Just got done building AR.com's DIY speakers (Do it yourself)

[divinemartyr]

Well I spent the better part of this weekend building the AR.com DIY Speaker kit and needless to say I've NEVER soldered or anything in my life. I'm a total amateur and if you are really into hifi sound I highly recommend trying it if you have about $320 to spend. The kit will give you a $1,000 pair of bookshelf speakers for less than 30% of that cost. I'm very very impressed upon initial listening results. One wouldn't think you could get this sort of bass out of a pair of bookshelf speakers.

Not only is the sound amazingly clear and response equally flat (this is a good thing for those not familiar with terminology) the imaging and soundstage is wonderful. Off-axis sound reproduction is awesome.

I know most of you reading this don't care but again, it's for those who've thought of buying high quality home theatre speakers. These will sound better than most anything you can buy in a store. Thanks again to Ed Frias who made the kit.

Anyone with questions, please PM or email me!

dm

 

[Soccerman]

nice to know, I might have to rely on a kit next time I get speakers!

 

[Thump553]

You got me interested, maybe I will give it a try.

 

[divinemartyr]

I've done a bit more listening since I first posted and the more I listen to them the more I absolutely LOVE these speakers. Please check the link and read some reviews that other people have done on these speakers. They are SERIOUSLY the best bookshelf speakers on the planet. I still can't believe how nice these sound.

dm

 

[LordEdmond]

ever listened to a pair of Linn Kans shoebox size but need 250 watt amp to drive them

how flat is flat ? does your amp have a flat reponse very very few do even class A

I have four 150 watt (rms) class AB and these or not compleatly flat ( £1.5 k each)
Naim SBL boxes these are not Flat but a few tweaks in the active cross over sorts that out

 

[Thump553]

One question-are they sheilded-or more importantly, are they throwing up interference on your monitor (if you are using them in a computer setup, like I am thinking of).

I read the link before and was pretty interested-but initially passed because my soldering-type skills are amateur at best.

 

[divinemartyr]

<< I read the link before and was pretty interested-but initially passed because my soldering-type skills are amateur at best. >>



I had never soldered a day in my LIFE and I did this. It's a very easy kit to do and very rewarding!



<< how flat is flat ? does your amp have a flat reponse very very few do even class A >>



Actually my Denon AVR-1700 is known for having issues with the low end, lacking issues that is. The mid-high range is very flat however. I'm thinking of upgrading to a Denon AVR-3801. Any thoughts on this LordEdmonmd? You seem to know a good deal about amplifier response.

dm

 

[LordEdmond]

Buy Naim amps
mono bloc if possible if not a Nap 250 (2 x 125w )
but then you need a pre amp plus psu ( for pre amp )

my hifi for black vinal that is

Linn Sondec LP12 full spec with Lingo psu
Naim pre amp with two psu's
active cross over
Four 150w mono bloc amps
Naim SBL speakes

All for the price of a BMW 3 series

But this does NOT have flat repsonse but nither does you room let alone your ears?

This system must be kept well away form CRT's plenty big magnets in these

the more you pay the least you get
no soft start big thump on switch on only a volume control main amps current limit at 17 amp output

 

[Workin']

Hi dm! It's your friend here again! Congrats on completing your DIY's. One minor question for you (to keep you honest, of course )

<< Not only is the sound amazingly clear and response equally flat >>

I believe you that the sound is clear but how do you know the response is anywhere near flat? I didn't see any specs anywhere and I don't think you have an anechoic chamber and sophisticated test gear at your disposal. So that's just a wild guess, yes? Or did I miss a link or something?

LordEdmond must live in the UK. Heavy Brit influence is obvious in his choice of gear. And amplifier class of operation has diddly-squat to do with frequency response, BTW. It's quite a bit more complicated than that. Ask John Curl or Dan D'Agostino or Mark Levinson. dm, I'm sure your Denon is plenty flat over the audio range. At least WAY flatter than any source component or any speakers.

