[Danny Richie]

Hey Chops, is this the same driver that you are talking about?



These were from Unity Audio.

[Chops]

Hey Chops, is this the same driver that you are talking about?



These were from Unity Audio.

Kinda... Those are either the FE126E or FE127E, which is the 4.5" version of my 4" FE103E.

[Danny Richie]

Gotcha.

I listened to the Unity one's and took measurements of them for this small speaker shoot out:

http://www.stereomojo.com/Small%20Speaker%20Shootout%202007/SmallSpeakerShootout2007Part1.htm

You can see the measurements here, and near the bottom of the page:

http://www.stereomojo.com/Small%20Speaker%20Shootout%202007/StereomojoSmallSpeakerShootout2007Measurements.htm

They didn't do too well.

[Chops]

Gotcha.

I listened to the Unity one's and took measurements of them for this small speaker shoot out:

http://www.stereomojo.com/Small%20Speaker%20Shootout%202007/SmallSpeakerShootout2007Part1.htm

You can see the measurements here, and near the bottom of the page:

http://www.stereomojo.com/Small%20Speaker%20Shootout%202007/StereomojoSmallSpeakerShootout2007Measurements.htm

They didn't do too well.

A good reason not to spend money on pre-built speakers like that. Plus, there's no telling how much break-in time if any was performed on those speakers before the shoot out was done. One thing I have learned, both by reading and by recent personal experience, these Fostex drivers, especially the smaller ones, need plenty of hours of proper break-in before they can sound really good.

I'll admit, mine didn't sound all that good either when I first fired them up, but after a good 200+ hours, they had opened up quite a bit. After 500+ hours and the simple BSC circuit installed, things got much better. Now with 1000+ hours on the drivers and well over 500+ hours on the BSC components, I'm willing to bet mine sound a lot better than those Unity ones in the shoot out at the time.

[Danny Richie]

I am pretty sure that burned in speakers were requested. I also put some time (as much as I could) on each pair prior to the shoot out.

I'm willing to bet mine sound a lot better than those Unity ones in the shoot out at the time.

I am sure they do. What really hurt the Unity ones was no baffle step compensation. It made the lower vocal range sound really thin. They also had some ringing from the cone break up in the upper ranges.

I have some FR-125's that I use as computer speakers. They do sound very good until I compare them to a standard two way like my A/V-1's. I have yet to find a good single driver to do it for me, but I'll keep trying them out.

[Chops]

Everyone has different tastes, that's for sure. I for one prefer the sound of single drivers. This is NOT a poke at you or your hard work at all, but I actually prefer these little Fostex drivers over my x-statik's for music. They offer up more detail, sound more natural and open, and image better than the x-statik's do. The Fostex's can be quite spooky sometimes with the amount of detail and presence they offer up.

Honestly, I think it's stupid for Unity Audio to manufacture those speakers and sell them without BSC. That would be like selling a 3-way system without the crossover. It's just something you don't want to do, and that may end up hurting their sales if more reviews like that start popping up on the internet.

[Danny Richie]

If those little Fostex drivers are really that good then I would love to hear them some time.

[EARGASM]

Removed by member.

[Chops]

If those little Fostex drivers are really that good then I would love to hear them some time.

They're cheap enough, you could easily build yourself a pair. I haven't even built real enclosures for them yet!

Believe it or not, I have them in heavy cardboard boxes 8.5W x 8.5D 11.75H, which comes out to .49cf and they are tuned to 67Hz via a trimmed and flared 1" long toilet paper roll. LOL

I have one piece of 2" thick egg crate foam and enough poly fill to make it aperiodically loaded. The foam spans from top to bottom to help with damping, and to also keep the poly from touching the drivers. The wiring is a couple of test leads clipped onto the terminals, the hot side directly to the BSC circuit, then to 19awg solid twisted pair of speaker wire the to amp. Oh yeah, I also have an old Aura Bass Shaker Pro sitting on top of each box to help with further damping and keeping the top closed! 

I know this all sounds like a crazy and stupid joke, but it's true and more importantly, it works! They have matured into such great sounding little speakers that they caused me to put my car audio project on hold, then spend some bucks on a new Pioneer Elite PD-D6-J SACD/CD 2-ch player and a new KingRex Pre-Amp.

