DIY Speaker Kits

[scott916]

Anyone have any experience with the DIY speaker designs on sites like Parts Express and ZaphAudio?

 

[Rubycon]

Are you looking for help in building one, difficulty, or just how good are they are overall? I cannot comment on those two brands as I have no experience with them. I've gotten stuff from Parts Express before and the quality is very good for the price even on their Dayton brand.

Back in the day I did build kits from a company called VMPS. They rocked! Very fun to build speakers like this. It's also fun - providing you have the time - to build your own from scratch! Obtain drivers based on what your goal is and build the enclosure and crossover networks to fit the published electrical and TS parameters, etc. Very rewarding to listen to speakers you built yourself!

You can also choose the method of how they are finished from shag carpet (sounds funny but if you do what I do it's cheap and practical!) all the way through oiled exotic wood finish suitable for display in the finest decor.

 

[vi edit]

I'm considering the OB-7 build from GR Research. Danny's N1X and N2X are very highly recommened and are designed to work around the prebuilt cabs at parts express if you aren't into making your own.

http://www.gr-research.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=2

 

[hans030390]

I really love my Dayton BR-1 speakers. Pretty easy to assemble, and they sound fantastic.

 

[jmanny]

I just finished building the TriTrix TL knock down kit from PE. The build is super easy and for $199, with pre cut cabinets the price is right. They sound real good for a cheaper DIY build. I didn't have clamps for the build so I had to purchase 8 of them that added to the cost. Painted with a semi-gloss black. They look good from a couple feet away. The finishing took the most amount of time. I would post some pics but i am at work. I will post some when I get home.

 

[scott916]

I'm going to be purchasing speakers in the $2-300 range in the next few months or so, and I wanted to figure out what people's experiences were with DIY, as I think I could get a lot more bang for my buck going that way, on top of it being fun. Thanks for the responses, guys.

I look forward to seeing them, jmanny.

 

[vi edit]

Are you going full range towers or monitors?

 

[hans030390]

I'm going to be purchasing speakers in the $2-300 range in the next few months or so, and I wanted to figure out what people's experiences were with DIY, as I think I could get a lot more bang for my buck going that way, on top of it being fun. Thanks for the responses, guys.

I look forward to seeing them, jmanny.

Just so you know, the Dayton BR-1 speakers (priced around $150) would be comparable to GOOD $300-400 speakers you'd buy retail. You could do better with a full DIY project, but this is the best of both worlds, IMO (retail/fully-assembled and DIY).

If you're OK with building your own cabinets and such, just do a google search for DIY speakers. Zaph Audio is fairly well known. He has a good kit on Madisound, but you'd need to build the cabinet and such:

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8648

If you check out that page and links on it, you'll find plenty of information needed (schematics, parts, etc). I think this is probably going to be one of the best speakers for the money around. The frequency response for this design is pretty flat from 100hz-10khz.

 

[Aharami]

this is intriguing. I've heard of DIY subs, but not much about DIY speakers (can ya tell I'm a noob at this). I love building stuff and I think building my own speakers will give me that extra bit of satisfaction. Plus maybe I'll get to save some money.

Fit and finish issues aside, do DIY speakers sound just as good as bought speakers from internet direct companies? I'm most likely going for floorstanding and looking around 300-500 for front 2 + center. Is that budget too low, too high for decent speakers? I care more about sound quality than being loud.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

this is intriguing. I've heard of DIY subs, but not much about DIY speakers (can ya tell I'm a noob at this). I love building stuff and I think building my own speakers will give me that extra bit of satisfaction. Plus maybe I'll get to save some money.

Fit and finish issues aside, do DIY speakers sound just as good as bought speakers from internet direct companies? I'm most likely going for floorstanding and looking around 300-500 for front 2 + center. Is that budget too low, too high for decent speakers? I care more about sound quality than being loud.

