[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

I had a local person email me regarding the sonics of the diy aksa kitset amplifier that i have had in my system for awhile.

http://www.speakercity.com/sc_kits.shtml

Anyway he informed me that as he is on a limited budget and had built some ed frias speakers and a bottlehead foreplay preamp.  I have heard many good comments regarding the foreplay preamp but had heard nothing about this diy speaker from the states.

I went to his home last night with my aksa amplifier and my modded pioneer pds 507 cdp.  He was using an old quad 303 amplifier to power the system.  We had a listen to his speakers and i thought they sounded quite reasonable for the price.

We put the aksa in the rig and the system dramatically improved.  In fact it was quite transparent and had a nice engaging sound.  The highs were excellent and the midrange was nice as well.  Due to the fact that these speakers are relatively small the bass was not extended but what more can you expect for the price and size.

I guess this isn't really a review but more of a recommendation.  If you are on a tight budget you can't go wrong with this speaker imo.  In fact i will be building a pair for my second system.

Regards

Rod

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks for the info Rod. Pricewise looks like a good deal. So what will be in your second system to power these speakers ?  

[Rocket]

Hi Chris,

Here is another link to the diy kit speaker which is supplied without cabinets.  It works out a lot cheaper for me to build the cabinet here in perth as shipping costs will be reduced.

http://www.madisound.com/

I will probably be using my aksa amplifier or resurrect my old n.e.w. dc-66 amplifier, use my modded pioneer cdp and build a bottlehead foreplay or possibly a hagtech preamp.  It will be my diy system   .

Has anyone else heard these speakers?

As i sat there listening to his system i had a horrible feeling that i had wasted vast somes of money chasing perfection, when this cheap system sounded so good.

Regards

Rod

[mscdda]

Ed Frias is a great speaker designer.  The DIY is a really good speaker for the money.

I have a five channel EFE speaker set up and couldn't be happier.

Have fun with the new system.  You don't need to spend a lot of dough for good sound.

[Kenobi]

Hello all,

I believe Ed's speakers are the hidden gem in audio.  I am so impressed w/ the DIY that I went on to audition and were immediately sold on his EFE branded speakers.  

I have a set of his EFE-T22 for a few years and their transparency and speed is simply amazing and disappears into the living room leaving only the music behind.  Generally, speaking, it is extended, crystaline and clean on top w/ out edge or grain.  The midrange is very liquid and articulate.  Down low, the bass is fast, punchy and has great transient attack w/ great pitch articulation w/o smearing, overhang or bloating.  

Put all these together and you have a great sounding speaker system w/o the need for expensive equipment.  However, better electronics will only reveal more of the speakers' true nature.  One of my best acquisition as far as I'm concern.

Cheers!

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

The guy's system comprised of a very old harmon kardon cdp (he bought it secondhand for a hundred bucks), a bottlehead foreplay preamp, quad 303 (he said they were built over 30 years ago) and his ed frias speakers.

When i first listened to his system i thought it sounded mid fi imo.  However, after putting my aksa amp into the equation the sound quality improved dramatically, transparency was quite good, high's and mids were excellent but the bass was lacking.  After all they are little speakers   .  I then replaced his ancient cdp with my modded pioneer pds 507 (clock upgrade, iec socket and damping mods) and again we could immediately hear a nice improvement in sound quality.  As we improved each piece of equipment we could easily hear a sonic improvement which i think says a lot about the speakers.

At the price i think they are a no brainer.

Regards

Rod