Forums - DFR8's

gnat leader Ex Member	DFR8's 04/28/06 at 22:21:58 Still waiting for mine. I haven't heard anyting. Not even when they are expected to ship. Anyone heard anything?
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gnat leader Ex Member	Re: Still awaiting DFR8's Reply #1 - 05/02/06 at 18:02:09 Yay! I got shipment notification today. Estimated arrival by Friday. Gonna be hard to get out of the house this weekend
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crazy bill the eel killer Ex Member	Re: Still awaiting DFR8's Reply #2 - 05/03/06 at 02:12:43 Hey Brad, Glad to hear they're coming. Please post impressions ASAP!!! (I'm especially interested since I plan to add the Aurum tweeter to the DFR8 ) We'll be waiting with, as they say, baited breath !! Cheers, Bill :D :
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gnat leader

Ex Member

Re: DFR8's
Reply #3 - 05/05/06 at 23:28:24

Got them in just now. That is the most serious job of packaging I've ever seen!

You know I'm gonna throw them bad boys in the HDT's... like tonight!

fun, fun, fun....

I'm gonna break them in and do all auditioning without having my ribbon tweeters hooked up. I want to become fully accustomed to the sound of the DFR8's before I ever listen with the tweeters. That way I can tell better if the tweeters make the DFR8's sound better, worse, or if they are just not needed at all.

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« Last Edit: 05/05/06 at 23:29:30 by Brad »

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Chris K Ex Member	Re: DFR8's Reply #4 - 05/06/06 at 02:40:18 I can't imagine the highs will be improved in the range yourr running your Aurum Cantus Brad. It's likely you still dig the ribbons in. Betcha a saltine craker :)
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gnat leader Ex Member	Re: DFR8's Reply #5 - 05/06/06 at 09:56:34 Yeah, Chris, You're prob right. Btw, many that's quite a speaker collection you have... The MG944's, Hawthorne SI's, and Ed's Horns. I know what the Horns sound like, but how do you like the SI's and MG's in comparison? thx, -Brad-
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Mr Content Ex Member	Re: DFR8's Reply #6 - 05/06/06 at 11:23:23 Hey Brad, looking forward to your impressions of these drivers. Interested in how forward the mids will be, or not be. Mr C
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Chris K

Ex Member

Re: DFR8's
Reply #7 - 05/07/06 at 15:40:59

Hey Brad,
Yes my speaker list is growing.
While the Horns do some amazing things in imaging and midrange they are not my favorites at this point. The MG944's do just about everything right but maybe not as "clinical" as the HDT's. I do want to have HDT's in the house also. The SI co-axials are a very nice sounding speaker but I have yet to get them in baffle so there is not much I can say. Down on the floor though they cast a tall deep image/sound stage, and that makes a strong case for JohninCR's diminutive "Joint Chiefs" project. I do have another pair of prototype speakers that have the 6" Fostex drivers (2 per side) and they also have a wonderful presentation and presence that none of the other speakers have. I like em all. The Horns are for sale though. MG's and SI are keepers.
I still have a long way to go especially with my source..

BTW brad would you be kind enough to PM me (or post) the link to the case you selected for your "Charlize" amp?

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« Last Edit: 05/07/06 at 15:45:46 by Chris K »

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gnat leader

Ex Member

Re: DFR8's
Reply #8 - 05/08/06 at 05:59:36

I've been listening to the DFR8's with my Charlize amp connected direct to my CD player. My TABOO and CSP is still over my friends house. The HDT's with the DFR8 drivers still sound quite bright sounding - not very acceptable IMO. I'll have to see how much of this is due to the sound of the Charlize, the breakin of the DFR8 drivers, and/or what happens if I was to (1) use the TABOO instead of the Charlize, or (2) put the CSP preamp in front of the Charlize. My impressions so far of the Charlize is that it is a brighter sounding amp than the TABOO and certainly the Zen CS. This is not unlike what I heard from the Clari-T (another Tripath chip based amp) to sound like. This would explain why a couple people I know who like these amps have them mated to full range drivers that have a rolled off high end (IMO) due to not having a whizzer or a separate tweeter - namely the B200 and the Fostex F200A. Keep in mind that my room is very "alive" not having allot of reflective surfaces (no carpeting of any kind for example) so I think it's a brighter room than your average bear.

