Akai/Foster JMI FE103 Open Baffle completed

I got the Akai/Foster 12" with the JMI FE-103 clone 4" completes today on baffles that have seen lots of different speaker configurations in them.

This set up seems to sound sweet to my ears, the last modification I did was I added a single 22uf capacitor in line with the 4" speaker in first order to roll it off at 900hz. The little 4" woofer was working to hard to reach the lower bass notes and had cone breakup.

I opted to mirror image this pair.

Next Open Baffle Project: Akai/Foster 12" woofers with Foster FE-103 4" clone full range

My next open baffle project will be this Akai/Foster 12" woofer matched up with a JMI Japanese Machinery and Metals 4" full range speaker.

The JMI full range resembles a Foster FE-103 speaker in every fashion. The JMI and Akai are both ferrite magnet speakers. Presently I have them set up on a temporary baffle until I make some new baffles. I am running both speakers without a crossover, relying on their natural roll off, so far this combination is the one I like the best out of the three I tried today.

Of course the finished product will not look like this, this was just a temporary set up to get an idea of matching the speakers and the sound.

I tried these 4" alnico full range also and found I needed to croos them over with a 15uf capacitor, still the 4" speakers shouted louder than the woofer and the bass was mismatched to the woofer output.

Last I tried a pair of Foster FE-163 speakers, these too were much more efficient than the 12" woofers and sounded unbalanced. I think the Foster Fe-163 will saved for a back horn loaded speaker build in the future.

Audio Nirvana Super 12 Ferrite Open Baffles

Lucky me, I have been manifesting a pair of Audio Nirvana full range speakers for over one year and a pair finally landed on my lap today, locally.

These speakers are from David Dicks online site called Common Sense Audio. There one can find all the products that are single driver full range specifically for Single Ended Tube amp nuts like myself.

A friend has a had a pair of the Classic 10 Ferrite  connected to the Audio Nirvana EL34 Single Ended Tube amp, we listened to them just leaned up on the floor and I was impressed with the sound knowing full well a open baffle or a proper enclosure would make these rally shine.

I am super stoked to be writing this blog post as these play in the back ground.

I think the quest for an open baffle full range set up is nearing an end, as these play I now feel I might be selling some excess speakers.

I am glad it is near winter, cold dark and rainy in the Pacific North West as I get to loose myself in the sweet, sweet sound of a Single Ended Tube amp and this pair of open baffle Audio Nirvana 12" Ferrites!!

Finally!!!!! I think I am at the ultimate sound set up to indulge in audio ascension bliss.

Rotel RX-950AX Receiver and Rotel RCD-955AX CD Player

A beautiful combination Rotel receiver and CD player landed in my possession recently. The Rotel RX-950AX receiver and the RCD-955AX CD player.

The RX-950AX receiver is rated at 50 watts per channel and sound fabulous on my Advent speakers, for some reason solid state does not work well with open baffles, only a tube amp seems to sound well.

The sound stage is wonderful and almost as revealing as a tube amp. A very nice sounding solid state receiver.

Viking SC 5813 Receiver

An interesting Viking receiver came my direction a while back, Viking was the house brand for a Canadian department store called Eatons. Back in the 70's and 80's Sears, Eatons and Woodwards all had some sort of department house line of stereo equipment.

These units were always made in Japan at the time and branded under their own name.

This Viking SC 5813 receiver is also branded under Lafayette LR-3030 and the Setton RS-229 models, although the Setton had some differences.

This unit was from 1977 and was rated at 30 watts per channel. It had the classic silver face of that era and has a warmer tube sound to it but as with all solid state units they never reveal all the detail in the music due to the complexity of the circuits verse a Single Ended tube amp.

Eatons department store is long gone and these units are pretty rare to find, this one is in really good condition, so a pretty cool find in the vintage audio world.

Acoustic Research AR18S Speakers

A new arrival this week is this pair of Acoustic Research AR18S speakers. This is my second pair of AR18's the last was a few years back in this pair of AR18B speakers, which I really enjoyed.

