[John Chapman]

Hello!

Finally getting caught up and wanted to post a bit about my visit with the FAL folks while I was in Tokyo recently. For background see my CES post here for a description of the FAL speakers:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=607

Also Dick Olsher's CES report mentioned them here:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0303/olsher/index.html

Suffice it to say I liked them a lot and I will soon have a pair of speakers running here in my listening room / lab. My intention is to provide drivers and plans so folks can have enclosures built locally and plunk the drivers in and wire'em up. It's a pretty easy DIY project since there is no crossover on the FAL panels and only a single cap on the tweeters. Also, as described below, FAL has a new single driver speaker that will be a lot of fun - and cost much less than the full blown system I listened to at CES!  

On to the post.....


 First - Many Thanks to Mr. Furuyama the designer of the FAL speakers and also to Mr. Shibazaki who's company Sibatech (www.sibatech.co.jp) represents FAL for export. It was a pleasure to spend time with both of you and see the new FAL showroom in Akihabara - the electronics shopping area of Tokyo.

Thanks to the maps and directions I'd got ahead of time I actually did find the FAL showroom. This was a bit of a surprise as I'd expected to get at least a little lost! I don't know Tokyo that well at all (I'd be surprised if anyone really knows all of tokyo - it's huge!). Fortunately I'd left early and had some time to wander around Akihabara a bit ahead of time and that was great fun.

Once I arrived at the FAL showroom I was greeted by both Mr. Furuyama and Mr. Shibazaki. I had met both at CES in Las Vegas this past year and it was nice to see them again. We talked audio for a while and then spent some time in the very nice FAL listening room. I had the pleasure of listening to 3 sets of speakers while there and I'll describe each below.

Although it's best to enter the Sibatech page via the main page (at www.sibatech.co.jp - the frames work best that way) here is a link to a page that shows all 3 speakers on one page:

http://www.sibatech.co.jp/FAL/FAL%20Systems.htm

The first set we listened to were the center pair shown on that page - one FAL driver per side with one Heil tweeter per side. Right away I was relieved to hear the sound! I say relieved because I had loved the speakers at CES and as soon as we started listening in the FAL room I could hear the same sonic character I liked from before. I am not going to compare the 3 different models too much in this post but the sound of these were great. They use the latest version of the FLAT driver called a FLATC. These are the same as the drivers I have here waiting for cabinets and so it was great to hear them. They are very similar to the drivers FAL showed at CES which were the FLATB. The only difference (as far as I know) is that the FLATC uses a slightly newer more powerful neo magnet material that adds 1 or 2 dB to the sensitivity.

Next was the small single driver box. This was a real treat and in some ways the most impressive of the speakers - given the very small driver and small cabinet. It is a new Driver FAL is making that has response up to 19K. Used without a tweeter it was not lacking in high frequencies at all. It sounded great, although a bit light on the low end - as you'd expect for a driver that size per side! What really blew be away was the image. It was wide and especially deep. They were positioned well ahead of the larger twin driver system (next subject!) and the image went waaay back - so far that if I had not known I would have guessed the speakers further back were playing. Really fun and a great system for it's size. As I recall they were about 93dB sensitivity so likely a good match for a small tube amp. I think for a small room or second system they'd be perfect. For a large room system I'd want to augment the low end - as they are I'd guess they were going down to 60hz or so and I'm used to a bit more action down below. Still mightly impressive and I really look forward to having these here to play with and to show folks.

Next up were the speakers I listened to in Vegas and these are the largest of the ones shown in the link above. They have 2 FLATB drivers per side and a Heil in between. Mr. Furuyama refers to these as the Vertical Twin system. Although all three speakers share that ease and great sound I loved when I first heard them these are my favorite of the bunch. We played some various music and they were really nice. The low end is in ballance with the music - not bombastic like some speakers but natural and nice!

Listening to the Vertical Twin was especially interesting for me because the FAL system I am about to put in here is closest to these. The cabinet I will have here is slightly larger and instead of the Heil we'll be using the new ribbon tweeter that Creative Sound is selling as part of the GR Criterion speaker. FAL will soon have a Heil tweeter they make out. I look forward to comparing to the ribbon and the enclosure has been designed with the tweeter on a removeable plate so we can easily swap different tweeters in. The tweeter  is only used from about 10K or 12K on up and has a first order crossover (single cap). The FAL drivers as mentioned above run directly connected to the amp with no crossover.


I'd better stop typing now! Post any questions as I am sure I have left out many details - still a bit fuzzy from the time change and the push to catch up with things here!

Many Thanks!

John Chapman
www.bentaudio.com

[jusbe]

John,

I'll be watching this development for sure. Nothing grabs my attention like a full-range driver - don't ask me why.

I'm most interested to learn whether anyone (or the manufacturer) has used thse drivers in an open baffle . Has Mr Furuyama used them thus? Can he recommend them? A d'Appolito arrangement in an open baffle would be really intriguing. What do you think?

Lastly, what kind of HEIL drivers are available? Does size matter?!

Justin.

[John Chapman]

Hello!

I still don't think anyone has created a truly full range driver yet - except Soundlabs. The FAL is pretty wideband going up to 10K or so and the new small FAL goes up to 19K but even though it did what it could down below it could not (as would be expected for it's size) do the lower bass.