 

[LordEdmond]

Yep right on the nail

if you want USA stuff try the good old Krell

nothing is flat in electonics except the DC volts from a battery ?

the acid test is do you enjoy the sound it makes, can you live with it ( the sound that is ) and more important can you afford it

that it must fire up the Naim equipment and get on some records ( not cd's the good old 12 inch stuff)

 

[divinemartyr]

<< I believe you that the sound is clear but how do you know the response is anywhere near flat? I didn't see any specs anywhere and I don't think you have an anechoic chamber and sophisticated test gear at your disposal. So that's just a wild guess, yes? Or did I miss a link or something? >>



Correct workin'. It's more or less a guess. I DO know that compared with many other sets of speakers I've had on this same receiver that the frequency response is much more balanced. When I say this I mean that bass isn't exaggerated and highs aren't overpowering. The sound is very warm, and I hear things on these speakers that with lesser quality speakers, I could have never heard due to highs being to too high or lows being too high (volume wise of course).

I don't have $100,000+ to build an anechoic chamber unfortunately, it would be very nice, nor do I have an RTA meter at my disposal. I suppose when I said this I should have specified I meant that it just 'sounded' like this to me.

dm

 

[Possum]

This is very tempting. I just spent about $200 getting new headphones and building a DIY headphone amp. I'll have to give this a shot sometime. I take it $320 doesn't include the stands in the picture, right? I didn't see the stands in the parts list

 

[divinemartyr]

I bought a nice nice pair of stands from Circuit City for $59+tax. If you include the cost of the soldering gun, polyfil (to fill the cabinet) and a couple other things not listed I probably spent $400 but for a pair of speakers that sounds like THIS? Wow. Also, a lot of these parts are reuseable (you get 100 quick disconnects and only use 6 of each) so I can build my next pair cheaper than the first.

All told, this is a $1,000+ pair of speakers for a fraction of the cost. The sound improves considerably when put on speaker stands, so this part is definitely necessary, unless you're good at making things =) Make your own!

dm

 

[Workin']

<< I DO know that compared with many other sets of speakers I've had on this same receiver that the frequency response is much more balanced. >>

Yeah but that's the speakers not the amp. The amp is putting out the same signal it always did, but these speakers interpret that differently from your old ones.

But I am glad you are happy with the sound, and they do seem like a really good deal, especially since (I assume) the cabinets were already assembled and finished. Is that right? If so I really wish I could hear a pair.

<< nothing is flat in electonics except the DC volts from a battery ? >>

LOL, 0Hz, +/- 0dB

<< if you want USA stuff try the good old Krell >>

or Threshold (are they still in business?), Cello, Audio Research, B&amp;K, Parasound, etc.

<< the acid test is do you enjoy the sound it makes, can you live with it ( the sound that is ) and more important can you afford it >>

That's what it's all about.

 

[Slugbait]

SpeakerLab also has always offered DIY kits, but the cost savings over pre-built SpeakerLabs isn't quite as dramatic. However, the speakers are quite exceptional. I recently retired my 25-year-old S15's in favor of DefTech BP UIW.

The main reason I retired my S15's is because a loaner Denon ripped out my passive radiators, and the replacements aren't to spec (by size!). Plus, I had to replace the original tweeters a few years ago with the tweeters they use for Super7's, so the imaging was off a little (too bright on the high end). Still, even crippled, they sound better than most mid-range speakers today, if you can believe it.

The BP's I got on clearance (just $262/pair, compared to $650 list) and they sound just a little better than my old S15's when they were in prime condition. Plus, I freed up a ton of floor space. The only in-walls that sounded better were the Klipsch. Most of my friends think my sub is powered up when I demonstrate them, and they have these itty-bitty 5-inch cones (2 per speaker). If you're looking for in-walls, I would highly recommend DefTech BP's.

 

[divinemartyr]

<< But I am glad you are happy with the sound, and they do seem like a really good deal, especially since (I assume) the cabinets were already assembled and finished. Is that right? If so I really wish I could hear a pair. >>



Yes indeed the cabinets are EXTREMELY high quality I really liked them and even when people told me they were high quality, they were even nicer than originally anticipated. I'm not a woodworker and didn't want to start trying, I'm in an apartment for god's sake!

