Dear Troels,
Here I am ! The faital 10-430 were released this morning to start
playing music and breaking-in.
It went like a charm. The journey took me 3 months or so, as per plan .
I listen to all kinds of music, with a preference for "unplugged"
sets...jazz, classical, songwriters...the older I get, the more I find
beauty "in between notes", in silences...
I went for this model because my former speakers were a bit too small
for our new living room. My Davis are doing very good for their price
range, but I wanted to reach the next level. For instance, I was looking
for speakers better reproducing double bass, kick drums, piano... in the
low end. I was also looking for silkier trebles blending better with
medium.
As it was my first build, and as it represents a substantial budget for
me, I wanted to subcontract all the "external woodworking" to a
professional (I mean what is visible in the end) . I wanted to avoid a
situation where I would tell myself at the end "hum, it sounds good but
doesn't look good"...
Ebel Holtz doesn't propose this model yet, and I only have "hand tools".
So I sticked to your design and reproduced it on a CAD software to issue
the drawings for the contractor. It helped me as well to design stands
to my personal taste.
I looked for Baltic birch, but it was quite expensive, and I had
previously in mind to build it in baubuche. I saw once loud speakers in
baubuche and liked it a lot. So I went for it.
I was warned it was not an easy path...
Although I like the natural finish very much, it is definitely not the
easiest wood to work with indeed (not as stable as plywood, bends a LOT
after cutting, leaves a lot of splinters from sharp edges...). It was
good to leave the tricky part to the pro.
Front panel is made of 19 mm HDF + 10mm (Wax finish). Internal bracing
is made of 18 mm plywood. Stands are made of plywood and baubuche.
Baubuche is denser than plywood. I also added 2.5 mm thick bitumen pads.
This box is now incredibly heavy, stiff and still while playing !
I changed the bindings post for another model, mainly for
insulation/protection purpose for my young boy.
Crossover assembly went very well. Based on the information from your
site and from the Jantzen info book, it is very easy and straight
forward.
All your tips are very well explained and helpful. I only made a mistake
or two, only the builder will know where and what in the end .
After few hours (~ 4 hours) of playing, it is already very homogeneous
(nice blending of bass, mid, trebles). I found already the extra lower
end I was missing, the impact and harmonics on kick drums....Fabric dome
tweeters are very silky with a very good horizontal dispersion. that's
one of the major evolution from my previous model. And, indeed, we can
tell the E.S.T London live record was used for the tuning of crossovers,
it just goes so smooth !
My line magnetic 211 (32 wpc) handles these "big girls" pretty well
apparently.
But my room is a bit specific (asymmetrical) with ~+ 5 db room gain on
the left up to 60 Hz due to the corner. Thus I have in mind to
complement the set-up with Hypex bi-amping in the future (FA 251 or
-501). It will help me to better manage this room pb.
So now, I let it play and play, and I know it will continue blooming
over the next weeks.
I'm very happy with it !
Guilhem (from France)









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