If you just want loud, look for high sensitivity in speakers. I don't know too much about DIY, but you may look at klipsch for premade speakers that are cheap-ish and loud. Alternately, you may look into more pro audio kind of speakers (PA speakers)

 

[Aharami]

If you just want loud, look for high sensitivity in speakers. I don't know too much about DIY, but you may look at klipsch for premade speakers that are cheap-ish and loud. Alternately, you may look into more pro audio kind of speakers (PA speakers)

no i dont want just loud. I said I care more about sound quality. Obviously the speakers have to be powerful enough to fill my 400 sq ft basement HT, but I dont want sheer loudness while sacrificing sound quality

 

[vi edit]

Speakers are a very different beast than subwoofers. Subs are pretty easy to model and "get right". You usually have one big speaker and an amp/binding post. Thats it. And they really are pretty easy to build.

Speakers have 2,4,8 ect drivers in them. The cabinets are much more intricate and the bracing is usually much more complicated. And then there's whole crossover network and making sure you have everything wired correctly. There's just a lot more you have to do.

And when it comes to the sound, a sub really only has a very narrow range of stuff that it has to, and there's really not much in the way of "color" that it provides in the sound. It's basically a combination of tuning depth and output. It won't have it's own character.

A speaker on the other hand can vary hugely by the tweeter choice, tuning sizes, and importanly how the crossover network is set up. The best hardware you can buy can be handicapped with a poor crossover/crossover components.

There's just a lot more to consider.

As far as value goes, I think under $300 you'd be hard up beating some value oriented ID sales. Especially when it comes to fit & finish of the cabinets. I know that av123 is all but dead now, but the X-CS encores I bought would have cost me more in parts to build than it did to buy them preassembled. I simply could not beat them in price & build quality with the veneers.

If you start getting into the $500-$800 (Statement Minis are awesome as are the OB-5/OB-7) range you can start getting into some interesting options DIY. That will get you some incredibly well performing monitors or full range towers but it's up to you to finish them well.

For speakers IMHO you probably won't get as much out of DIY if you are doing it for the sake of cost. I think more importanly you should be doing it because you want to and enjoy the hobby of building your own. I just think there's some economies of scale and quality machine & woodworking skills that the average DIY can't hit.

 

[jmanny]

Here are a couple of pics of the TriTrix from Parts Express. just finished them this past Sunday. All in all i am happy with the sound quality for the $$. I would have liked the finish to look a little better but for my first DIY project, I guess they are not bad.

http://i558.photobucket.com/albums/ss27/jlabom/003.jpg

http://i558.photobucket.com/albums/ss27/jlabom/001.jpg

 

[kornphlake]

I built the Tritrix TL from PE. I decided to cut my own boxes rather than buying the precut enclosures. I saved $50 or so, but only because I already had the tools I needed, if you don't have a table saw you'll have a hard time building speaker cabinets.

The sound is great, much better than I expected and the construction wasn't too difficult. For ~$180 spent on the pair I don't believe I could have found a better sounding set of speakers. I didn't take a lot of time to finish them though, I just used some flat latex interior paint I had in the garage and rolled it on. If I'd spent money on exotic hardwood veneer I could have easily spent $300-400 total, which puts them into a price range where there may be some commercial speakers that would sound as good for the price. If you go cheap on finishing like I did I don't think there's a better value in speakers than DIY. If you spend a bit more on drivers say $400 you again see a huge improvement in sound, even spending $200 on finishing you'll end up with a speaker that cost $600 but sounds as good as a speaker that retails for 2-3X that much. The point being that finishing costs can make low budget DIY projects a wash, but the finishing costs are not going to change a lot from a budget build to a high end build, there's a lot of value in building high end speakers with good materials if you have the talent, tools and time.

I built my speakers mostly because I enjoy building things, ending up with great sounding speakers was a minor benefit.

Edit: I got a little anxious and didn't roundover the edges of the baffle and I haven't finished building grills for the speakers yet. I need to apply a second and maybe third coat of paint to hide the seams a little better too, but I'm having too much fun listening to the speakers to want to take them down and do the finishing work.

 

[PM650]

Just so you know, the Dayton BR-1 speakers (priced around $150) would be comparable to GOOD $300-400 speakers you'd buy retail. You could do better with a full DIY project, but this is the best of both worlds, IMO (retail/fully-assembled and DIY).

