Group buy 3fe22 anyone?

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   I'm thinking of building some cheap and cheerful boomboxes for the family as Christmas presents this year and it seems the 3fe22 gives the most bang for the buck in a small form factor and weight (I'm thinking 2 drivers in a 4 litre reflex tuned to 105Hz powered with a PAM8403 2x 3 Watt amplifier (£0.99 delivered off eBay.. with a volume pot built in!) giving a respectable 100dB SPL at 1 metre and a frequency response of around 87-20kHz +/-3dB (up until the higher registers at least, where it gets a bit wavy!)
With no high pass filter they reach their xmax (1.83mm) quickly (edging over it to around 3mm in the 40-75Hz region at peak output but still well within safe limits), and with that amount of air displacement on each side of 2 cones they should have a satisfying level of bass.

I'm not sure what the current pricing is on these drivers but last time I asked I was quoted 9.12 euros + tax and shipping direct from Faital in a box of 36.

That works out something like £9 per driver which is a big discount on their UK retail price of £20 (hard to find in 4ohm also I think) and I'm going to need 12 of them, but not more if I can help it so I need to find a home for the other 24.

These work for all sorts of applications - Minirig clones, column speakers, boominators, etc. The high end response is a bit too much but I understand it may be possible to tame that by using a fairly dense grille (I think DaveyT and Saturnus may know something about this), and for the price I don't know any close equivalents.

PM or reply here if this is something you'd be interested in.

http://www.faitalpro.com/en/products/LF_Loudspeakers/product_details/index.php?id=401000100 for details of the driver

Edited by Hemisphere - 29 October 2014 at 11:57pm

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
Hemisphere Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 21 April 2008 Status: Offline Points: 2272	Post Options Post Reply Quote Hemisphere Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Group buy 3fe22 anyone? Posted: 29 October 2014 at 11:54pm
	I'm thinking of building some cheap and cheerful boomboxes for the family as Christmas presents this year and it seems the 3fe22 gives the most bang for the buck in a small form factor and weight (I'm thinking 2 drivers in a 4 litre reflex tuned to 105Hz powered with a PAM8403 2x 3 Watt amplifier (£0.99 delivered off eBay.. with a volume pot built in!) giving a respectable 100dB SPL at 1 metre and a frequency response of around 87-20kHz +/-3dB (up until the higher registers at least, where it gets a bit wavy!) With no high pass filter they reach their xmax (1.83mm) quickly (edging over it to around 3mm in the 40-75Hz region at peak output but still well within safe limits), and with that amount of air displacement on each side of 2 cones they should have a satisfying level of bass. I'm not sure what the current pricing is on these drivers but last time I asked I was quoted 9.12 euros + tax and shipping direct from Faital in a box of 36. That works out something like £9 per driver which is a big discount on their UK retail price of £20 (hard to find in 4ohm also I think) and I'm going to need 12 of them, but not more if I can help it so I need to find a home for the other 24. These work for all sorts of applications - Minirig clones, column speakers, boominators, etc. The high end response is a bit too much but I understand it may be possible to tame that by using a fairly dense grille (I think DaveyT and Saturnus may know something about this), and for the price I don't know any close equivalents. PM or reply here if this is something you'd be interested in. http://www.faitalpro.com/en/products/LF_Loudspeakers/product_details/index.php?id=401000100 for details of the driver Edited by Hemisphere - 29 October 2014 at 11:57pm

Teunos Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 23 November 2008 Location: The Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 1799	Post Options Post Reply Quote Teunos Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 10:30am
	if you put quite a few of them in a line above each other, i'm sure these could work very well indeed in a home-theater setup. For the price, i don't see any problem in buying 36 of them at a time. Buy one or two to test and if you're happy with them, just take the full box. at a tenner a pop, you really can't go wrong i think.
	Best regards, Teun.

slaz Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 27 November 2009 Location: London E2 Status: Offline Points: 2713	Post Options Post Reply Quote slaz Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 12:40pm
	Hmm yes .... thinking now about 2 of those and some 4" plastic drain pipe :-) Wonder if 2 (one in each end of a section) would achieve something like a "boominator effect" ? Otherwise 2 shorter sections with a driver in each. You played with the reflex loading ? Sealed might work quite well also I'd have thought. I think I'd look at a 2020 amp module and a 3S LiPo pack though = ~15W/channel -> 4R .... Could be cute eh ?
	REMEMBER....POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON

