The Holy Grail by Craig Schmidt One of the best things about the DIY portion of this hobby is the fact that you can experiment to your hearts content. Plus you have the chance that something truly amazing will come out of it. Attaching names to these speaker projects can also be fun. I have called my latest creation, "The Holy Grail". "Why Craig?" you ask? Because guys and gals after thirty-four years in this hobby I have finally come up with a GREAT speaker system. I have owned many good speakers but this one tops them all. Wanting to break away from the norm, I started looking for a driver that might be promising. I looked in the Fostex catalog (using Japanese acrobat) and found an interesting driver, the FX200. This unit had a very flat response and good extension. I emailed EIFL for a price. They were only (only?) $150 each plus shipping. I figured what the hell. I'll give them a try. When I received them I was shocked. The build quality on them was better than the Fostex 208's (and they are damn good!). They look just like the JBL LE8T-H drivers but the fit and finish is far superior. Everything was not rosy though. Fostex does not offer T/S parameters on this driver. They do tell you what size cabinet to use and what size port, but that was it. I called them about this and asked for more info, and there response was " Huh" (in Japanese of course). I did not want to use the port size that they specified (2 inches), but I did not know how to recalculate. (I am sure some of you could have figured this out). I had been reading lately about using passive radiators instead of ports, but calculating what size and type to use was WAY over my head. I emailed Lambda Acoustics. In case you don't already know, this company makes first class speakers at what appears to be very attractive prices. Anyhow I told them of my dilemma in regards to the T/S parameters and wanted to try a set of passive radiators instead of ports. That same day I had an answer telling me what I would need. A pair of their 10 radiators cost $120 but I didn't care, I was on a roll.!! I ordered a pair. I also ordered a set of blank cabs from Madisound. They had the exact size (25 liters) I needed and the price was right. They come blank with a real oak finish. These are truly nice cabinets. They look great! (Madisound gives great service as well. Ask for Josh). Construction was pretty straight forward. I cut the holes for the passive radiators on the cabinet sides (mirrored). I did NOT use stuffing this time but did use one sheet of Deflex per box right behind the driver. I used speaker putty to make a good seal between the frames and the cabinet. This stuff works really well. You can get it from Parts Express. (Some people have suggested using Mortite for a sealer. I would not suggest it. I feel it leaves an oily residue which could possibly wick into the wood and stain it.) I wired the Fx200's with the same wire I use from the amp to the speaker cab. Good 16 gauge lamp cord. You probably think I am nuts for using it but for me this wire sounds the best. For what it is worth I have tried many types, some expensive, some cheap. None compare. Before putting the drivers in the cabinet I ran them in for about four hours in sealed cardboard boxes of close to the same size of the real ones. I then mounted the completed speakers on 21 inch stands (from Sanus). As soon as I put the needle down on Jimmy Smith's album called "The Cat" I knew this speaker was something special indeed! The problem is I am not a professional writer. How do I express how these speakers sound? Well, here it goes. TheFX200's do some things that no other loudspeaker I have ever owned has done (and I was buying new speakers every six months to a year for the last 25 years). First off they do not produce any bass when there is no bass. In other words there was nothing mucking up the lower midrange. I did not ever really notice this fault before on all of my other speakers until now. To prove what I was not hearing, I reinstalled one of the better sounding speakers that I have owned, the B&W P6's. Even these produced what I would call added warmth to the sound. I quickly disconnected and reconnected with reality. I have mentioned before about how I feel about imaging. It has to be good to be real sounding. The Fostex FX200 throws a soundstage (at least in my room) like no other. You may not believe this but the presentation emerges in front of the speakers giving the impression of forward depth. That may not be the correct wording but that's the best way I can describe it! Usually you get some depth in between and back away from the speakers, but these are just opposite! Why, I have no idea, maybe someone out there in internet land can explain. As for the bass; when it's there, it is thunderous and clear! These passive radiators make a big difference compared to using a port. I have them both facing in towards each other. They work extremely well. I have heard deeper bass but the speakers were large and definitely not as clear. Subwoofers-forget them. Natural clean sounding bass is where it's at and these speakers produce it! In regards to high frequency extension, this eight inch speaker excels. You will not want for an add on tweeter (nor should you anyway). In my opinion building a full range single driver speaker means just that, no second driver and no crossover. Still speaking of the highs, maybe there are full range drivers that go higher but only your dog will appreciate them. These units DO NOT beam! Dispersion is excellent in the horizontal and vertical yet placement of instruments and human beings are precise. It's uncanny how the image is presented. It's high and wide. Even older recordings like Lee Morgan's "The Gigolo", give off this aura. Now on to amplification. I tried three different amps with fx200's. Two were tube. One was single ended. The little 5 watt Parasex amp sounded fine but so did my push pull 30 watt ASUSA. The transistor amp faired well also but the tube amps definitely sounded better. I wish I had a single ended transistor amp to try. It's funny but on all of the efficient full range speaker systems I have built, the transistor amps are always the noisiest. The old tube even beats them out in that area. Go figure. I could go on and on but you get the idea. I guess the real point here is you should try some of these obscure drivers. Get away from the standard. Go against the grain. Who knows. Maybe you will find your Holy Grail. This is my third and final write up for the DIY section of this website. Even though I have plenty of new/unused drivers around I don't see how I could possibly build a better sounding speaker. I think I will just sit back and listen for a while. As usual; Regards to all. P.S. I would like to thank Nick from Lambda Acoustics. He was very helpful and very professional. Plus the units I purchased from him were very well built. I only wish Lambda would come out with a full range driver for us audio nuts. And lastly: Sini - If you are still out there, these speakers sound fantastic with classical. I am not a fan of this type of music but I decided to listen to a new old stock copy of Rossini Overtures (a Phillips LP imported from the Netherlands). My wife and I listened to the whole album. It was wonderful. (Sini is a forum buddy and the only other person I knew that was interested in the Fostex fx200.) Top