijin thread with so many inputs, I realized without carpenter I wont be able to complete the build. And hiring a carpenter for a petty work like this is not easy job too. After 3 months again the opportunity came in the name of wardrobe. Hired my regular carpenter for a new wardrobe and pitched in Frugal as add on. He agreed to do after the wardrobe.

THE BUILD:

I chose 18 mm MDF for the build ( just like others did), some unknown brand but I was told good quality and waterproof. With plans handy my carpenter was patient enough to go through the plans to choose the appropriate cutting plan. Though carpenter finish is very neat but they were not ready to be accurate to millimeters, so I have to sit along to make sure they do.

Once sliced boards are ready carpenter took a break from my work which gave me good time to procure other materials. For damping I decided to go for Woollen felt which I wasn't able to find right one initially. At last from Indiamart I found few sellers who sell woollen felt for industrial purposes, when I enquired one about my need of small sale he was OK to give. The shop is in Broadway - Chennai. They sell woollen felt only in kgs. Each KG cost 750 INR. The felt which I asked for is 12mm (actually its 13 mm) and size available is Width of 1 metre and length according to our needs. So I took length a little above 1 foot which comes to 2.4 kgs, after my use still exact half of the felt is lying unused. It sounds costly for a felt but the quality is top notch. Its real wool and its compressed very tight which makes it very hard to cut with a sharp knife or even a wooden saw. It took almost 3 days to cut all felt parts according to plan. Still I am unsure if woollen felt have effect on the sound quality. Used Fevicol SR rubber resin for felt.

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After felt in place my carpenter is back from his busy schedule, placed all in place with fevicol and wooden screws completed the boxes. Later finished with mica.

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For extra damping I used polyfill cotton, but I wasn't sure on exact amount of damping that is required, hence didn't screw the speakers first. With drivers in place tightened them only with strings fired up the speakers with Tripath Topping VX1 amp. Was very sceptic on the speakers capability to fill my living room but I was wrong, it was crisp on high frequencies and low was deep, but mids I don't see much of my taste. I hope it may get better. Felt right channel has more deep bass than the left. After adjusting the cotton in the front section finally made both channels sound same. Then screwed the divers in place and speakers put in place where I wanted to.

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Now after listening for month, some times I feel my edifier C2 sound almost par with Frugal at low volumes (though missing some details), but once the volume is above 40% frugal shows its strength, with no distortion clean sound will put a smile. Clear vocals and punchy bass with all small instruments in the background audible feels the efforts worthy.

For testing when I fired up the speakers initial times speakers were away from side walls and couple of feet away from rear, it was more pleasant to listen. But now being placed in tight corners bass is more punchier and highs/mids aren't that sweet any more. Still working on placements. Also fiddling with equalizer to see any improvements in low volume.

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Next addition to the setup will be Amp Camp Amp. Hope the sound signature will be better than tripaths.

Current Source: Foobar2000 --> Essence ST (analog) --> Topping VX1



PS: Anyone interested in the remaining woollen felt PM me. It is more than enough for one pair.

/Arun
 
hi,nice build. how you got the finishing?is it wood veneer or painting?
 
Nice looking project you have here Arun... I am sure after the drivers are broken in they will sound really nice.
I read it can house a variety of full range drivers.... include the Mark Audio Alpair 7, CHP70 & EL70, CHR70, Fostex FE126e, and 126En among others.

looks like cutting the panels from a single sheet of 8X4 ply or MDF is pretty much standardized... in various combinations though.

BTW is it frugal horn or frugel horn...:confused:
 

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Very nice build... Hope to hear it soon. If you need ampcamp i will be glad to give mine for hearing.

Regards
 
I think the actual name is Frugal Horns but some of the Europeans sound/write them as Frugel Horns :).
------------------ :lol:

IMO, that industrial felt that was used is too dense, is very coarse and is not very suited for damping. You need the insulation felt which is much softer. Looks like this:

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IMO, that industrial felt that was used is too dense, is very coarse and is not very suited for damping.

I concur with you... guess it makes the speakers sound a bit dull, as too much of the high and mid frequencies may get absorbed.

Looking at the original thread on DIYAudio http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-...-horn-mk3.html
the amount of damping/stuffing varies from build to build... fine tuning is done with stuffing placement & density, room placement, Drivers ...
and considering his lively room... that must be just, enough damping ;)
 
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Lovely build Arun. While I have heard a lot about the frugal horns, never got a chance to listen to them. Would it be too much to trouble you for an audition?



Frugel is the correct spelling its cross between flugelhorn or frugal, The Frugel-Horn this is their main website.

Very nice build... Hope to hear it soon. If you need ampcamp i will be glad to give mine for hearing.

Regards

You are more than welcome. Let me know when.

@Srini, thanks for the nice gesture. I am eager to pair it up with ACA. Will PM you.
 
I concur with you... guess it makes the speakers sound a bit dull, as too much of the high and mid frequencies may get absorbed.
The felt damping is placed on surfaces near the driver to damp the driver back-wave so that it does not reflect [early reflections] back through the cone again. The better it is damped there the better. IMO, there's no such thing as "too much" when it comes to damping the mids, they should be damped completely. High's? I don't think there will be any high frequencies inside the box to damp in the first place.
 
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I (too) decided to have Frugal Horn MK3 as my primary stereo setup. With months of hesitation decided to go ahead when one of my friends travelling from Singapore got a MA CHR 70 pair.

Congrats, I'm building them too but with Alpair 7.3 Gold drivers.

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What is the distance of the driver from the top? This is not given in the original diagram provided on he Frugel Horn site.
 
What is the distance of the driver from the top? This is not given in the original diagram provided on he Frugel Horn site.

It should be 70 mm from top to centre of the Driver + 18 mm of the top piece. See this pic from plan...
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Congrats, I'm building them too but with Alpair 7.3 Gold drivers.
What is the distance of the driver from the top? This is not given in the original diagram provided on he Frugel Horn site.

Great sathiamoorthy!

More pics of the build from Arun would have been nice... but he chose to post only finished enclosure pics...:sad:

If you are going to document a build log... start a new thread and post associated pictures illustrating construction of enclosures, damping, finished speakers, any measurements, specific issues or solutions.

BTW there seems to be a size difference of 11 mm in overall dia between Alpair 7.3 Gold and MA CHR 70.

http://www.frugal-phile.com/boxlib/markaudio/Alpair7g3-dimension-230611.pdf
http://www.frugal-phile.com/boxlib/markaudio/CH-R-P-BW-dimensions-240611.pdf
http://www.p10hifi.net/FH/downloads/frugel-hornMk3-1v0-250212.pdf

Good luck with the Frugel horns!
 
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