FE167 Fonkens.

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:03 pm

I bought a pair of pre-loved FE167eN's off Colin at the last Owston get-together.

I've built a pair of these...

...and installed em in our workshop...

Full story and build pics here if anyone is interested or suffering with Insomnia! http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-ran ... tions.html

DTB

chrisby · Post by **chrisby** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:16 am

dude, for us miscreants too lazy to click on the link, the verdict is...?

BTW I luv the warning label on the amps

glass parts hot indeed

Toppsy · Post by **Toppsy** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:11 am

Only one word "SHODDY"

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:33 am

chrisby wrote:dude, for us miscreants too lazy to click on the link, the verdict is...?

BTW I luv the warning label on the amps

glass parts hot indeed

OOoooo you lazy miscreants!

They suit our workshop brilliantly Chris in that coupled to that PP EL34 amp (yes, the one with hot glass parts) they fill the workshop with sound. No really. They do. The DaveD Fonkens have replaced a pair of shabby 2 way BR boxes I built just after I'd left/was asked to leave school when I was 16. The 2 ways were a 'temp' fix to get better quality sound into the 'shop about 14 yrs ago. They worked but that was about it. The 167's in Mr D's Fonk-cab are a major step up in bandwidth and quality over the 2 ways.

The 'shop is a narrow long room and I've got them firing lengthways down the room suspended from a cable gantry/bit of uni-strut. It's full of hard reflective surfaces (and broken bits of Scientific Research Equipment in for repair) and this suits the 167 better than the available rooms at Chez DTB which is very dry sounding and full of HF-sucking carpets and sofa's. The Fonk's have only been in use for about a month but a lorra lorra visitors visiting the 'shop have commented on the sound and quality, which is nice.

The only 'tweak' I've done in the last month is to get one of the joiners in the workshop next door to make up an angled batten so I could lower the cabs by about 2" but more importantly angle the centreline of the phase plugs to around the half way point down the length of the workshop. I found HF was better at the far end of the shop rather than the midpoint down the length of the floor where the 2 of us who work in it spend a lotta time at the bench repairing stuff. Angling them down a smidge has improved the higher mids and HF response bringing them into line more with the lower mids and rather ample bass. I think because they're mounted so close to the end boundary which is a double thickness wired glass window I'm getting 'impressive' very LF lift which puts a smile on a lotta listeners faces. It's not 'correct' but it really is the only place we can fit a pair of reasonable size loudspeakers in our limited space inside a very busy workshop environment.

My boss likes em too. Thats also good

I'll do current angled and fettled pic's later today.

DTB

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:34 am

Toppsy wrote:Only one word "SHODDY"

You brute!

How could you!

DTB

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 9:47 pm

Latest 'jaunty angle' pic's.

Left...

Right...

...and both together pointing towards the centre of the 'shop.

Only other tweak is to try different cable to the speakers. I've got a pair of twisted pair single cores I've removed from a long length of CAT5 off-cut cable that I'll try in place of the multi-strand 3A mains cable just to see how that affects the sound. Dunno unless I try.

DTB

andrew Ivimey · Post by **andrew Ivimey** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:17 pm

Try Kimber 8TC cable ... or not.

would it really make any difference (rhetorical question!)

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:29 pm

I just looked it up.

Kerrrrrrrrrikeeee! I'd need a lotta money to buy enough. Each run is about 25ft from amp to cab.

I'll stick with bell wire ...maybe....

You get back to yer pace riddums and tango's!

DTB

andrew Ivimey · Post by **andrew Ivimey** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:56 pm

You can ring Alexander Graham's Bell anytime dear. Cat 5 may be the answer anyway.

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:05 pm

andrew Ivimey wrote:You can ring Alexander Graham's Bell anytime dear. Cat 5 may be the answer anyway.

We used to play a song that mentioned Alexander Graham bell by name, a country-esque ode to his mighty invention.

"Back in 1876 an ol' boy named Bell
Invented a contraption that we know so well"!

DTB

richardcooper2k · Post by **richardcooper2k** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 11:43 pm

Hi Dave, hate to say this, but i think the front panels have shrunk cos i can see gaps have appeared at each side

floppybootstomp · Post by **floppybootstomp** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:29 am

Yah cannae whack a jaunty angle! Well done Squire

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 8:15 am

richardcooper2k wrote:Hi Dave, hate to say this, but i think the front panels have shrunk cos i can see gaps have appeared at each side

"You's lot! "

DTB

Ali Tait · Post by **Ali Tait** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:46 pm

chrisby · Post by **chrisby** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:28 pm

andrew Ivimey wrote:You can ring Alexander Graham's Bell anytime dear. Cat 5 may be the answer anyway.

I've been happily using CAT5 for over 10yrs - on shorter runs even a single of the 4 twisted pairs, and have even tried some of the more exotic monster braided snakes (up to 6 runs of 4 pairs - never again, thank you very much)

It can be a pain in the ass to strip off the covering jacket if there's no integral rip thread - untwist a few inches and separate the solids and strips. Just be careful when stripping the insulation - to maintain the carefully engineering varied twist rates for each pair, the wire is annealed to greater stiffness than for rope laid cabling and is easy to break if nicked.

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FE167 Fonkens.

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