Testing the waters as I don't have any boxes for these right now and it could take a while to get some.
Yes, my amazing, wonderful, custom designed and built Fostex F120A Fonkensteens are extremely reluctantly up for sale, and for one reason only -- they are 88 Db sensitive and that takes me out of the realm of the single tube/single ended amps that I love, or at least the ones I can afford or have around the house (6c33cs are too blasted hot with the pets and neighbors kids in and out of here all the time.)
This is a very special pair of speakers, the F120A drivers were Enabled by Bud Purvine himself and when he was done with them he said they were in the top three drivers he had ever heard. From Bud they went to Chris and Dave at Planet 10, where Dave did the design, and Chris, master cabinetmaker, built a beautiful set of speakers. 1" thick baltic birch baffle, baltic birch used throughout (unless Chris can add some more details, that is my understanding anyway), veneered in Macassa Ebony and finished with good lacquer. These cabinets are solid and very dense -- 10-1/2" wide, 14" deep, and 20" high and close to 30 pounds each. Binding posts are Eichmann cable pods, internal wire is tri-braid OFHC copper and high purity silver -- both cotton insulated. 2 copper conductors, one silver per pole. The driver is flush mounted.
The stands were made by Jeff Dicks -- a.k.a. "Standman out of 100% solid maple. They are 20" tall from bottom of base to top of mounting plate. There are 4 1/4-20 threaded inserts -- one in each corner for spikes. The top plate is 7" wide and 10" deep and 1.5" thick. The base is 12" wide and 14" deep and also 1.5 thick. There are also 4 holes in the corners of the top plate, drilled from the bottom, for 1/4-20 flathead bolts should you want to install threaded inserts in the speakers, but I didn't find this necessary myself.
The sound? Nicely full and detailed, no shouty peaks, very good range and in a small room you won't miss a sub at all. Smooth as alnico is famous for and these definitely don't disappoint. Very different from typical fostex drivers. Setup is fairly straightforward and when done correctly will result in a soundstage and imaging that is scary good. Definitely one of the deepest soundstages I've ever heard, and they don't have to be very far from the front wall to get that effect. Instruments sound very natural, as do voices. Percussion is scary good (with the right amp -- see my ad for the EE minimax M520 in amplification). A really wonderful pair of speakers that will make you rethink what a box speaker can sound like -- sounds far more like an electrostat than a box speaker, IMO.) After these speakers made their public debut at last summers Vancouver DIY fest, Bud took them back to his place and tweaked them some more and added the EnABL pattern to the fronts of the boxes too. The combination has to be heard to be belived, but it is really quite special.
Many visitors to my house have commented on how "real" everything sounds on these and often end up sitting down for a long listening session.
Anyway, if you're interested and have any more questions, just contact me. Pictures will be coming.
Thanks,
Jim
