BillFitzmaurice.info

Hi guys so just sharing my research to save people time

Having had a look at the current options available in the UK where we have a pretty limited range of drivers available for a sensible price now it looks as though the Fane Sovereign 8-225 is the most economical choice

Similar TS specs to the Beta 8 with slightly higher BL and 5.5 Xmax. I managed to find them for £42.60 each but several places (Blue Aran, lean business) have them for under £50 each. Hoping to get a pair of these knocked out fairly soon.

Disco Stu wrote: ↑Sat May 06, 2023 3:34 am Having had a look at the current options available in the UK where we have a pretty limited range of drivers available for a sensible price now it looks as though the Fane Sovereign 8-225 is the most economical choice

Similar TS specs to the Beta 8 with slightly higher BL and 5.5 Xmax. I managed to find them for £42.60 each but several places (Blue Aran, lean business) have them for under £50 each.

G'day Stu,
The fane sovereign series are looked at by quite a few people for a number of Bill's designs.
While the TS specs are similar, there's something often overlooked when it comes to finding suitable replacements, and seems almost unique to Eminence.
Have a look at the response chart for the Beta 8a
https://eminence.com/products/beta_8a#f ... y-response

Now compare that to the Fane chart:
 https://www.fane-international.com/view ... -225#tab-5

You'll notice that the Eminence response appears to continually rise to, in this case, 3.5Kish
And that the Fane's response flatlines at about 800Hz, drops down to about 2.5K, then rises again.

Most options in Bill's mains/tops designs require a rising response to 2.5K, where the HF section of the cab takes over. It's an integral part of the design.

Sure, you could EQ the Fane to match, the adjustments required aren't huge.
But cutting EQ is always better than boosting.

The beta8a is 60 quid at blue aran and in stock. It will get the best result...

Hi, yes I had considered that actually.

I looked at the SPL chart of the most ideal driver the Faital one and compared it with the Fane and the Eminence. As you can hopefully see from the (hopefully) attached file, they aren't too different, yes the Fane is probably the 'worst' of the 3 at the upper end 1.8-2kHz but not by a great deal. This is a 10dB scale on all of them and I've tried to line up the frequencies (faital has an extra vertical at 1.5kHz btw).

I would also say that I'm not the greatest fan of 1-3kHz anyway and usually make cuts around those frequencies as your ear is becoming more sensitive around that range so having a slightly recessed sound there probably isn't going to be a huge issue. On both the OT12s and OT15s I built previously I made some cuts in that range anyway. So I have a hunch that I might actually prefer the sound. Certainly with a lot of 'target curves' this range is often preferred to be recessed and my ears definitely agree

Finally I think of much greater benefit is what happens at the bottom of the frequency range and the 5.5mm Xmax of the Fane I would consider a worthwhile trade for slightly reduced sensitivity in the midrange. The pricing is give or take a few pounds sure so it doesn't matter too much, but every little helps.

Disco Stu wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 3:16 pm Finally I think of much greater benefit is what happens at the bottom of the frequency range and the 5.5mm Xmax of the Fane I would consider a worthwhile trade for slightly reduced sensitivity in the midrange.

You are planning to use subs with them, aren't you? If so, then the extra xmax really isn't necessary if they are crossed at 100hz of above. You really don't want to give up the rising mid-range and lose the "life" in the speaker. Yes, you can EQ is down, but it's hard to add something back in that isn't there.