Anyhow, I highly recommend this kit, the speakers are truly surprising, even by high standards. Yes I realize the signal is the same Workin', what I meant by it is these speakers' ability to take ADVANTAGE of the surprisingly well balanced output that the Denon produces. My old speakers came no where close.

dm

 

[Gustavus]

HiFi is a passion of mine, so I do have the means to test the frequency response of speakers -- and of the total enclosure. It is not simple though. Shure sells a precision calibrated microphone and a digitally driven signal source to use for this -- along with a spectral analyzer to compute and display the test results -- which I own. Even so, it is a long and artistic process to measure the frequency response of a new set of speakers. The white noise signal in the Shure equipment is derived from a pseudorandom sequence generator -- actually a linear feedback shiftregister -- which is then digitally filtered to produce various grades of pink noise for calibration and testing. The funny thing is that after all of that, what matters most is how they sound. I have had speakers with excellent response that I didn't like as well as some that had poorer test results, so when divinemartyr says his speakers sound great to him, that is just as meaningful as a frequency response plot. I will probably never give up my Tannoy studio monitors as my main speakers no matter what the specs may be on some more modern speakers.

 

[Workin']

Hey Gustavus, that sounds like a lot of fun (seriously). I have heard of Shure's system. But still, unless you have an anechoic chamber, you are measuring the speaker+room response - and the speaker/room interaction can make or break your sound quality and apparent frequency response (both range and &quot;flatness&quot.

I will say that speaker specs are mostly meaningless, and I would never use them to compare speakers from brand-to-brand. But they can be useful within a given manufacturer's product line, since presumable they were all measured under the same conditions.



<< I have had speakers with excellent response that I didn't like as well as some that had poorer test results >>

Exactly. That's because everyone has different preferences as well as different hearing capabilities. Some degree of coloration is not necessarily a bad thing. It all comes down to the sound, and you only have to please yourself.

The best thing to do is to get out there and listen to live music, see what music's really supposed to sound like. And then when shopping for speakers search far and wide and listen to as many different models as possible.

 

[divinemartyr]

Workin'

You should probably take that bag off your head before you listen for new speakers!

dm

 

[Workin']

dm, the salesman at the store where I bought the bag for my head said it is acoustically transparent and specially designed to enhance imaging by reducing edge diffraction and early first reflections. It's made of a special sonically pure fiber woven into a high-performance matrix, oriented to eliminate intermodulation distortion and give my music more 'punch' and 'air'. It's also magnetically shielded so I can watch TV through it's optically balanced eye holes without distorting the picture and it does a fine job of keeping the voices in my head inside my head and also prevents the space aliens from reading my private thoughts. Oh, and it gives my laundry brighter colors and whiter whites.

But I digress..... a little mid-week, after-lunch, too much Mountain Dew, audiophile silliness. Have a happy day!

 

[Thump553]

Workin':

Does the bag thing work better than using my green highliter on CD edges?

 

[Workin']

Thump553 - well, the two things are different, you see. I would recommend both. The green highliter makes the sound more &quot;solid&quot;, really improves the sense of power and dynamics. The bag has a different effect. But the science is the same, and the cumulative result - WHOA!.

I also recommend placing bricks on top of your power amplifier, it seems to &quot;focus&quot; the sound so much better.

(Public Service Announcement: The last few posts are poking fun at the audiophile predisposition to believe outlandish claims. Very similar to the Emperor and His New Clothes. All the suggestions contained herewith are completely ridiculous and are for entertainment purposes only. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

 

[Viperoni]

Carver is American too, I think.....

 

[Workin']

(Bob) Carver is indeed American. But his company is called Sunfire now.

 

[Quaggoth]

Thump553 - well, the two things are different, you see. I would recommend both. The green highliter makes the sound more &quot;solid&quot;, really improves the sense of power and dynamics. The bag has a different effect. But the science is the same, and the cumulative result - WHOA!.

I also recommend placing bricks on top of your power amplifier, it seems to &quot;focus&quot; the sound so much better.

(Public Service Announcement: The last few posts are poking fun at the audiophile predisposition to believe outlandish claims. Very similar to the Emperor and His New Clothes. All the suggestions contained herewith are completely ridiculous and are for entertainment purposes only. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

Workin' -

You should also place a bowl of capacitors, resistors, and transistors on the top of each speaker. This will help to absorb the S.E.I.W. &quot;Standing Electronic Interference Waves&quot; in the room. Yes, they DO wave while standing.

EDIT --

A friend of mine hooked a bas guitar up to a sunfire truesub once, we loosened the string and just let it swing betweeen the pickups. The cone was just moving back and forth at the same speed, making no noise.