Btw, If I were you I'd build the Manowar Sonotube baffles for the SI's. I think they look much better than the Joint Chief baffles and are much less obtrusive looking compared to large flat baffles. I can't speak to how they sound though I would imagine it's prob about the same as other similarly sized baffles...
http://www.hawthorneaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=158

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« Last Edit: 05/08/06 at 06:38:30 by Brad »

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gnat leader

Ex Member

Re: DFR8's
Reply #9 - 05/08/06 at 06:22:24

Here are some DFR8 pics.
While I had the drivers out I made a small cabinet change to help reduce cabinet resonances. I added a small piece of Deflex panel dampening sheet just behind where the driver sits. Not sure what audible effect this really has, but it can't hurt

and it only costs ~$15 for both speakers - one 12" deflex sheet cut in half. The picture was taken before I put the foam back in place - the piece that goes just below the driver. The black gunk left over from the driver sealant/putty-stuff is easily cleaned. Btw, my drivers didn't come with that driver sealant "rope putty" - luckily I had a couple in my box of audio junk that I never throw away. The ribbon tweeters sitting on top of the cabinets are not hooked up.

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« Last Edit: 05/08/06 at 06:39:48 by Brad »

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Mr Content Ex Member	Re: DFR8's Reply #10 - 05/08/06 at 07:40:46 Nice pics Brad, and thanks for the first impressions. Just as a side point, You used silver hookup wire in your charlize yes? A few have noted that the silver wire is brighter than copper, with the majority feeling that copper gives a smoother sound. Mr C
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Steve_Collins

Ex Member

Re: DFR8's
Reply #11 - 05/08/06 at 12:19:44

Hi Brad
I did the foam surround mod only on the black FE206EM's about 10 days ago.
Straight back into the box I heard
1. Increased bass punch
2. The little bass bloom at 20hz ( that appears in the article graphs) is gone so that made the sound lean at the bottom. Installing the alternate tuning extension tubes bought the bass back up nicely and made the whole bass presentation much more even.
3. Good recordings are better. Bright and edgy recordings are worse
4. The lower mid-range is glass clear and more detail is apparent.
5. The upper midrange is brighter and vocal sibilance is now more pronounced. Some recordings are now borderline listenable. Getting rid of female vocal sibilance is why I got out of solid state and complex speakers.
6. The brighter sound has helped my vhf tuner which sounded a little laid back before
7. The brighter sound has not helped my njoe tjoeb when a bright cd is playing
8. I believe that the brightness has decreased about 10% since I first installed the polyether surrounds. Perhaps it will continue to improve?
9. I've tried various bits of damping around the phase plug and whizzer but they seem to affect other things so I've ended up taking them out.
10. With good source material the clarity of the new driver is very good. If you only played top notch vinyl then you'd be laughing.
11. Are they better speakers? My only concern with the HDT's has always been their amazing clarity ( It has helped me when modifying the Zen ) and slightly forward upper midrange. This is not unusual in FR drive units. Everything else about the modded drive units is better except the bright upper mid-range, which now appears much brighter.
12. All of this needs to be veiwed in the context that I installed the surrounds myself. Therefore my implemetation may have affected the result.
13. On any given day when you fire up the speakers from cold they change markedly over the first 45 mins.
14. When all is said and done these are High Definition Towers! We got what we asked for, we may not like all of it.
Cheers
Steve

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gnat leader

Ex Member

Re: DFR8's
Reply #12 - 05/08/06 at 20:02:22

[quote author=Mr Content link=1146262918/0#10 date=1147070446]Nice pics Brad, and thanks for the first impressions. Just as a side point, You used silver hookup wire in your charlize yes? A few have noted that the silver wire is brighter than copper, with the majority feeling that copper gives a smoother sound.

Mr C [/quote]

Yeah C, My buddy Steve and I thought about this. We have some Cardas copper litz wire on order for building the second Charlize (which we have all the parts for). Then we will compare the two.

Steve, thanks for your feedback. I still think that the Charlize is a big source of this brightness, and to a lesser extent, my room. I tend to discount the room effect because when I listen near field it's even brighter! I'll make conclusions when I get to hooking my TABOO+CSP back up. For now, the Charlize is serving to break in both itself (it's got maybe 200 hours on it now) and the DFR8's.

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« Last Edit: 05/08/06 at 20:09:51 by Brad »

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Mr Content Ex Member	Re: DFR8's Reply #13 - 05/09/06 at 04:29:23 Get your CSP into the chain. I have mine working again, so I am listening to my charlize with tubes now. Inital impressions are a smoother presentation, but all my tube are new, so I will give it a couple of days before I listen critically Mr C
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gnat leader Ex Member	Re: DFR8's Reply #14 - 05/09/06 at 06:19:47 I'm using cryo treated Sovtek 6n1p's in my CSP. Very nice. Yeah, I gotta get my CSP back from my buddy. He lives 1.5 hours away so I haven't gotten over there.
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