Frugal Horn Mk3 builds

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Toppsy
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#46

Post by Toppsy »

I think Colin's after the modern new Fostex versions isn't he?
TRUE.
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pre65
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#47

Post by pre65 »

I think Colin's had his for quite a while, but I'm not 100% sure.

If I hadn't sold my spare pair to Floppy (Tony), Colin (Mt T) could have borrowed them. :)
Last edited by pre65 on Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Toppsy
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#48

Post by Toppsy »

Who you callin FLOOPY COLIN. I'm not that floppy. Maybe carrying a little too much weight but I just call that middle age spread :wink:
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#49

Post by Mike H »

Toppsy wrote:I had to raise them about 1" off my carpeted suspended floor to help tame some bass boom but apart from that they really excelled beyound my expectations.
Interesting ~ what did you raise them up with?

 
 
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#50

Post by Toppsy »

Interesting ~ what did you raise them up with?
On some 1" x 1" x 10" softwood strips. These are simply placed front and rear and are not attached to the speaker.

As this simple experiment worked a treat on these speakers, I might make some fancy raised spiked mounts permanently fixed to the bases.
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#51

Post by Mike H »

Ah! Awlrighty then. That's a simple way of doing it. I got suspended floor as well, they're already on spikes but might benefit with a bit more. Or not. In the shed should be a length of hardwood that came off the edge of the back door (long story :D )

 
 
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#52

Post by Scottmoose »

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Last edited by Scottmoose on Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#53

Post by Toppsy »

The excessive LF gain should be easily tamed by a little more damping below the driver.
Scott,

anticipating this I did build-in a wire mesh shelf about midway below the driver and the exit throat so any damping in the taper horn section will not fall out. :wink:

The intention is to replace the temp wood beam risers with spikes.
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#54

Post by planet10 »

Toppsy wrote: So in a word (or two) they sound bloody good.
:)

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#55

Post by chris661 »

Colin, I know they're not the newest version, but you can try my Fostexes if you like (certainly cheaper than £100 on drivers)...
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#56

Post by chrisby »

Toppsy wrote:Who you callin FLOOPY COLIN. I'm not that floppy. Maybe carrying a little too much weight but I just call that middle age spread :wink:
recommended reading (according to my wife):

Image


did you know an 8 oz glass of "healthy" orange juice contains over 100 calories (i.e. almost as much as 2 100ml shots of 80proof vodka - and there are other ways to get your Vitamin C )


I hear this stuff every day

you're welcome :wink:
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#57

Post by chrisby »

Regarding FE126 in this cabinet - so far we on this side of the pond have only heard the newer (FE126En) version .

This enclosure was specifically designed with enough tolerance for range of drivers that either would work "perfectly fine", albeit with the notable difference that the newer version has significantly mitigated the upper midrange peakiness that could very easily become fatiguing.

That issue is easily remedied with the cone treatment that Dave had formulated well before our introduction to the "power of the polka dot". It is relatively easy to apply - certainly more so than the EnABL treatment - and for those doubting the efficacy of the latter, can be used independently.

And yes, if the CHP70 (which I've not yet heard) is as close sonically to the EL70 (which I have), it's probably fair to opine that they'd kill in this little box without the need for corner reinforcement - but reasonably symmetrical placement vis a vis boundaries is always a good idea with rear mouth horns, bipoles or OBs.


ColinH - would a road trip to audition Toppsy's system be a possibility - maybe as part of a week-end getaway with someone special?
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#58

Post by The Stratmangler »

I popped over to Colin's house earlier on today to have a listen to his latest build.
I think they sound absolutely incredible - I was there for the best part of 3 hours, and to be honest I'd probably still be there now had neither Colin or myself got other things to go and do.
There is a coherence to the sound of the CHP-70 that is just sooo addictive

Because of the wide dispersion characteristic of the driver there is no need at all to toe the cabinets in.
Insruments and vocalists were locked absolutely solidly in place between the speakers.

The material we played was quite wide ranging - Black Sabbath, Kate Rusby, Joe Satriani, Emmylou Harris, Metallica, Frank Zappa - we couldn't get the speakers to falter.


I want some, and you've never heard me say that before :wink:

My actual words to Colin were that they sounded f***king incredible, and Colin said that he'd like that comment posting up here, so there it is :D
Chris :happy3:
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#59

Post by Andrew »

Better than the Sakicho then? :shock:

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#60

Post by Toppsy »

EDIT
I must have been typing this posting at the same time as Chris. So I may have jumped the gun a little here. Oopps :oops:
ColinH - would a road trip to audition Toppsy's system be a possibility - maybe as part of a week-end getaway with someone special?
We, the forum members, should be holding a DIY meet at Owston hopefully in a couple or three months time. At least a couple guys travel down from Scotland where ColinH lives. This would be a great opportunity.

As an aside, Chris (Stratmangler) came over my place this afternoon for a listen to the FH's.

Prior to him coming over I had added some extra damping below the driver to tame some bass boom. I have suspended timber floor with heavy wool carpet that doesn't help though I have these speakers raised off the floor on 1" high blocks of wood. (These will be replaced eventually with spikes). With a little adding subtracting this worked very well and now bass is far more fully integrated with the whole sound.

Anyway I think Chris went home with a big cheesey grin on his face with comments like Colin those speakers are bloody fantatic. Or something on those lines but a liitle more colourful language. But I can be confident he was well impressed with them.

He brought along several 'torture' tracks as he calls them, but the little FH's coped unflappable with all we could trow at them.

Listening through the little 6EM7 SET they were a dream on the simpler tracks of music - Tori Amos, Kate Rusby, etc but became a tad befuddled on more complex havy rock type tracks. This shortfall was easily overcome though with the introduction of the 300b SE monoblocs. However, the high frequency was not a good the 6EM7 amp until I changed the heavy guage speaker cables with some CAT5 twisted pair of leads. This had a bramatic change to the better. Suddenly the high developed sparkle without being too shrill and bass (oddly enough) became tighter.

All-in-all a very interesting and enjoyable afternoon. These speakers with the CHP70 drivers through the 300b SE monoblocs is a audio match in heavon. I am very very pleased with these speakers.

I look forward to hear Chris's comments.
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