Why the cost increase?

Master M always good to hear from you. Still tinkering away? A kindred spirit indeed. It’s humbling to know such people.

i am more listening music now than i am tinkering, because when some relatively good S.Q. is there we think less about the sound and more about the music content ...BUT..... 😁

Acoustic is like i said many times the sleeping princess in audio....

Proof: my last tinkering is improvising a new diffuser with 10 discarded junk cardboard empty rolls of absorbing cloth and a piece of fabric lace to filter the 10 tubes aperture....The 10 tubes are in an empty egg box...( i dont feed chicken then i must buy my eggs unlike the OP )

Result: more, way more richer harmonics....Incredible changes with a one feet by 6 inches large new Helmholtz diffuser in my room ( my fourth)...I already use 40 Helmholtz resonators which also diffuse some frequencies but the diffusers by the way i use the large mouth aperture with some filtering devices are more diffusers than absorbing devices even if they absorb some frequencies also.... They complement each other....And Helmholtz resonators need diffusers devices to harmonize all the scale frequencies in relation with the room/speakers...

I made it this evening in few minutes in spite of the fact that i was thinking for the last month that my room was finished....😁😊

Now all musical files are new again...I know that few people will believe a so greeat improvement with so low cost ridiculous materials... But acoustic is a science not a luxury materials marketing enterprise....

Lesson: acoustic is more than important, acoustic is the heart of audio, not electronic design by itself, even if for sure it is very important....We must choose good speakers for sure to begin with....but after designing them like the OP want to do, the audiophile goal is not reach yet, till the room is under control for this specific speaker....

By the way it is humbling for me also to know such kindness and creative spirit coming from many of you, especially the OP ....

All for just peanuts Master M..

I'm 100% with you, every situation, and every room is different.

The key is the attention to OUR OWN ears in our OWN ROOM.

No 3, are the same.. Left eat, right ear, or room.. :-)

Put up some pic let me see your new creation. It might motivate my lazy old self. 

Here is a good one. I been trying to figure out a sound change in the listening room I'm using.. Two weeks I been wondering what changed.

LOL I got new glasses, with MUCH taller and wider lenses. 

I put my old glasses back on and it was like magic.. :-)

One for the books and nugget to some.. Take off your glasses and listen.. It makes a difference.. LOL

With open ears and an open mind.. Thanks for sharing your nugget,

I think we ALL need a break from the C.O.L.  increases to everything.
Great low cost working solutions, (NOT TRYING) that produce quality results is the real name of the game.. 

Other than setting up the my last room, which is last on the house repair list. I'm very close.. A building storage staging shed (pretty easy).

I need to clear the room and set my equipment rack in the front wall.
Tune the 128 CF front in wall traps. Add a few trinkets. Paint and then hang the heavy acoustic curtain (diffuser/dampeners).

2 days max and forklift in the Elixirs, MB columns and GRs Servo system.. I'm thinking Christmas.

LOL it's only been a 37 year plan.. Everything is coming together though.

A lot of gear is leaving too. Time to clean up, and collect up.. I have quite a few vintage Mac pieces and a few other collectables.. Very conservative 50k 65 is closer..

I'm looking at a 5 acre empty lot, good soil.. 18 feet A.S.L. in the delta..
LOL There is a river boat I had my eye on for 20 years.. Like the old paddlewheel Riverboat.. Why not? Beach the BOAT on the 5 acres and have a hootenanny. Call it good.. :-) 20,000 feet of living space on that thing..

Regards

I think that's a great balance Oldhvy...enjoying the present and dreaming of the future.

What else is there, roxy54..

Here today, gone tomorrow, the only real thing is "right now" and my dreams.

Be well.