First impressions, MDF singulars with FE207E (Singular)

by MikeH @, Sunday, April 08, 2007, 11:47 (6200 days ago)
edited by unknown, Sunday, April 08, 2007, 12:29

I ran them for about 8 hours on the television then played a couple of CDs loud enough to hear outside with doors closed for a barbecue.

Then I had a listen to a couple of CDs from my SCPH-1002 playstation with a freshly re-aligned laser. My budget does not yet extend to a USB DAC.

My Impressions:
Shockingly deep bass for an 8 inch driver. Music with a sweeping synth bassline showed the low end freq response was quite even. I think these must go close to 30Hz.
Highs somewhat limited and dull.
Mids fair but somehow slightly gruff, hard to describe.
Quite directional, would be fine in most rooms but in my room the speakers and the listener form an equilateral triangle. Lots of toe in needed.

Next steps: run them for a couple of weeks while waiting for planet10 phase plugs to arrive. Fit phase plugs. re-assess. Disassemble to paint or veneer the cabinets, look at damping the speaker frames some more. (apologies for the bad photo)

the quick and dirty attempt at damping the frames has used 2 packets of blu tac (poster sticking putty) and a piece of string (just in case it gets droopy with heat)

[image]

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What can I say...

by Bert @, Wednesday, April 11, 2007, 19:06 (6197 days ago) @ MikeH

Thanks for sharing!

Don't expect the plugs helping dispersion though... :no:

Bert

--
BD-Design - Only the Best!

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What can I say...

by MikeH @, Thursday, April 12, 2007, 09:06 (6196 days ago) @ Bert
edited by unknown, Thursday, April 12, 2007, 09:31

Thanks for sharing!

Don't expect the plugs helping dispersion though... :no:

Bert

I have rearranged the room so I can sit further back. Much easier to listen to this way. Quite useable "beam width" now. I can pull the comfortable chair easily into the centre of the room to listen. with chairs in normal positions the sound is still quite satisfactory.

There is no shortage of tweaks for these 206/207 drivers, figuring out which are worth doing is the hardest part.

I think I might need a super tweeter, there is a lack of very high frequencies I am not comfortable with. The crossover I would like to keep simple with only a high pass on the tweeter to bring it in as the main driver rolls off. (and an attenuator to match the efficiency of the FE207E) I certainly don't want a crossover frequency below 5kHz.

Giovanni had some success with phase plugs in the 206 so I will see how they go in the 207 before I start buying anything else. Though I do like the look of the little Fostex T90A

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by Bert @, Thursday, April 12, 2007, 10:56 (6196 days ago) @ MikeH

Mike,

Giovanni had some success with phase plugs in the 206 so I will see how
they go in the 207 before I start buying anything else. Though I do like
the look of the little Fostex T90A

The treble will be more free radiating but will not get stronger or much less directional...

You could get yourself a T or D amp, that will give you usually a rise in output at the highest frequencies due to the gradual rising impedance of the full-range driver and therefore sounding less dull.

Bert

--
BD-Design - Only the Best!

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by MikeH @, Thursday, April 12, 2007, 14:27 (6196 days ago) @ Bert

You could get yourself a T or D amp, that will give you usually a rise in
output at the highest frequencies due to the gradual rising impedance of
the full-range driver and therefore sounding less dull.

Probably cheaper than a pair of Fostex T90A too.
I have fiddled with the tone controls on my amplifier to try to boost the higher frequencies, but the speakers just don't perform well above 15-16 kHz. I think I'm overly picky about this range because the noise of a television screen is quite obtrusive to me. Female vocals are good but the realism isn't there without the high frequency component of the "breathy" sounds.

In light of the above do you think a T amp will be enough? I am running my 50 watt amp at up to the -10dB volume setting, so technically I can get away with 5 watts. I've never used a Tripath amp before, If the amplifier can make such a difference I might be better off with a 5 watt tube amp kit that can be overdriven a little bit.

Midrange and Bass are now excellent with the new room layout. The lower bass just walks all over my old 8 inch BR TaNoy speakers, particularly when driven hard they get better.

