.......

The EnABL stuff definitely smells like voodoo. I would like to see measurements.

The "pre treatment" (or "trifoil" pattern with damar and subsequent mod-podge coating) for the FE127e was indicated by another party's testing. Subsequent measurements proved that the 7 ~ 8 Khz peak has all but completely disappeared. (that peak can be triggered by half the frequency). Have searched high and low and have not come accross any measurements for the "enabling" part and as I understand form the postings it is all based on listening tests and "subjective opinions".

Be aware that the Fostex drivers need considerable time to "loosen up", some will connect them out of phase and place them face to face with a blanket over them and let them play for a week or two before listening. No bass to be expected with less than 25 hours on them at "normal" levels. Horns are also subject to "aging"- the timber needs to acclimatise after the cabinet is constructed, have seen Japanese test results after a day, a week, two weeks and a month and the response curve clearly showed the changes.

Due to the high sensitivity the normal input required is pretty low so do not place a big amplifier in front of it, that 150 watt per channel solid state amplifier is not going to sound nice. (as you already discovered).  Best is a single ended tube amplifier since you won't have crossover distortion.

Edit: Just be aware that with most SE amplifiers any type of passive filtering will increase distortion.

Regarding REW and high levels: on my computer there is a setting to increase the sensitivity of the microphone (like switching on a preamplifier) - afterwards the testing could be done with my Samson USB Go-Mic at pretty low levels (before that I was afraid of destroying the driver).

There is a difference between having with laser detect certain resonance areas in the cone (like the FE127e / FE126e and addressing those with damar)  and the voodoo of painting little dots everywhere. I've got a hard time staying open minded and believing the latter.

I don't know if anyone still follows this topic...

I recently purchased the BK-16 kit and an Elekit TU-8200DX tube amp, and found this thread. I'm really enjoying this combo, and reading this thread from the first page.



Here is a link to a few Nagaoka designs from a Japanese web site. http://homepage3.nifty.com/spida/eng-page9-1-5.htm http://homepage3.nifty.com/spida/eng-page25-6.htm

If you scroll down to the D-3MKII.1 enclosure for a F208e Sigma, you will notice Madisound almost exaclty copied this design for their BK series.

Nagaoka-San is now deceased, but his designs are some what legendary. Having several published books in Japan, with his designs.

Here is another link to the homepage of the same fellow that posted the above D-3MKII.1 enclosure. http://homepage3.nifty.com/spida/framepageeng-9.htm  enjoy browsing! some really interestinfg stuff!

There was another Japanese site that also provided RL horn designs for the Fostex. They used layers of wood machined with a a horn curve stacked together. Can't seem to find it.

http://telavox.web.fc2.com/speaker_box3.html#mmt

http://telavox.web.fc2.com/assembling.html

A little bit pricey, even more so with the special acoustic dampening coating...

These folded horn designs really fascinate me! One of my FE166En have a large crease on the front suspension, and the other has a somewhat smaller one. Don't know how much it affects the sound... Madisound said they would ship a replacement tomorrow, but I asked if I could pay the difference and upgrade to the Sigma, still waiting on their response.

UPDATE: Madisound will let me pay the difference and upgrade to the Sigma's, but they are backordered and a couple weeks out. My hat's off to Madisound for their quick resolution and flexibility.