Roots Archives Forum

Since all of you play lots of juicy reggae, I'm sure you all have your personal champion sound at home - and I want to see it! I'm expecting some Super Scoopers, Mostec preamps and dub sirens... or just some fun hifi stuff. Post away!

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This year I built my first two pairs of speakers for the [Fostex FE166En](http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs ... E166En.pdf) 6.5" full-range driver.

The first pair I built was a TQWT very similar to, if not exactly, [these](http://www.bonavolta.ch/hobby/images/audio/tqwt1.gif) plans. They sound great in my opinion. Nice punch and the bass goes surprisingly deep but is not out of control, however lack sharpness in the tops. Great for rub-a-dub! [Real life photo](http://i.imgur.com/I8gzoBd.jpg). (The color is not the one I aimed for...)

I just finished the second pair. They are ["angular spiral" speakers](http://i.imgur.com/0UKHfQz.gif) designed with the same driver in mind. The bass is much more constrained and the rest is more or less unchanged. I can crank up the volume and get a bit more out of the tops without irritating the neighbors, though. Still sound pretty good, but not for the roots and culture.

My power amp is a [SMSL SA-36a Pro](http://www.amazon.com/SA-36A-TPA3118D2D ... B00JXCEDGS), $50 Chinese T-Amp, and I use a cheap ($25) Chinese tube headphone/preamp, model Little Bear P2-1.

Luxman L10

see www.lickitback.co.uk

Rotel pre-amp pimped by Wollenweber
Rotel power amp
Dynaudio Audience 70 2way speakers
T + A speaker six cables
Rega Planet CD
Technics tangential rec. player + phono pre-amp
ProJect rec. pl. with Goldring Eroicia system plus Heavenly sound silver cable
Technics 2 x 12 band eq
Behringer dualfex
Sony tape deck
Philips CD recorder
Van den Hul nf cables + Oehlbach cables


.....@Max: Those Fostex remind me of Lowther drive units I used to run in ancient times...)

Klipschorn + thorens124

Nice to see some replies! You people have some very fancy equipment.

@ Lick It Back: Wow! What kind of enclosure are those V-Rocket, Active and Tip-A-Tone sound boxes? They look like some simple kind of bass-reflex enclosure. Fantastic that they are still around.

@ I-Lion Tafari: Yes, they have a similar look but the Fostex ones are cheaper and newer. I have no idea how they compare in sound, though.

I tried to figure out how old the Fostex model is, but can't find any info. All I know is that there was a previous model, FE166E, which is pretty much the same speaker, and that Fostex started making speakers in '73. Lowthers have been around for a looong time!

@ vlad: That's quite a setup. I hope you have more things to listen to than crackly JA pressings.

V Rocket is JA 50's - one full range speaker within simple letter box porting. Great sound- I play 78's on it as well. Goodman's Axiom speaker

Actives are Mids and typical sixties set up with Tubby's being a very early reflex ported bass bin, with two mid's and horns.

Tip-A-Tone is UK with 18" bass bins, with letter box porting. Large specially made 10 KT 88 value amp.

I like the old hand made and painted stuff before technology took over in the 1980's...and it all got professional..

Thanks for the info. Do you know why they used hardwood for speakers? MDF wasn't invented until the mid sixties, but there must have been some alternatives like plywood.

[Karlson style](http://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uploads/ ... _4168c.jpg) enclosures were popular for PA stuff back in the day. Do you know if they were ever used by reggae sounds?

Kalson: no - no money!
The quality of wood is important to provide resonance and also not flex and bounce. Older boxes in JA were hard wood but in UK cheaper wood - that needs strengthening as speakers got more powerful.

I have attached my Tip-a-Tone sound at the Nottingham show: as you can see an add collection of amps and the like. One amp was found in a skip by a Hospital - where it had powered the scanner..which was being upgraded.
In the early 80's cheaply manufactured kit took over and the hand built era died out...

http://www.nae.org.uk/

Technics SL-1200 MK2/Ortofon
Ecler Hak 380 Mixer
Yamaha P2100 power amp
Tannoy T125 Speakers