I finished my Fostex horns, WOW!

mark@marktwain · « **on:** 23 Jan 2006, 04:27 pm »

Well guys the fostex horns are finished, well except for the finish.

That'll have to wait till later. I tell ya these are sweeeeeeet! I just can't believe what I'm hearing from these 6 inch drivers.

These are a whole lot of speaker for the price of the drivers (paid 75.00 for the pair on ebay, a little more than half price) and three sheets of birch plywood (about 100 bucks)! I don't think they need a super tweeter but since I already have a pair of the rat shack super tweeter's I'll give em a try anyway. I'll probably try to bring them in around 15khz or 18khz. I don't really have a desire to add a sub either. I think I'm going to live with them just as they are for quite a while before trying a BSC also. When I tested one of the speakers in the shop I thought I would have to add a BSC circuit but after getting them moved into a better environment the in your face midrange seems to have disappeared. I haven't tried any of the driver mods and I don't know if I will since they sound so good. Here's a couple pics for ya.

MerRev · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 05:15 pm »

great work Mark!!!

you do realize what this means, once you get settled in to your new home you may have plenty of woodworking projects coming your way.

May I be first in line?

mark@marktwain · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 05:37 pm »

Thanks!

Sorry, Willie beat ya to it. He want's a pair of Karlson's, you'll have to settle for second in line.

Mark

DeadFish · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 05:39 pm »

Those look lovely, Mark!!!

Pretty impressive look for $$ + sweat equity you have in them.
Nice work!

Looking forward to your ongoing (HINT!) reports of how they break in and sound.

Is that the 'ST-35' clone powering them?
Ya got me curious, now!

Best Regards,
DeadFish

Mike D · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 06:00 pm »

Mark, You must be very proud! Great work!!

Your amp is also beautifully done. That amp sounded incredible when you brought it to Scott's. When can we come over?

I would also like to tease you a bit for saying that you will not be changing you system any more. Come on, Mark. If you can be happy with the toys you have, you should write a book. I know of several audiophiliacs that would buy it.

mark@marktwain · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 06:35 pm »

Thanks Deadfish and Mike,

I think the drivers are probably already broke in. They say they take 300 hrs to break in but I picked them up used. Their original home was in a pair of Cain & Cain Abby's. The fellow who owned the Abby's wasn't happy with the drivers beacuse each of the whizzer cones had a small wrinkle in it so he replaced them, score for me! I don't know how many hours he put on them but I put at least a hundred on them in a BR box.

Yep that's my st-35 clone handling power duties I haven't turned it up to 11 yet, might try that tonight.

Hey the door's always open here whenever you guy's are up to a road trip, you'll just have to ignore the mess.

Ha changes, schmages. I'll never be done! Lets see I need to diy speaker cables and interconnects. My CD-PRO2 kit is waiting for me to put it together. A NOS tube DAC for the CD-PRO2. I have the parts to build a Foreplay 2 and a Seduction. I need to get my AR XA turntable and the Thorens TD-135 table going. I also want to build a 2a3/300b/50 amp and on and on and on. Oh and there's the home theater rig but it's pretty much finished I think.

Edit: no it's not, I forgot about my 15" tempest sub I have the 15" tempest driver and dual 15" eminence passive radiators just need to build the box.

bpape · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 08:08 pm »

Beautiful work. You could definitely have a nice second income doing those for other folks I'm sure.

JoshK · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 08:14 pm »

excellent work Mark! I'd love to start a gallery of speaker projects members of this site have done in the lab, or elsewhere. This would be a great addition. Did you happen to take any pics of the build process?

mark@marktwain · « **Reply #8 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 09:12 pm »

Hi Josh,

The only ones I took are in this thread. http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=24567 I was planning on taking more but you probably know how that goes.

PS: I read all of your posts on building the CD-PPO2 kit. I picked one of these kits up recently unbuilt and this will be my next project. Ya have any pointers?

Mark

Mike D · « **Reply #9 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 09:16 pm »

Josh,
Your annimated hippo is fantastic! That is one of the best moniker pictures I've seen yet.

JoshK · « **Reply #10 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 09:43 pm »

Mark,

With re: to the cd-pro build, it isn't too bad to build but it is really time consuming. Take your time, don't get in a rush and you'll be fine. The instructions are good and if you follow them to a T you'll be hard pressed to run into trouble. The trickiest part is stuffing the VFD board. It takes a steady hand, patience and a good soldering iron.

Do you have a good soldering iron with a sharp point? That is pretty necessary, as I'd really not want to stuff that board with a ratshack iron. Worse comes to worse, send the VFD board and parts to me and I'll stuff it for you.

Mike,

Thanks, truth be told, I stole it from someone on another non-audio related forum. It a reminder to me not to take everything so seriously.

steve k · « **Reply #11 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 09:48 pm »

Nice job Mark!
Will the finish match the ST-35?
As for the book, Mike, I think the wives would buy it more than the audionut husbands!

So when can we come up Mark?
steve k

mark@marktwain · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Jan 2006, 10:13 pm »

Wow Josh thanks for the offer!
If I get into trouble I'll give you a shout. I have one of the Weller adjustable temp stations from Lowes WC-100 I think it is with a 20 watt and a 40 watt iron. The 20 watt has a small tip and will probably work ok.

I got in touch with Ken about the upgrade parts and he still has everything except for the clamp. I'll order the tray, pulse transx's, acyrlic cover and caps from him. Did you get one of the upgraded clamps? If you did could you take a few measurements for me? Maybe I'll fire up my lathe and see if I can spin one out.

Hey Steve,
I'm planning on just putting a bunch of coats of tung oil on these. They'll just darken a touch. If you guys are up to a road trip just pick a date.

Mark

Scott F. · « **Reply #13 on:** 24 Jan 2006, 12:27 am »

Nice job on the horns Mark!!!

Welcome to the wonderful world of single drivers

Once you get them dialed in you'll never look back with any regrets.

gonefishin · « **Reply #14 on:** 24 Jan 2006, 01:23 am »

The speakers look great! Nice job

Hmmm...that's that! I need to finish my brothers amp...then buy and build a 45 amp...then I'm going to build a pair of single driver speakers. These just look too good!!!!

of course if my 4 IB subs come in I'll have to do that also

great job (you've inspired me

)

dan

Bill Baker · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Jan 2006, 03:10 am »

Hi Mark,
Just looked back on your "building progress" thread. Just goes to show what can be accomplished when one takes his/her time. Beautiful work.
You might not want to let them sit too long without putting some typ eof finish on them. You would want them starting to swell due to moisture.

Anyway, excellent wood working. Not a big single driver fan myself (of course I have have only heard simple bass reflex loading so far) but I would have them in my house just based on looks.

Pablo · « **Reply #16 on:** 24 Jan 2006, 05:16 am »

Just got home and saw the finished product - outstanding work. Congratulations!

mark@marktwain · « **Reply #17 on:** 24 Jan 2006, 06:36 pm »

Thanks guys.

Mark

sturgus · « **Reply #18 on:** 25 Jan 2006, 03:33 am »

Mark, very impressive. Would love to come up and hear them.
Sturgus