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Realistic Fe-103/40-1197 Electronics Illustrated 1965

nerdorama

nerdorama

AK member
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I have a small pair of DIY speakers that someone built per this article. They are built from the article and came with a copy of the article when I bought them. They are made from 7/8" solid walnut and have the old knobby cotton grill cloth. I think they have a nice vibe to them. Unfortunately the vintage drivers had problems. One had a rubbing voice coil and was ruined. The other had a very hard surround but I was able to strip the old coating and reseal with the @RoyC sealer. The design includes a notch filter which I wonder about. Anyone ever built this early design? I have some newer RS 40-1197's which I just got installed yesterday. Haven't listened yet. One of these days I will make some measurements and try to decide about the notch filter. Mean time I thought I would ask to see if anyone else ever had or built this design.
Merry Christmas,
John
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics-Illustrated/Electronics-Illustrated-1965-11.pdf
 
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The picture shows a Foster FE-103 speaker, but the parts list shows an Olson speaker. I wonder if one of the Fostex speakers Madisound sells would be a good match?
 
There is another version of this article floating around that says to use the 40-1197 Realistic. I think this was included with the early RS 40-1197's. I have a printed copy of it.
 

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nerdorama said:
There is another version of this article floating around that says to use the 40-1197 Realistic. I think this was included with the early RS 40-1197's. I have a printed copy of it.
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Realistic did use Foster drivers with RS part numbers on them. Some of the Solo speakers used Foster full range drivers. Foster/Fostex made other drivers for them also.
 
I picked up a pair perhaps 20 years ago. They had the Foster/Radio Shack 103 in them and that network, so had obviously been built from this design. I was disappointed in the sound - probably the caps needed replacing, but I didn't know about recapping at the time. More significant was that the maker had used 3/4 or 1 inch thick knotty pine for the cabinet and had radiused the front edges and then polyurethaned - they were really ugly. I pulled the drivers intending to use them in TQWPs but got distracted. They are floating around somewhere, but the enclosures are long gone.
 
It is the R/S 40-1197 which is a version of the Fostex FE-103.
upload_2020-12-25_20-15-53.png
source: https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/flipbook/1967_radioshack_catalog.html

An FE-103 is still available (actually, two different versions) -- Madisound's got 'em

FWIW, I have a cosmetically mismatched pair (i.e., two different projects) of the Electronics Illustrated minspeakers in the basement.
40-1197insitu by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
upload_2020-12-25_20-29-1.png

I also have a pair of the modern Fostex "Kanspea" (no contouring circuit at all) with (IIRC) the FE-103En variant, too, speaking of "FWIW".

049 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

I am not a huge fan of the FE-103 family -- they're OK, though.
 
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Lavane said:
The picture shows a Foster FE-103 speaker, but the parts list shows an Olson speaker.
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S-732 was Olson's part number for FE-103.

Olson_FE-103.jpg

The Shack's marketing department was savvy enough to leverage the project article in their ads. 40-1197 apparently sold well enough to prompt offering their own factory built version -- the Solo-103 -- just a couple of years later.
 
Mmmm... pair of Solo-103s in the basement, too. :cool:

They don't have the contour filter, either -- at least,I don't think they do. I never checked.
 
mhardy6647 said:
Mmmm... pair of Solo-103s in the basement, too. :cool:

They don't have the contour filter, either -- at least,I don't think they do. I never checked.
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Been curious about that myself.
Interesting that Radio Shack at some point began offering an "equalizer kit" 40-808 for 40-1197.

EQ_kit.jpg

Whether or not Solo-103 has a filter might have been influenced by the accounting department. Weighing additional parts cost against expected returns to the bottom line could have rendered a decision that raw response was "good enough."
 
Old thread but I found THE article! Those orange surround version was special. Also the KLH 4" mid/KLH 20 drivers are very good with a few light coats of clear polyurethane ( spray ). Ditto the later black paper 1197. For anyone who stumbles in here. Tang Band 4" bamboo brought me here. PPS that Olsen was a front roll, Fostex is reverse roll.
 
I have collected quite a few of these 40-1197/FE-103 drivers over the years and they have had an interesting progression. The first series Foster drivers were manufactured in Japan and then production moved to South Korea, then Taiwan, and ultimately China. Some early models had vented dust caps as well. The cones started off white and then became black over the years. The cloth surrounds started off orange and untreated, then were chemically treated, and ultimately became black and chemically treated. Often times the chemically treated surrounds harden and become very stiff which really diminishes sound quality moving them from an extended range driver to an upper midrange/tweeter.

I had my speaker repair guy put a custom foam surround on one (he used a slightly larger diameter surround and cut out a section then re-glued at the overlap) and the inherent tizziness response peaks of this driver although subdued somewhat are still present. Not a great sounding driver by any means but great for talk radio in a noisy environment! (lol)
 
Hmmm, thank you. I hadn't thought of that. I have a University Diffusacone like that. When I find a mate i'll try rubber surrounds on them.
 
I bought a pair of blown Realistic Solo 103 speakers. I found a pair of NOS 40-1197 drivers on ebay. I put them in and hooked them up to my Realistic SA 102. I am impressed. I think I found something truly magical. They are in a Kallax 8 holed shelf on its side. They create a nice tight amount of bass in this set-up. I listen to this system more than any other system I have throughout the house. It is that pleasant.
 
stickman said:
I have collected quite a few of these 40-1197/FE-103 drivers over the years and they have had an interesting progression. The first series Foster drivers were manufactured in Japan and then production moved to South Korea, then Taiwan, and ultimately China. Some early models had vented dust caps as well. The cones started off white and then became black over the years. The cloth surrounds started off orange and untreated, then were chemically treated, and ultimately became black and chemically treated. Often times the chemically treated surrounds harden and become very stiff which really diminishes sound quality moving them from an extended range driver to an upper midrange/tweeter.

I had my speaker repair guy put a custom foam surround on one (he used a slightly larger diameter surround and cut out a section then re-glued at the overlap) and the inherent tizziness response peaks of this driver although subdued somewhat are still present. Not a great sounding driver by any means but great for talk radio in a noisy environment! (lol)
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A bit of a thread revival, but I have a set of Foster or Coral 5" drivers out of a Sony RTR that had totally hard red cloth surrounds. I treated them with the brake fluid method, and the surround compliance was vastly improved. It's worth noting that there will likely be some bleed onto the cone, but who cares...

It did totally transform the sound of the drivers. I've been listening to them on and off for the last few months. They've yet to really wow me, but there is something that makes me come back.
 
Stuart Pedaso said:
S-732 was Olson's part number for FE-103.

View attachment 2077194

The Shack's marketing department was savvy enough to leverage the project article in their ads. 40-1197 apparently sold well enough to prompt offering their own factory built version -- the Solo-103 -- just a couple of years later.
Click to expand...

I've had a pair of Solo 103. Until someone offered me more than I could turn down, to use them as small studio "check monitors". Like a better alternative to the ubiquitous Auratone, I guess.

They were pretty good, on-axis. They did sound much better that way, then off-axis to the sides, IME. Way more even treble response.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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