DTB vs DIY MLTL

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Dave the bass
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#1 DTB vs DIY MLTL

Post by Dave the bass »

Right, time for another venture into DIY-land, this time I'm going to bodge my way into the town known as FR Speakerville.

At WF3 Scott bought along a pair of MLTL's using Fostex 167E FR drivers and I liked the way they coped with pretty much all music through them and particularly the way they worked on the end of little SE amps so after an encouraging chat with Scott and SteveS in the cold at WF while packing up I decided to take the plunge.... so you've got those 2 to blame for more of my drivel :)

Scott put me in touch with Dave at Planet10 and today I became the proud owner of a pair of matched and modified and EnABLed FE167E drivers plus saucy looking Phase plugs, phwoar!

New toys.
Image

Close up.
Image

Phase Plug.
Image

Soon I'll start on the cabs and if it's OK with everyone I'll do another 'how I dunned it' type thread replete with photo's and gibberish.

Thats it for now,

DTB
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Nick
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#2

Post by Nick »

Should be good. I heard those speaker of Scotts again the other weekend at Steves, they were even better in a room instead of a hall. I think you will be very pleased with them if they sound as good as Scotts,
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pre65
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#3

Post by pre65 »

Hi Dave-i think those speakers will take your listening experience to a new level !

Just be carefull with those phase plugs,someone might put one on the seat of your favourite armchair. :lol:
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#4

Post by Cressy Snr »

Hi Dave
If your finished ones sound as good as Scott's did at Steve's, then you'll be very happy with them. Good luck with the build.

Steve.
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#5

Post by Scottmoose »

I haven't applied EnABL to my drivers yet -next on the to-do list, and then I'm leaving them well alone as my (floorstanding) reference.
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#6

Post by pre65 »

Hi - what is EnABL ?

How would FE206 fare with this treatment ?
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#7

Post by Toppsy »

Hi Dave and all,

I too was so taken with the sound of these little speakers at Withamfest last when coupled to DTB's 6EM7 SE amp so much so I also today took delivery of a pair the very same drivers with the full works treatment.

I intend to build the speakers along with the 6EM7 amp for my son Simon now he is starting to get more serious about listening to music.

Should be a fun project and EnABLE me to learn a thing or two about building amps and those funny box things that don't use clingfilm to make sounds!! :wink:

Colin :lol:
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#8

Post by Scottmoose »

EnABL is the pattern added to the cone & phase plugs seen above in Dave's photographs.
Last edited by Scottmoose on Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:28 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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#9

Post by Dave the bass »

6 replies, cor!

Cheers for the encouragement as ever Gentlemen. 'Our' Scott and Dave at Planet10 have been bwillyant to deal with so 'big ups' to them first. Cheers Scott and Ed-the-Vital for the cabinet dimensions too.

Yes, I'm hoping they turn out spiffing, I'm not going to rush (can't build these during my lunch :( ) the build so don't worry if progress seems slower than normal for me, I'm not nodding off or skiving.

Whatever happens I think I'm in for a shock, I've lived with my Rogers since 1991 and know their sound very well, I hope they get trounced in a way, we'll see.

More news as they're made.

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#10

Post by Mo »

Nice one Dave, I look forwad to your build, word on the street is Scott's speakers are the bizniz.

How much are these EnABL'd 167's?
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#11

Post by Dave the bass »

Mo wrote:Nice one Dave, I look forwad to your build, word on the street is Scott's speakers are the bizniz.

How much are these EnABL'd 167's?
Cheers Mo,

For the pair all 'sooped up' plus Phase Plugs it was in the region of £135 plus shipping from Canada (which a small group of us have done together to get the cost down), thanks go to Scott for organising the whole she-bang.

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#12

Post by andrew Ivimey »

Ignore my scepticism, I just can't help it - what we need now is a jolly good comparison.

I hope we can achieve this .... I've been playing with different sized phase plugs in some 207s or are they 206s. What I am sure of is that size, length and shape make a difference.

(Go on Dave - you can make something out of that. Actually even I could make somethig out of that and I don't thnk I have much of a sense of humour) :D :D :wink:
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#13

Post by Dave the bass »

andrew Ivimey wrote:

What I am sure of is that size, length and shape make a difference.
Image

:shock: :lol:

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#14

Post by andrew Ivimey »

yeah, that'll do!

:)
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#15

Post by planet10 »

andrew Ivimey wrote:Ignore my scepticism, I just can't help it - what we need now is a jolly good comparison.
Indeed.

Along with Dave's FE167eN the batch also included another pair of FE167eN, a pair of 206eN, and Marc England's FE207eN. Marc has his playing.

In particular note his comment wrt the FE166e.

I firmly believe that the EnABL tech is paradym shifting. I have seen "that Look" on people's faces too many times to have any other view of things.

Be warbed if you have a stock pair of Fostex, and hear a pair of the eN it will be very hard to go back to yours, The difference between them and the fully done up eN version is akin to the difference between PAL & HDTV.

As to how it works, i have a simplier and easier to understand explanation,

When the speaker is working there is a wave that travels right along the surface of the cone. When it hits the impedance change at the surround it reflects. When this gets back to the voice coil, it reflects again. So you have this time-smeared "hall-of-mirrors" effect. We have grown up all our lives with it there and have become used to it being there. What EnABL does is disrupt that surface wave, removing the hall-of-mirrors. It is quite startling. It can be quite difficult to get a handle on it -- something we have come to expect is gone. The net result is being able to hear deeper into the music. And it is not subtle.

dave
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