Four days in and these drivers are breaking in nicely. I suspect they will take a while longer to fully run in, but bass is getting stronger by the day.
What we have here is, in a word "fun." What there is, with these Fanes in the 78L sealed cabinets is an abundance of grin factor the like of which this enthusiast has not experienced in a very long time. This is hi-fi, the way it used to be. Not since being with a schoolmate playing "Roxette" by Dr Feelgood, round at his house, through his Dad's Goodmans Magisters, back in 1975, have I had such a good time with a sound system. The Fanes have such a happily honest way with music, you can't help but be sucked in by the soulful sounds they give out.
When you listen to such joyous musicality, it makes you wonder what the hell has been going on with hi-fi for the past 35 years.
It is interesting that it takes a pro driver maker to put the hi back into the fi in terms of loudspeakers. Fane, most likely couldn't give a toss about audiophile users, it wouldn't have registered on their radar, but they have created something that, in terms of an ability to play music, takes the piss big style, out of your average hi-fi speaker.
The fact that you have to calculate and then build a cabinet for them, and the sheer size of the end product rules them out in most sane people's homes, but the cabs can be made into pieces of furniture, that (horrors) you can put plants on, vases, photos etc. They work next to walls, even (I tried them) in room corners without boom, so WAF can be achieved as it was in the old days; integrating the system with the furnishings, without compromising the sound quality. I think this is an art which has been completely lost and it could do with a revival.
To aid this revival, how about I just post the cab dimensions here. There's nothing special about them, it's only a sealed cab after all. Material is 18mm softwood ply, nice and cheap and remarkably good for speaker cabs, I've found.
Top/bottom - 17" x 13 3/8"
Sides - 12" X 26"
Front/back - 17" x 26"
There is a "holey brace" 14 1/4" on centre from the top of the front back board, connecting all four walls.
That's it.
Driver is available here:
http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id= ... nufacturer
Hole diameter is 28cm, the hole Fane give is too big (guess how I know)
Have a go at building one, you could be in for a pleasant surprise.