Hemisphere Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 21 April 2008 Status: Offline Points: 2272	Post Options Post Reply Quote Hemisphere Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 12:48pm
	Teunos, I agree and would love to do something like that also but money is tight and that's another £220 to spend. Slaz: I think two on either end of a plastic pipe would definitely work something like the boominator. Sealed is also an option and it's better if you want to go for a higher power level (or use them with a sub). If you cross them high (300Hz or more) in a very small sealed box you can theoretically power them to their thermal limit which is around 80 Watts, so in columns there's a real potential for PA application too. As I mentioned putting just 3 watts into each driver with a bass reflex is more than enough to hit xmax - you could give them more but would need some EQ. I've got 4 here already and will be doing some testing/measurements before committing to a box, I'll post the results here. Edited by Hemisphere - 30 October 2014 at 1:04pm

Saturnus Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 13 July 2010 Location: Copenhagen Status: Offline Points: 2025	Post Options Post Reply Quote Saturnus Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 1:05pm
	I have tested most of the smaller Faital drivers and found them lacking especially in the bass for portable use. They will work quite well as quad lines for very compact monitors. Either on their own or with a tweeter in the middle arranged in d'Appolito configuration. I much prefer the Monacor SP60 in 4 or 8 ohm version, and they are already £10-12 each from eg. Blue Aran. I should note that the SP60 is just as "full-range" as the smaller Faitals, ie. both can work as such but both really are better used with a tweeter for the top 2 octaves.

Hemisphere Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 21 April 2008 Status: Offline Points: 2272	Post Options Post Reply Quote Hemisphere Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 1:33pm
	True, the SP60 is likely the better driver but there are application specific circumstances where a smaller, and considerably lighter (240 vs 900 grams) driver is nicer. The bass performance can be rectified with a port, it just bottoms out very quickly. With a PAM8403 running on 5v my total spend is less than £30. The next step up in an ultra-budget build would be a 2024 which needs a 12v battery so that's at least another £12 or so. (I usually spend about a tenner at Christmas!). If only using 6 watts the extra potential of the sp60s in the bass end is wasted.

Saturnus Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 13 July 2010 Location: Copenhagen Status: Offline Points: 2025	Post Options Post Reply Quote Saturnus Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 2:00pm
	A reflex cab can only do so much, and in this case not enough in my opinion. I'd also like to point out that getting a reflex cab to work properly becomes increasingly difficult the smaller the driver and cabinet is as the tolerances to error becomes exponentially smaller. It's not to say it can't be done if you for example have a cabinet with very fixed dimensions, like a molded plastic box from IKEA or something like that.

WesleyK Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Registered User Joined: 24 December 2012 Status: Offline Points: 90	Post Options Post Reply Quote WesleyK Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 2:14pm
	@Hemisphere, the monacors are 660gr each. I have used the 3fe25 version before and it sounded quite nice in combination with a small subwoofer :)

Hemisphere Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 21 April 2008 Status: Offline Points: 2272	Post Options Post Reply Quote Hemisphere Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 2:20pm
	Well I'm willing to give it a shot unless there's a better alternative. The cabinet dimensions aren't fixed (other than 'as small and light as possible') but the budget dimensions are.

KWB75 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Registered User Joined: 10 November 2007 Status: Offline Points: 259	Post Options Post Reply Quote KWB75 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 2:27pm
	I'd give Davey T a nudge, he had a load of Monacor SPH-30x hanging around. I bought 4 at a really good price, he may be able to sort you out a deal. They'd be ideal for your application, work well in a small box and goes plenty high enough to lose the need for a tweeter.

Hemisphere Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 21 April 2008 Status: Offline Points: 2272	Post Options Post Reply Quote Hemisphere Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 2:41pm
	Yes I remember he was selling them, it was so long ago though I assumed they must have all gone by now. They'd be perfect.

Saturnus Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 13 July 2010 Location: Copenhagen Status: Offline Points: 2025	Post Options Post Reply Quote Saturnus Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 October 2014 at 3:08pm
	The sph30x is ideal, and if you can get a good deal on those I'd go with that. They're a bit pricey at normal retail of around £50 though. Might wanna consider a notch filter in the tweeter range or they can be a bit "bright" but the same goes for the 3fe22s.