New Aiko horn first impressions.

[ssssly]

Got my Aiko horns built. Based on the FE108Ez.

Definately better imaging and more natural sound then the Fostex design cabinets for the 108. Bass is a bit lacking though. I still need to better seal the deflectors to the cabinets so the bass should get a bit better once that is done. At the present it drops like a rock around 80HZ. Also have a couple of large bumps at 250 and 8k. High end rolls off around 16k. Other than that a much better sounding speaker than the Fostex design. Very accurate, with a deep soundstage. Decay on instument notes is natural and they pace very well. Once I get the interconnects burned in and the deflectors properly sealed I will do some more measurements and see about smoothing out the bumps. Overall at the moment I am very impressed with overall sound but disappointed in the lack of bass. The fact that I have them hooked up to a $50 panasonic desktop receiver could be causing some of the issues as well.More to come in a few days. 

 

[bernieclub]

Nice speakers....I've been toying with the idea myself.    As for bass, try putting a 2 or 3 ohm resistor in series with your speaker cable to simulate the high output impedance of a SET.....that should give you a taste of bass!
Bernie

 

[ssssly]

Sealed the deflectors to the cabinets with a ton of poster tack and left them playing all night to burn the cables in a bit. Sounding a little better. Good enough to want to hook them up to a decent amp at least. Which reminds me I, I'm off to finish my S.E.X. amp.

 

[ssssly]

Hooked up the SEX amp to the Aikos and rapidly came to the conclusion that they do not play well together. Sounds good at low volumes with simple music but if you turn it up or add too many instruments everything falls apart rather quickly. Think they are going to end up in the home theater system.

 

[Doc B]

Yes the Fostexes are going to be limited in how loudly they can play complex instrumental music. It's just the nature of the beast. Relieving them of some bass duties can help.

 

[ssssly]

Not to be without 5 new projects before the last ten are complete I have started planning a new speaker system. Thinking of building some Tuba HT bass horns to take up the low end with an open baffle arrangement. Not that that will work with the SEX either. Have been toying with the idea of using my ST70 to run the bass horn the SEX to handle the open baffle and the SR45 I have yet to build to run a compression horn for the highs. Or perhaps my PII to run the open baffle and use the SEX for headphones and building a small screw loaded TL system to listen to the SEX in the bedroom. The SEX does sound great with my 600ohm AKG 240Ms. Can't drive them to ear bleeding levels but gets plenty loud and sounds great.