Madisound Fostex BK-16 Kit.

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woodsyi

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Madisound Fostex BK-16 Kit.
« on: 6 Oct 2006, 06:57 pm »
http://www.madisound.com/bk16.html
Has anyone put one of these together?  If so, how do they compare with speakers from Cain & Cain, Horn Shoppe, Bob Brines, etc. ?

JLM

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Re: Madisound Fostex BK-16 Kit.
« Reply #1 on: 7 Oct 2006, 12:36 pm »
I heard them once.  Build quality OK, sound OK but two steps behind Cain & Cain and a step behind The Horns (if positioned correctly, they can be very fussy).  Like The Horns they sit very low and so can get lost around furniture.  The bottom octave is missing from all three.  By the time you add the supertweeter (more necessary as they do sit so low) they become an excercise in fustration (too expensive with the tweeter costing more than the main driver).

I own Bob's speakers, but IMO they are the value leader and Bob is very good to work with.  Woodworking is not up to Terry Cain or even Louis from Omega Speakers, but the transmission line bass is much deeper, faster, and more musical.  Various kit options makes them the obvious single driver choice if you want bass and can DIY.

Regarding woodworking quality:  Most audiophiles want much higher quality in their speakers than they do in the rest of their furniture.  IMO Terry Cain's stuff fits in houses that have $100,000 in furnishings and Louis' speakers match up to a house with $40,000 worth of furnishings.  Bob's offerings fit in with typical middle income stuff and Ed's with Value City furniture.

jkelly

Re: Madisound Fostex BK-16 Kit.
« Reply #2 on: 7 Oct 2006, 12:44 pm »
Brines FT-1600MKII - **** - magical, great bass and satisfying top end. Imaging, depth etc.
HornShoppe Horn    - ***   - amazing for the size
BK-16 /FT-17         - **    -  never delivered the goods for me.

Jeff

TIC

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Re: Madisound Fostex BK-16 Kit.
« Reply #3 on: 7 Oct 2006, 02:58 pm »
For a great speaker at that same price, build a pair of the Hemp Acoustics speakers as reviewed in The Ultra-Fi Times webzine. Here's a link:

http://www.hempacoustics.com/Review.pdf

I bought the review pair and I can't say enough good things about them. I think they cost about $600 to build, take only a couple of hours (since the cabinets are factory finished) and sound fantastic.

I use mine in a kinda near-field setup, so I needed to put them on stands (or you could just tilt them up a bit in front). I bought the $90 high-mass 12" stands from Parts Express and use some of those layered cork isolation pads between speakers and stands. The sound is outstanding! Especially considering the small amount of cubic dollars spent!

One caveat: They are not attractive. They are simply large black boxes. Of course, you could build a more purpose built cabinet around these drivers and have a great looking speaker too! The Max Hemp type cabinet from Omega would be awesome....

Enjoy,

TIC