I originally put them in cardboard boxes just to break them in. After about 50 hours I started to realize their potential, then decided to do a little cheap (free) tweaking, then after some more good results, decided to try series resistance. That helped even more! After running that way for a couple hundred hours, I decided to build the BSC circuit. Around this same time, I upsized the original narrow, smaller cardboard boxes for the now larger ones.

Here's a few pics to help out a little better of what I'm working with at the moment. Try not to laugh too much. 

Here's what I originally started with...


Check out that B&W "dimpled" inspired port. Also a little bit of EnABL on a couple of port flaps! LOL...


Please don't mind the dust on the closet doors... 


Then moved to the larger, more rigid boxes...


And 4.7 ohms of series resistance...


Which gives you this...


At one point, I was using my brother's BEZ tube preamp. Not the greatest pre out there, but he likes it for whatever reason...


Then removed the series resistance and inserted the BSC (center at 467Hz IIRC)...


Then the much better front-end The KingRex blows away the BEZ by a long shot, and the CDP isn't too shabby either...

[EARGASM]

Removed by member.

[Chops]

He's got cardboard speakers, but nicer IC's than mine... 

Swell.

Hey chops. 2 words for you man: NO-REZ. 

LOL!

Like I said, it looks silly, but it sure doesn't sound silly.

I'll keep the NO-REZ for the real enclosures.

BTW, the bottom end from about 90Hz on down is handled by a Rane AC-22B crossover, AudioSource AMP 100 and a pair of 8" Vifa's in an old pair of towers I built years ago. It really rounds things out nicely.

And here's a few better pics that I just took with Signal Cable IC's for the Pioneer CDP and the silver Stout IC's. Can't remember what the speaker cable is.

[EARGASM]

Removed by member.

[Chops]

Hey Chops, that ELITE transport is first class... few and far between.  Enjoy your cellulose based audio! There's no way you have a spouse in the house.

Eric

Thanks... I think. I can't help but feel a little sarcasm in there for some reason. And no, no spouse.

[planet10]

I listened to the Unity one's and took measurements of them... hey didn't do too well.

The Unitys use FE127e. Here are Danny's measures:



Here are some measures that Mark MacKenzie made -- you can see that the FE103e doesn't have the same 7-8k peakiness.



All of the Fostex do some really nice things, and so there exists an opportunity to work on their weaknesses. Here are some crude in-room measures i took of FE127eN (an FE127e after i finish with them)



The FR125 gets substantially better after similar treatment (but IMHO, not up to the FE127eN (with adequate amplification))

dave

[EARGASM]

Removed by member.

[Chops]

Hey Chops, that ELITE transport is first class... few and far between.  Enjoy your cellulose based audio! There's no way you have a spouse in the house.

Eric

Thanks... I think. I can't help but feel a little sarcasm in there for some reason. And no, no spouse.

No, really. I'd be glad to own it. Have you modded it, or is it stock?

It's all stock. I'm not aware of any mods for it. It's actually quite hard to find any kind of information on it really. Heck, for that matter, there's only been a couple of reviews on it so far. While talking to David Kan of 6moons about my KingRex Pre-Amp, I suggested to him about possibly reviewing the Elite PD-D6-J. However, this was he response...

"I've read a lot of good things about the Elite series in Chinese audio magazines though. In this part of the world unfortunately, a lot of so called audiophiles rated CDP performance based on $$$ and they missed out on a lot."

I don't really understand this though. If Stereophile and all these other big publications can do full write-ups on those little cheap plastic Oppo players that are under $200, why the heck can't they review an actual, decent unit that costs $600? Makes no sense to me.

[EARGASM]

Removed by member.

[Chops]

No, and they're not the kind that don't respond to emails either.

[Chops]

I was just thinking about something and figured I'd ask while it's still fresh in my noodle.

With the servo subs and amp, is the preamp out on those amps crossed over as well, or are they just a pass-thru, sending the full signal through?

[Danny Richie]

The RCA output on the amp are just a pass through from the input so that amps can be daisy chained.