[JLM]

Mark,

Thanks again for the P.M.

Beyond building a house and completely refinancing everything, the biggest reason I don't run out and buy a JVC F10 receiver today is that wifey pays the credit cards/food (while I pay the house/car stuff), so I'd have to explain to her why we need a 6.1 receiver while I've got two "perfectly good" stereo receivers in the house now.  Although I'm currently auditioning the very nice $1500 Decware Torii integrated, so $300 looks good to her.

[Bemopti123]

mcgsxr


The F200A are simply backordered at Madisound.  I have placed an order for a pair, before they run out.  Someone there told me that Fostex is planning in changing the design of these drivers, thus they have just about 200 sets of parts to make these drivers old style.

I would jump on them while you can, because to come across Alnico drivers that are new and are easy to apply in different cabinets is more than difficult.  

Before the F200A, the drivers I was looking into were the PHY-HP, that run a good 2.5 K a pair....it was until someone called JohnK in Audiogon told me that the PHY HP Alnico sound is too laid back that I realized that these Fostex, although not the "real McCoy" very better and at much cheaper price.  

The Jordan drivers are good for what they are, but I think that they would be definetly in a different category in contrast to the F200As.

[JLM]

Agreed,

8 inch diameter alnico magnet drivers that are rated 30 - 20,000 are very hard to find at any price.  Fostex pricing compared to most any other extended range drivers is very reasonable.  If the pricing for the new FE206ES (update to the FE206E) is any indicator, the atractive pricing may become a thing of the past.

[mcgsxr]

Well, as with most things, timing is everything...

I appreciate the info around the Fostex, perhaps I was mistaken, but I thought that they were releasing new versions, which as JLM alludes to, were far more expensive.

I ended up buying a set of the CSS 4.5 inch full range drivers, but they are far from being rated at 30-20K - no matter to me, since I am happy with the sound they are producing, in the box I have cobbled up.

Glad that JLM is happy with his build, and hopefully you will be pleased with what you come up with, using the Fostex drivers.

[Bemopti123]

How much bass are you getting out of the speakers, after they are breaking them in?  How loud did it go with the integrated tube, weighting at 15 watts per channel?  Did you experience any compression with the 300B tubed amp?  I am ready to get myself a pair of F200A and also perhaps order the cabinets from where you got them from.  Are the cabinets BIG for your room or do you feel that they actually perform according to their size.  Sometimes, there are speakers that simply take up space and do not perform, or vice versa, diminutive speakers that perform bigtime.

Paul K

Bronx, NYC

[JLM]

The FTA-2000 speakers measure flat to 25 Hz.  Bass is heard more than felt, don't know why.  It got plenty loud at a 12:00 volume setting with a 12 wpc Decware EL34 based integrated tube amp in my 2,000 cubic foot room, seems that they're very easy to drive.  I actually pulled the baffle step circuit off with the under damped Decware, but need to put it back for solid state and when I can pull them away from the wall.  With the Decware there was too much bass response (and I've owned Irving M. Fried transmission line speakers for 27 years!).

Relative cabinet size?  They seem about "right".  Standmounts take up as much floor as floormounts and are top heavy.  As transmission lines, the driver is not mounted near the top of the cabinet as typically found in other cabinet designs.  That's probably  the weirdest, most awkward thing about their appearance.

[Bemopti123]

Thanks!