Feastrex
- Thread starter Redboy
- Start date
Redboy
a few good watts
Pretty much. The dealer sent me the most current version, which is slightly different, I think.
Excuse my ignorance Nate, but if you only need 6.5vdc, couldn't you use a walwart of some sort. (that rhymed) I could not find any specs on these. Do you have a data sheet.
I may have to downsize as some point and was thinking about something like this so I am very interested in how they perform.
Nice cabs by the way.
I may have to downsize as some point and was thinking about something like this so I am very interested in how they perform.
Nice cabs by the way.
Redboy
a few good watts
Hey Dennis, thanks. I think I could use a wall wart for these, but the key is to provide a very clean source of DC to the drivers. Most of the cheap wall warts out there would be fairly noisy, from what I understand.
This power supply, while simple, is built of high quality parts. I received the transformer set with the drivers, but I had to wire up the supply myself. The guys who designed these things have spent some years experimenting with different designs and components, and they have very specific recommendations about the circuit and what parts to use, down to the brand and item number of capacitor, diode, etc (I went astray on the capacitors, using some high quality film caps I had onhand). Though the power supply is not in the signal chain, its interaction with the driver affects the sound and they report that a regulated supply, whether constant voltage or constant current, interacts negatively with the audio amplifier. I wouldn't know at this point but I hope to experiment after I've familiarized myself with these a little more.
I don't have a datasheet for these, and to my knowledge it does not exist. If you research the drivers more, you'll find that the "speaker guys" are a bit... irked about the lack of extensive measurements and datasheets.
This power supply, while simple, is built of high quality parts. I received the transformer set with the drivers, but I had to wire up the supply myself. The guys who designed these things have spent some years experimenting with different designs and components, and they have very specific recommendations about the circuit and what parts to use, down to the brand and item number of capacitor, diode, etc (I went astray on the capacitors, using some high quality film caps I had onhand). Though the power supply is not in the signal chain, its interaction with the driver affects the sound and they report that a regulated supply, whether constant voltage or constant current, interacts negatively with the audio amplifier. I wouldn't know at this point but I hope to experiment after I've familiarized myself with these a little more.
I don't have a datasheet for these, and to my knowledge it does not exist. If you research the drivers more, you'll find that the "speaker guys" are a bit... irked about the lack of extensive measurements and datasheets.
Congrats Nate on getting them up and running...what fantastic looking speakers they've turned out to be! Knowing what you've had and sensing the excitement in your posts says to me that they're really something special. Would love to hear more impressions about the sound as this continues.
I think that the problem with wall warts, other than the noise mentioned, is the current. And that'd be a problem with batteries, eventually.
Here's what one guy said about his Lowther field coils after a day of use
3A is a pretty decent continuous current. Not sure what the current draw on the Feastrex coils is, but having a nice stout DC power supply looks like a wise move.
Here's what one guy said about his Lowther field coils after a day of use
3A is a pretty decent continuous current. Not sure what the current draw on the Feastrex coils is, but having a nice stout DC power supply looks like a wise move.
audiozaz
rtfm!? - tl;dr
Alright man! I didn't know this new forum was up until I stumbled here on a AK-wide search.
So these are the new speakers after all. Not what I was expecting, but not too far in a sense also. Whatever happened to the Hartley's you had a while ago, I don't recall you ever posted anything on these? Were they just a loaner or they simply didn't make the cut?
The cabinets look great and are of a good form factor. Just how high are they? Starting at ~1 meter, you might want to call these MLTL's. I dig the adjustable supply as a way to tune the motor strenght, I had wondered about this for a long time. I like fullrange drivers a lot too, but I don't think I could commit to that level.
I think these would indeed benefit from some damping material, at least on two or three walls near the driver, given that it probably has a very thin and light cone, which will telegraph any standing wave, but you'll get a sense of it with further use.
I'll look forward to you impression on the sound. I'm especially interested in how much the bass and midrange balance will be affected by different field-coil drive levels. This might just be the ultimate audiophile-approved tone control!
And it's not like you can bring him in front and tell him not to ever touch, you just know he'll go straight for it when you blink.
OTOH, you don't put grilles on these!
Congrats on the trade-up and enjoy!
az
So these are the new speakers after all. Not what I was expecting, but not too far in a sense also. Whatever happened to the Hartley's you had a while ago, I don't recall you ever posted anything on these? Were they just a loaner or they simply didn't make the cut?
The cabinets look great and are of a good form factor. Just how high are they? Starting at ~1 meter, you might want to call these MLTL's. I dig the adjustable supply as a way to tune the motor strenght, I had wondered about this for a long time. I like fullrange drivers a lot too, but I don't think I could commit to that level.
I think these would indeed benefit from some damping material, at least on two or three walls near the driver, given that it probably has a very thin and light cone, which will telegraph any standing wave, but you'll get a sense of it with further use.
I'll look forward to you impression on the sound. I'm especially interested in how much the bass and midrange balance will be affected by different field-coil drive levels. This might just be the ultimate audiophile-approved tone control!
