[crappyjones123]

Up for sale are my recently built pair of the much acclaimed fonkens. read about them here.

Meet the Fonkens

dimensions are 14.5x10x13. they were built with the newer 3/4" wood plans. the design is identical to the 1/2" plan. the drivers were enabled by dave at planet10 and have roughly 100 hours on them at most. all construction was done with 3/4" baltic birch plywood and the spacers are solid cherry. the veneer is stained with a dark cherry stain. the back panel is screwed in using 6 screws to give access to the inside of the cabinet in case any changes are to be made to the wiring or padding. the padding used is dacron padding. i used 1/2" padding lightly on all vertical parallel sides. i wanted to start with a certain amount of padding and then add more as needed after listening. however, after using them for a while i have felt no need to change anything at all. i can include the remaining dacron i have lying around in case the buyer wants to adjust anything further. the wire used was the following.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=404_122&products_id=1248

the binding posts used are the following.

Posts: BG-POSTB Binding Post Black from Madisound

Creations Unlimited  in Boca Raton, FL helped me put everything together. i would like to get $480 + shipping for them. they retail for $1400 from planet10-hifi with the bamboo ply. will accept money orders and paypal however the buy is responsible for the fees. they are rather heavy therefore shipping them out of the us will be cost prohibitive however if the buyer wants to pay for the shipping i have no issues. for another $25 + shipping i can throw in the stands i build for them as well. 3/4" plywood was used for the stands and they are open on one side. VERY helpful bringing the drivers up to ear level. the speakers sound completely different at ear level (MUCH wider sweet spot).

i have plenty of feedback on head fi (headphone enthusiast forum) that can be seen here.

crappyjones123 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

reason for selling - i have the speakers in my office right now. i am a math grad student and share the office with a few other grad students and have to spend roughly 13 hours every day in that room. while i have never heard a better set of speakers yet...(im a midrange junkie and female vocals just make me want to curl up and take a nap) i cant turn them up to even reasonable volumes as i feel guilty about it bothering the office mates. i can only turn them up after 10pm roughly and even then i have to leave at 11pm so i cant enjoy them as i would have hoped to when i was starting out.

please pm me if you have any questions.

thanks,

cj.

[planet10]

Hey guys, as i am very familiar with this design (i'm the designer) i can tell you that CJ is giving these away... this is a real bargin. Drivers alone are worth $250 (and anyone that has heard them agree better dollar value than stock drivers)

Many Fonken have been built, and feedback is universally positive. (Google "fonken speaker")

CJ has done good job has been done building these, but if i got them, i'd glue down the back and replace the binding posts with something with less metal. Once the back is glued down they will need to be removable from the outside. Even these PE ones would be better IMHO, http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=260-302. If you want to go nuts, mount a set of eichmanns in a small cup or on a flat panel.

dave

PS: the bambo ones are bamboo ply, not veneer. Regular ones are a grand a pair and at least a 6 week wait.

[crappyjones123]

i intended to glue the back shut once i had stopped playing with the damping inside. however i never started playing as i didnt feel the need to change anything after the first application of the padding.

//correction regarding bamboo ply made.

[planet10]

I should also note that these speakers are happiest with a higer output impedance amplifier. On mine i most often use a set of highly developed RH84 monoblok variants  (4W). Chris uses SE 2A3 (Bottlehead), SE 300B (Wright), SE EL84 (custom Vaughn) or a lovely little class A 3W PP EL84.

They also work well with a prototype SS variable transimpedance amplifier we have (you just dial in the appropriate output impedance), and i've heard them sound wonderful (and play louder than i thot possible) with a 25W monarchy Class A. Field reports are that the Firstwatt F2 is a marriage made in heaven.

If you have a large room and want to play fairly loud you'll need 10W or so

Bass into the 60s is what i suggest in most cases, but there have been field reports of the 30s, and i have measured into the 40s in 1 room (i'm sure the latter at limited levels).

With the treated drivers, the right source and amp, these have gobs of finese and imaging is second to none. These are not "hifi", they just play music.

If you want to compare against commercial, i picked these over a set of 6k Sonus Faber standmounts.

dave

[crappyjones123]

bump

[crappyjones123]

$460 shipped.

[crappyjones123]

$375 + actual shipping + any fees. my best offer.

[crappyjones123]

$350 + actual shipping and fees if purchased before monday.

[nunhgrader]

How tall are these (or maybe you have sold these)? I'm looking at the link and I think these are tad to tall for my needs but, they sure are pretty!

Slightly too tall - great bargain to whomever snags these!

[persisting1]

dimensions are 14.5x10x13

How tall are these (or maybe you have sold these)? I'm looking at the link and I think these are tad to tall for my needs but, they sure are pretty!