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by Bert @, Friday, April 13, 2007, 14:32 (6195 days ago) @ MikeH

Hi Mike,

I have fiddled with the tone controls on my amplifier to try to boost the
higher frequencies, but the speakers just don't perform well above 15-16
kHz. I think I'm overly picky about this range because the noise of a
television screen is quite obtrusive to me. Female vocals are good but the
realism isn't there without the high frequency component of the "breathy"
sounds.

Using a tone control does not only change the amplitude but also the phase and probably adding more "noise" too. That is NOT the way to go...

In light of the above do you think a T amp will be enough? I am running my
50 watt amp at up to the -10dB volume setting, so technically I can get
away with 5 watts. I've never used a Tripath amp before, If the amplifier
can make such a difference I might be better off with a 5 watt tube amp
kit that can be overdriven a little bit.

A quality T-amp will bring improvements in clarity and freshness (adding treble) so this might do the trick. I do not know anything about the quality of your present amp though, perhaps that one is just sounding dull from itself and adding treble with it will probably show even better its "quality".

Try some other amps if you can loan them first. Perhaps the 207 isn't as dull as you might feel today...

Ciao,

Bert

--
BD-Design - Only the Best!

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by MikeH @, Saturday, April 14, 2007, 03:21 (6194 days ago) @ Bert
edited by unknown, Saturday, April 14, 2007, 03:30

Using a tone control does not only change the amplitude but also the phase
and probably adding more "noise" too. That is NOT the way to go...

The fiddle was to see what high frequencies the drivers can reproduce, I usually bypass all tone controls where possible. I looked at the frequency response plot of the FE207 and it starts wandering downward at about 13kHz. however a freq response plot is not everything, the ears are always the final judge.

Try some other amps if you can loan them first. Perhaps the 207 isn't as
dull as you might feel today...

I will do that. I can get the Sonic Impact T amp and I have most of the parts required to jazz it up (music pun intended) laying around the house.

My current amp is a Harman Kardon 5 channel surround sound decoder. Supposedly with "high current" amplifiers, power supplies in this sort of thing are often under-rated but I only use it in 2 channel mode. Certainly not anywhere near the class of the equipment you are using. This is a good enough for now solution with what I hope is a quiet pre-amp and input selection to drive better amplifiers later.
High frequency from that amplifier sounds fine (to me) from my old TaNoy M15 speakers. There was a noticeable improvement when I used this HK amp instead of my old Marantz Gold series transistor amp which was getting tired. The TaNoys have a fairly cheap looking cabinet but the drivers look and feel like high quality units. I have actually been considering stealing the tweeters from these but it seems a shame to destroy useful speakers. Otherwise I have had the Fostex FT96H in mind, coming in at the natural rolloff of the FE207 at about 12-13kHz. the lumpy response of the tweeter has me a little worried. I am sensitive at around 16kHz, I often turn the TV off when listening to music from my satellite receiver because the tone is obtrusive.

I am thinking perhaps the AER Mk 1 would have been a better choice for my ears.

[image]

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by Bert @, Monday, April 16, 2007, 00:17 (6192 days ago) @ MikeH

Hi Mike,

.... the lumpy response of the tweeter has me a little worried. I am sensitive at around 16kHz, I often

You should see the realtime response after filtering in combination with the FE207E (or any other tweeter or mid driver).... :grin:

I am thinking perhaps the AER Mk 1 would have been a better choice for my ears.

You've heard it play so you know what that driver can do... :whistle:

Bert

--
BD-Design - Only the Best!

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In one word.

by MikeH @, Monday, April 16, 2007, 03:45 (6192 days ago) @ Bert

I am thinking perhaps the AER Mk 1 would have been a better choice for

my ears.

You've heard it play so you know what that driver can do... :whistle:

Bert

One word: Glorious.
And with only one watt! I checked the specs, they are rated at 100W, incredible to get such delicacy with such massive power handling. These could play loud enough to damage your hearing still with very low distortion. With a quiet, clean 6 watt amplifier they would be wonderful.
I cant get my head around how good these must be in a higher quality cabinet.

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