And it's not like you can bring him in front and tell him not to ever touch, you just know he'll go straight for it when you blink.
OTOH, you don't put grilles on these!Congrats on the trade-up and enjoy!
az
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Redboy
a few good watts
Thanks, John. I really am pleased with how the cabinets turned out - I think they do the understated elegance thing quite well.
You may be picking up on a growing "Asian audiophile" theme here, not just in the way my room looks (that's coincidence, mostly) but also in the type of gear and the evolution of my system. My interests in this hobby have been gravitating in that direction for a few years now. I like their emphasis on audio reproduction as art and mystery more than the Western "scientific method" with all it's datapoints and specifications. I'm making gross generalizations here, of course, but I think you understand...
Redboy
a few good watts
Welcome to The Cutting Edge, az.Alright man! I didn't know this new forum was up until I stumbled here on a AK-wide search.
So these are the new speakers after all. Not what I was expecting, but not too far in a sense also. Whatever happened to the Hartley's you had a while ago, I don't recall you ever posted anything on these? Were they just a loaner or they simply didn't make the cut?
The cabinets look great and are of a good form factor. Just how high are they? Starting at ~1 meter, you might want to call these MLTL's. I dig the adjustable supply as a way to tune the motor strenght, I had wondered about this for a long time. I like fullrange drivers a lot too, but I don't think I could commit to that level.
I think these would indeed benefit from some damping material, at least on two or three walls near the driver, given that it probably has a very thin and light cone, which will telegraph any standing wave, but you'll get a sense of it with further use.
I'll look forward to you impression on the sound. I'm especially interested in how much the bass and midrange balance will be affected by different field-coil drive levels. This might just be the ultimate audiophile-approved tone control!
I still have the Hartleys. They need cabinets, and the local boys have some ideas.
The Feastrex cabs are pretty small. The overall height is about 90cm, or ~35 inches. Drivers are approx. 29 inches off the ground, but I'll be adding feet or spikes or... something of some sort. There's a very slight lean to the cabinets so the drivers are angled upward a touch.
I'll experiment with damping and all that later...
audiozaz
rtfm!? - tl;dr
Welcome to The Cutting Edge, az.
I still have the Hartleys. They need cabinets, and the local boys have some ideas.
The Feastrex cabs are pretty small. The overall height is about 90cm, or ~35 inches. Drivers are approx. 29 inches off the ground, but I'll be adding feet or spikes or... something of some sort. There's a very slight lean to the cabinets so the drivers are angled upward a touch.
I'll experiment with damping and all that later...
You might be getting a bit of re-inforcement around 100Hz with that cabinet height, it should add a bit of extra punch.
Both methods have some merit and can produce great (as well as bad) speakers IMO. That's where I recently drew inspiration for my small Fostex back-load horns. I did use T/S based simulation, but only up to a point and changed some things subjectively in the end. Playing with Karlsons also has a solid footing in this area.
az
Redboy
a few good watts
Absolutely! I think what I am trying to say is that it doesn't have to be an either/or proposition.
TerryO
Super Member
You might be getting a bit of re-inforcement around 100Hz with that cabinet height, it should add a bit of extra punch.
Both methods have some merit and can produce great (as well as bad) speakers IMO. That's where I recently drew inspiration for my small Fostex back-load horns. I did use T/S based simulation, but only up to a point and changed some things subjectively in the end. Playing with Karlsons also has a solid footing in this area.
az
I have a friend that is an ME and part owner in a speaker company. For whatever reason he doesn't use an electrical modelling approach like Thiel/Small, choosing to use a mechanical model instead. He has entered our speaker contest a number of times and has always done quite well.
The Karlson approach is not well understood and I really don't know anyone that I believe has a real solid handle on them. Karlson's own explaination, seems a bit flawed as far as I can tell.
(Do they actually work? Absolutely! :thmbsp
marantzfan
...
Yeah Mike, the hot dog cooker was succesfully converted to a speakerenergizerthingy. I'm pretty glad to have sorted things out before I hooked up the drivers.
I dunno. I liked it better as a fuse-popper/hot-dog-cooker personally.
Fran604g
Love at first sound...
Yeah Mike, the hot dog cooker was succesfully converted to a speakerenergizerthingy. I'm pretty glad to have sorted things out before I hooked up the drivers.
That's a good thing...it might have turned your drivers into smoked sausage, otherwise
jimfet
Lunatic Member
Did you get a good interest rate on the loan?
I am glad to see Feastrex recomends a ported box for their full range drivers. I know David Dicks catches hell for saying ported boxes are the way to go with fullrangers. I would think he knows what goes best with his AN drivers. Plus he explains why on his commonsense audio site.
Wheww...... those are out of my price range though.
I am glad to see Feastrex recomends a ported box for their full range drivers. I know David Dicks catches hell for saying ported boxes are the way to go with fullrangers. I would think he knows what goes best with his AN drivers. Plus he explains why on his commonsense audio site.
Wheww...... those are out of my price range though.
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