This little pair is probably a little earlier version of the AR18B's that I had as the cabinets are not as refined.

 

 

The foam surrounds on this pair seem to still have life left in them and could use a new set somewhere along the line before I pass them along. To make sure they are good for another 30 years. One thing that seems to be happening and I have seen it before is the copper leads are exposed to oxidization and this pair seems to become a victim of such issue. Generally they try to cover the leads with a membrane to prevent oxidization but they seem to miss out on some sections.

I will get the solder iron out and tin in a new copper lead on all four of the leads on the restore of these speakers, it will probably happen in a few weeks. While in there maybe a recap will happen too.

I am excited to get another pair of these little gems and can't wait to hear how they sound.

Realistic Minimus 7 Speakers

Another pair of Realistic Minimus 7 speakers showed up, these are the most sought after Japanese made ones with the model # 40-2030A.

These speakers always are great scores and well worth picking up as they have great sound for such a small package.

Best suited to the original Realistic System Seven I once had. But work well with any solid state amplifier.

Tivoli Audio Model Three

Another Henry Kloss treasure arrived lately, Tivoli Audio Model Three. This is a modern take on the original KLH Model 21 table top radio that I had a few years ago. These are essentially speaker boxes first with a radio inserted, audio first and frills second.

Super cool simple European design, I love cool well thought out stylish products. And the sound is superb for such a small unit, super cool.

Advent/1 Speakers

A recent trip to Vancouver yielded this pair of Advent/1 speakers from a local thrift store. I have had many Advents Speakers come my way including the Advent 5012, the New Large Advent, the Smaller Advent, the Baby Advent, the Advent 2002 and a pair of Advent 2W that were in my possession before the birth of this blog. Needless to say I have been a big fan of Advents along with EPI speakers as both are well designed 2 way acoustic suspension speakers.


This pair is a later version with the metal woofer basket but still with the fried egg tweeter. New foam surrounds were needed after 40 years. The cabinets are real wood veneer and I would rate them a 7 out of 10 at this point. These definitely needed some serious dust cleaning at this point.

 I really like  this set of Advent/1 speakers and they remind me of the New Large Advent I had but the cabinet is not as nice and the bass extension is close but not as deep as the New Large Advents, the rest of the speaker has the same acoustic signature as its' big brother.

I am currently running these off my Electrohome Push/Pull tube amp and I am really pleased with the detail of the sound plus the warm deep bass that these are known for. Although I am a big open baffle fan I will keep this pair of speakers around for a bit, these are easily my favorite 2 way 10 inch speaker that I have come across. Just to note that the EPI 100 are my favorite 2 way 8 inch speaker.

There is plenty of opinions on how these speakers won accolades in the 1970's as one of the best speakers for the money. I would tend to agree that these are great speakers and I am pleased as punch to come across a pair, Way to go Henry Kloss.

PSB 300 Speakers

It has been awhile since I posted and now that I got a small space to enjoy audio again a few things have come my way.

A 6.5 inch woofer and a Vifa T19 tweeter make up the drivers in this pair. The cabinet is a bass reflex to add a bit of bottom end ooomph.

These are definitely a nice compact bookshelf speaker that sound pretty neutral when driven with my push/pull tube amp. I will get a chance to hook them up to a Solid State amplifier soon and they should sound different, but with the tube amp they do everything nicely.

Open Baffle Isophon PH2132E

It has been a while since posting as life has had some significant changes for me in the past year. I had moved from Vancouver to Victoria and in the process downsized my speaker collection which unfortunately has been in storage.

Life is taking me on a different path at present and I do miss having my HiFi, I currently do not have the space to set everything up. I still have been scouring the internet and thrift stores but I find myself passing on lots of gear.

I do have a good collection of raw drivers and many projects in my head but these will wait until I have the space to return to them.

That being said I did sell my Isophon PH2132E with a pair of helper 12" alnico woofers to a HiFi enthusiast named Vlad.

He has since designed his open baffles with a bit of corroboration from me, I really like the way the project turned out.

I would have loved to hear these on my SET amp in my old man cave.