If you're OK with building your own cabinets and such, just do a google search for DIY speakers. Zaph Audio is fairly well known. He has a good kit on Madisound, but you'd need to build the cabinet and such:

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8648

If you check out that page and links on it, you'll find plenty of information needed (schematics, parts, etc). I think this is probably going to be one of the best speakers for the money around. The frequency response for this design is pretty flat from 100hz-10khz.

:thumbsup: I'm going to be building a pair of zaph's L18 design in the near future (had the cabinets for years now...).
For anyone considering a kit from madisound - you can save around $50 by just ordering the drivers and building the crossovers yourself.

 

[kalrith]

I'm looking forward to additional posts in this thread. I'm highly considering building my own sub, as mentioned in another thread. However, I never even considered building my own speakers. I'll see if I'm still considering it after going through a sub-building project

 

[Kaido]

I really love my Dayton BR-1 speakers. Pretty easy to assemble, and they sound fantastic.

Seconded. I got the shielded model (BR-1s) and they were fantastic for the price. One guy here liked them so much he wired up his 7.1 system with them :awe:

 

[Cstefan]

I just finished building the TriTrix TL knock down kit from PE. The build is super easy and for $199, with pre cut cabinets the price is right.

Hands down one of the best speaker values possible. When built well they will serve you better than any 500-900$ pair of speakers.

 

[scott916]

I'd like smallish bookshelf speakers, 4-6.5" woofer and a tweeter, and I'd like them to be able to be pretty close to a wall. I'd be using them as monitors, a 2.0 setup for movies in my room and just general listening. Flat response would therefore be ideal, and if needed I could build a sub in the future, but since I live in an apartment it's not a necessity. Thanks for all the replies, guys.

 

[Shadowknight]

I used a Madisound kit for this Zaph set of speakers http://zaphaudio.com/SR71.html though I went with an upgraded driver. Fairly easy, except Madisound left out a woofer driver and I had to get them to ship it separately. Sound fairly good too, but might be out of your price range. It was maybe $700 for the two-speaker kit with the upgraded driver.

 

[vi edit]

What are you going to be powering them with? 2 driver "DIY" setups have a nack for being pretty hard to drive....84-86db of efficieny. Not that you need stupid amounts of power to get them up and running but they might be a little bit handicapped.

The .5 c/f cabs from parts express and the N2X from GR will run you around $500 for everything. They are sealed so placement against the wall won't hurt them as much as a rear ported design.

I can't give you an A/B comparison vs. the other kits, but you are buying some pretty high quality components with that setup. People that have heard the Neo tweeters can't say enough good things about them.

 

[ericlp]

I ordered cross overs and drivers from parts express. Took an old speaker box I got at the good will that pretty much matched what they had but I had to make the driver hole a little wider. Wasn't really impressed too much to say the least. Tho, they made good shop speakers and some sounds like drums, etc sounded pretty good. I guess it was kind of a wash.

Best if you can get the plans and for the box if your not too handy with wood tools or just don't have the expensive shop equipment... I believe if you get the specs right and high end drivers then you'll probably do ok.


Good Luck.

http://home.earthlink.net/~etunstal/diy.htm

a little outdated some of the links but some good info there.

 

[scott916]

What are you going to be powering them with? 2 driver "DIY" setups have a nack for being pretty hard to drive....84-86db of efficieny. Not that you need stupid amounts of power to get them up and running but they might be a little bit handicapped.

The .5 c/f cabs from parts express and the N2X from GR will run you around $500 for everything. They are sealed so placement against the wall won't hurt them as much as a rear ported design.

I can't give you an A/B comparison vs. the other kits, but you are buying some pretty high quality components with that setup. People that have heard the Neo tweeters can't say enough good things about them.

Ideally, I'd like to power them with a T-amp. I might also build something custom from diy-audio.com.

 

[vi edit]

Parts express has a new 50w per channel T-amp coming out sometime this month for around $90. That might be worth the look on these lower efficiency 2 way designs over the 15 wpc traditional one.

 

[scott916]

What about a gainclone?