Falcon Acoustics Q7 & IMF100 DIY Speaker Kits

Q7 Speaker Kit

All Image Credit: Falcon Acoustics

Introduction:

Falcon was founded in 1972 as Falcon Electronics by the first employee of KEF Electronics Ltd., Malcolm Jones. As the Senior Development Engineer Malcolm did most of the design and development of the legendary KEF drive units including the B139, B200, B110, T15, T27. He left KEF in 1974 to work at Falcon Acoustics and since then the company has grown to be the largest UK supplier of drive units, purveyor of OEM drivers and manufacturer of some outstanding loudspeaker systems.

Falcon Acoustics sells a huge range of speaker components, and a number of pre-built and speaker kits including; LS3/5a and Falcon Minimonitor kits, vendors include; Scanspeak, Seas, SB Acoustics, Morel, Accuton, Audax, Vifa and Peerless, new Coles 4001 drive units, LS3/5a parts and spares. Capacitors include ClarityCap, Solen and Alcap audio capacitors, and their own renowned range of inductors, crossovers, resistors and other diy audio parts.

The Q7 and IMF100 are part of a new range of what Falcon calls ‘Plug and Play’ kits dubbed “Complete@Home“. This includes transmission line, infinite baffle and bass reflex enclosure designs. Crossovers and wiring are all factory preassembled to make it easy, even for a beginner, to build a top-quality pair of speakers.

The Falcon cabinet kits described here are precision cut and made in Great Britain. Each part is hand-finished by British craftsman, easy to assemble with precision-cut rebated corners, and do not require specialist assembly tools. A little technical knowledge and for some options soldering skill is required. For most kits all you will need is PVA glue, a Posidrive screw-driver and some masking tape. All holes are countersunk for nuts, bolts and screws that are all supplied with the kits together with full assembley instructions.

Q7 DIY Speaker Kit

Falcon Acoustics has recently announced the re-introduction of the Falcon Acoustics Q7 Mini-Monitor “Complete@Home” loudspeaker system. Designed by Malcolm Jones the updated Q7 Mini-Monitor features the same Falcon B110 and T27 drive units as used in the legendary Falcon LS3/5a but now in a specially extended LS3/5a style cabinet to produce a system with extra bass compared to the LSA3/5a (+2dB @ 50 Hz) and with similar voicing.

In just 1-2 hours you will have your own fully-specified loudspeaker system. The kit features matched pairs of Falcon B110’s and T27’s, a pair of factory-assembled Falcon 23.2 crossovers, and full production grade birch ply Italian cabinets in one of two finishes. No soldering is required and the on-line instruction manual and Youtube videos will guide you through the simple assembly process.

Magnetic Tygan front grilles and Falcon FL6/23 Silver Badge crossover upgrades are available.

Specifications:

Drive Units – Falcon B110 (5”) Bextrene Cone bass unit; 19mm ( ¾ ”) Falcon T27 Mylar dome tweeter. Matched pairs
Freq. response – 60Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB
Impedance – 15 ohms
Sensitivity – 83dB/2.83V/m
Power handling – 15-50W
Connector – 4mm Custom-Designed nickel-plated binding posts
Dimensions(HxWxD) – 309 x 190 x 230mm (+12mm for grille and binding posts)
Finish – Natural wood veneer – Walnut or Rosewood
Weight – 6.0kg each

MF100 DIY Speaker Kit

MF100 Speaker Kit

The IMF 100 is a fully featured 1/8 wave transmission line bookshelf speaker that features matched pairs of Falcon B110’s and T27’s, a pair of factory-assembled Falcon crossovers, precision CNC-engineered B110 retaining rings, and full production grade birch ply Italian cabinets in a choice of two finishes. This design provides similar voicing to the LS3/5a but additional bass extension over the Q7.

These kits include a complete set of parts, just like the Q7’s. A ready-made cabinet and magnetic speaker grills, drive units, gaskets, rear panel speaker connectors, crossovers and hardware. Plus Allen keys to secure the the drive units.

The kit is designed for anyone to be able to build in 1-2 hours. All the components either clip or screw together – no soldering required, with a clear set of instructions and captioned photographs.

Specifications:

Cabinet – 1/4 wave folded Transmission Line. Magnetic attached cloth grille.
Drive Units – Falcon B110 (5”) Bextrene Cone bass unit; 19mm ( ¾ ”) Falcon T27 Mylar dome tweeter. Matched pairs
Freq. response – 38Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB
Impedance – 8 ohms
Sensitivity – 86dB/2.83V/m
Power handling – 15-100W
Connector – 4mm Custom-Designed nickel-plated binding posts
Dimensions(HxWxD) – 460 x 225 x 275mm (+12mm for grille and binding posts)
Finish – Natural wood veneer – Walnut or Rosewood
Weight – 12.5kg each

BBC LS3/5a DETAILS

LS3/5a “BBC Bespoke Design”

The Falcon Acoustics Classic 15 ohm LS3/5a, is fully Licenced by the BBC, hand-assembled by Falcon, and is the only LS3/5a in production that faithfully replicates the original BBC design published in October 1976. It is the result of nearly 2 years of development and a true British-made classic 15 ohm LS3/5a continuing the long tradition of the genuine British BBC-Licenced LS3/5a stretching back to the 1960’s.

The drive units are the renowned Falcon B110 bass and the Falcon T27 tweeter, both designed by Malcolm Jones, the original designer of the KEF B110 and KEF T27 that were specified in the original 15 ohm LS3/5a version designed by the BBC. These unique drive units are both handmade in the UK to ensure the highest quality, grading and consistency, and are identical to the original LS3/5a drive units.

The matched pairs of 15 ohm FL6/23 crossover filters are made to the original BBC specifications by Falcon using the BBC transformer-style design and custom made British inductors.

The cabinets are hand made from specially selected graded Baltic Ply, and use selected grade Beech fillets. These to are British made to BBC Specification, and are available in a variety of natural wood veneers with a Tygan Cloth front grille.

The LS3/5a’s are sold only as matched pairs and come with an individually Numbered Certificate of Authenticity and a 5 year Guarantee.

Specifications:

System type Two-way infinite baffle (sealed box)
Frequency response – 70Hz – 20kHz ± 3dB
Nominal impedance – 15 ohm
Bass/Midrange driver – 138mm Falcon Acoustics B110 – Graded and Computer Matched.
Tweeter – 19mm Falcon Acoustics T27 – Graded and Computer Matched.
Crossover – Falcon Acoustics FL6/23 (BBC Design) Graded and pair matched components throughout.
Crossover frequency – 3Khz
Cabinet – Selected grade Baltic Birch Ply, Beech battens, internally damped
Finishes – all natural wood veneers Cherry, Walnut, Rosewood, Burr Walnut, Yew
Dimensions (HxWxD) – 305mm x 190mm x 165mm. (+12mm for grille and binding posts)
Weight – 5.35 kgs each

In the USA then contact their distributors Tone Imports or Mo-Fi Distribution. For more world wide distributors see here.

UK Starting MSRP:

Q7 speaker kit – £829.17 (also available as factory built – plus £275.00)

IMF100 speaker kit – £1,245.83 (also available as factory built – plus £360.00)

LS3/5a – £2,475.00 (fully assembled in matched pairs with a 5 year warranty & Certificate of Authenticity)

Click here for the UK Falcon website.

See here for the Falcon Acoustics history.

Need to know more about speaker design? Take a look my three part posting.

From Vinyl To Plastic

One man's quest for audio perfection

One man's quest for audio perfection

Falcon Acoustics Q7 & IMF100 DIY Speaker Kits