To Buy or to DIY, here is my question

How much to build mine?

What attracted you to the Proac speakers?

Have you seen https://meniscusaudio.com/product/er18mtm-ribbon-pair/

should sound similar to the Proac’s and what you’ll learn and the satisfaction derived could make up for the sound difference if any.

Also a fun read with some insight on what DIY entails.  

https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1637209185

Im thinking about putting together the CSS Criton TDX’s or one of Dannys kits.  The finish on Pro AC is awesome.  Unless you are looking for a project just spend the $8k on the Pro Ac’s.  

@crustycoot 

Indeed, sometimes the main reason to DIY is a creative dissatisfaction with commercial offerings.  It's like making your own dinner.  Yes, it's cheaper to eat at home, but sometimes you want a meal just so and the only way to get it is to make it yourself.

Of course, not everyone can cook, but if you are patient and willing to put in the effort and have good mentors you can definitely make exactly the meal you were looking to make.

For me I wanted to put together two really excellent drivers in a small two way (failed on the "smal" part! 😂) with exactly the capacitors I wanted to try out.  That was my drive.  It was never to undercut any retail product, but of course at a 10x markup, I don't think I would have been able to afford my speakers if found at retail.

I built custom speaker systems for a living for 14 years (and moonlighted as a musician and live sound tech), including pro sound reinforcement, studio monitors and hi-fi speaker systems. The company that I worked for had access to raw speakers lines the likes of JBL Pro Series, Altec Lansing, Electro-voice, KEF, and several other brands. Of course I built my own systems several times over the years as well since I could access the components for dealer cost + 5%.

My advice to you is save up for the factory builts. You will thank me later :)