I know Mr, Furuyama has used them in open baffles but don't have a lot of feedback on how they worked out. I saw a pic on the sibatech site that looked like an open baffle  here:

http://www.sibatech.co.jp/FAL/FALApplications.htm

It's in the upper left corner and has 4 FAL drivers in it. A few of the others are open baffles too.  I have played quite  a bit with open baffles (RD75's in particular) and this could work out well but the baffles get large to try and get down low at all. I'd think you'd need to be thinking about covering the low end below 150hz or so with a second set of bass drivers unless the baffle was really - really big. With an open baffle bass has to be eq'd and that puts excursion demands on the low freq drivers. That's why you see so much cone area used on open baffle bass systems (which even then don't reach down to true sub territory). Still could be a fun project so I'll dig into it.

Does size matter? - that's a personal matter really but when it comes to speakers here is my take on the Heil's:

The Heil driver FAL used was the smaller Heil from ESS in the USA. Since the driver only covers the 10K and up range it does not need to be the Large Heil - which I think can cross over at between 1K and 2K. There are quite a few people making Heil's now and FAL had decided to make an all out Heil (with neo magnets, etc). That's why I decided to use the ribbon to get started and then swap in the Heil from FAL to compare later - and skip getting setup to buy someone else's Heil as a short term solution.

Thanks!

John Chapman

www.bentaudio.com

[warnerwh]

John: I see you have a circle at my favorite place.  This FAL driver looks Very interesting. I'd like to know all about it as I'm sure others would too.  The wide range planar panels that VMPS uses are obviously not available to the diy crowd and this panels looks like it may have potential. Thank You

[John Chapman]

Hello!

The FAL panels do have potential - but are very different from the VMPS panels.

The VMPS panels are modest efficiency and are Planar Magnetics. They can be crossed pretty low - although acoustically will need support from a woofer up to 300 Hz or so anyway. They need a crossover or they will pop. They can work very well when used properly - which is in a 3 way system.

The FAL's are kind of an extension of the single driver world. I am no longer a beliver in the single driver - appart from Soundlabs which are awsome but do limit the amp choices more than a bit. Most of what are known as single drivers are actually 'wideband drivers' that cover a wide range - usually needing extension either down low (like Lowthers do) or up high. The FAL's are the latter. They have output down to 40Hz or so (-3 db in a vented enclosure - measured in room with MLSSA) and they go up to 10Khz. They are not dead flat but behave better than most wideband drivers and don't have the agressive upper mid that some others do. Like everything it is a question of flavor and some like that mid peak as it adds a cool presence thing - but it can make those kind speakers quite music dependant - some stuff sounds awsome and some that does not suit it sounds like crap. It is not a good recording/bad recording thing - it just depends on the content and how it complements the drivers. The REPS drivers in front horns with TAD's on the bottom are a bit this this way but can be a lot of fun! The FAL's are  less music dependant than most widebands (any I have heard) and that is what attracted me to them. Still I'd say that (like any speaker) they have a character and are not for everyone and so it'd be best to listen to them if at all possible to see if they do it for you.

Technically  the FAL's are also very different than Planar drivers. Even though they are flat panels they are actually a 'cone like' material driven by a voice coil (as opposed to a ribbon or planar that sits the diaphram in a magnetic field). Mr. Furuyama has spent something like 25 or 30 years messing with the design to get it where it is now. They are quite efficient (like about 95db) and so can be driven with a modest amp (8W and up) and they run with no crossover at all on the drivers - which appeals to the single driver crowd and to me as well!

Downside is they are expensive - something like $800 each would be my cost on them - so high that I can not bear to add to the cost and have offered to pass them at my cost to anyone interested. A driver manufacturer was shocked when he looked at the raw driver - stating that even in qty his cost for the huge neo magnets would be several hundred $ for each driver. This combined with the frame that is machined from thick aluminum and it is quick to see that despite the high cost they are not ever going to be cheap drivers..... Because of this as mentioned above I'd suggest that if at all possible to try and hear them. I have mine here and as always anyone is welcome to drop by. If you are looking at spending something like $4k on speaker parts (you'll need some tweeter too!) then maybe a vacation to Tokyo (awsome place!) is in order! It would allow a listen at FAL's shop and I also expect they may have them at CES again this year. They were on display in at a show in Italy recently as well and a fellow from Europe e-mailed after to talk about enclosures so there will soon be a pair over there as well. Not quite as easy as dropping by your local audio shop though.....

Please post any more questions that come up!

Many Thanks!

John Chapman
www.bentaudio.com

[Ravi]

John's been gracious enough to let me listen to these.  I listened for about an hour or so.  For anyone who thinks that only planars can do well upto 10khz, are dead wrong.  The motor makes all the difference, and this FAL driver has a very impressive motor (as John already stated).

For people who want cost-no-object performance, check this one out.  I've heard VMPS, Magnepan, and the FAL driver may be the best of them for my tastes.  You could really see right through the music.

I encourage people to listen to these at John's place if possible, nothing like listening with your own ears.

[warnerwh]

At 800 a pop imo the cost outweighs the advantages.  Planars can do an excellent job to the point where any increase in performance is minimal.  I've not heard the FAL but what Brian at VMPS has done with his planars is going to be hard to improve upon, at least with any present technology I'm aware of.  The design of these drivers pretty much prohibits mass production like other drivers.  It's always good to see though that someone is always trying to improve speaker technology. Thanks John for your information.