To Buy or to DIY, here is my question

OK!  DIY!  I have now rebuilt a half dozen serious pairs of speakers.  From the 4 foot high towers by 1970s Bose Corporation to AR-3s and a pair of Advent's, both by Henry Kloss.  There are others that I call my 'Zombie' line as all are really fine boxes that I strip of everything.  The cheap junk you can pull out of these old masters is surprizing and mostly way too cheap.  With classic cabinets I have all the data I need to proceed.  

What I do is so far superior to what I have found in units like the 7speaker Sansui frat house monsters with poorly insulated 28 AWG cheap copper wire not fit for the lights I put on my boat trailer.  

My last began with a full real wood new veneer on a Henry Kloss Advent that was vinyl on MDF.  I treated the vinyl with bleach and painted with primer for wood glue to hold.  Many coats of Total-Boat water based 'varnish'.  The veneer was Birch and finished in a light shade.  New frames were cut for the screens and new screening was applied.  The interior was fully lined with the sound absorbing 'egg crate' style damping.  I mark out where the plate for the crossover will go and I painted 2 or 3 coats of Acoust-X on the surface to protect and pad the crossover.

I put solid brass fittings cut and plated with gold with a mounting plate for speaker wire termials.  Multi-able with banana plug fittings.  From the terminals I connect in the box between terminal and crossover connection with 12 AWG premium speaker wire.  I use the same 12 AWG to connect crosssover with Mid and Woofer.  This time I used 20AWG pure solid silver speaker wire from crossover to the tweeters.  ($80 for 6 ft and worth every penny).  The wiring alone is a major step up from all but the ten grand or higher priced commercial offers.  And even some of them!

I installed pre-made Eminence 3-way crossovers rated for 200 watts.  This went on to feed planar ribbon tweeters, an 8" Emenince mid and a 12" Community VERIS series woofer.  Got a deal on the woofers and all drivers for under $500.00  Another $75 for each crosssover and $3.75 per foot of speaker wire sans the silver.

All in for under $1,000 and would blow Henry Kloss away to hear this now!  And well driven with a 70 watt Marantz intergrated amp.  My Peachtree X-1s  with 440 watts per channel can make the really sing out too.  I live in a house with neighbors and people and find that 70 watts is more than plenty. 

My first real effort some time ago taught me a lot about what goes on in a speaker cabinet.  I had gone to Radio Shack and bought pairs of mids and woofers to fit the old Bose Inter-Audio 4s.  Got all four drivers for about $50.  That sounded better but the overall sound was bad.  I replaced the tweeters.  Still bad.  I got new Mids.  Better, not good.  Now with some experience I returned to Parts Express and put all B & C components in after stripping the box again.  These are a highly articulated set of speakers and only took about 4 rounds to get to what sounded just right. 

And if I had $20,000 each for speakers, where would they go?  I love the big Focals, but that is not 'home style' listening and I would need another $100,000 for amps and speaker wires.  And then a gun to keep everybody the hell out of here when I want to listen to some Yusef Lateef jazz or any and all of Joni Mitchell's catalogue.  I will take it to my 'bunker' (aka man cave but I don't live in a cave) that is just the right size to sip a bourbon and burn a Michigan joint and be blissed out with what I have managed to 'put together' and now own.  And with the money I did not spend I bought a new Rega 6 turntable and a new CD player and a Vincent 701 phono pre-amp upgraded with a rare Brimar tube.  

Just got my copy of the vinyl set from Frank Zappa and a release of what is called his last concert in the U.S. before failing health and death.  I think it is late enough to head to my 'studio bunker'.  

The folk tune I remember about "...You got to walk that lonesome valley, you got to walk it by yourself;  ain't nobody gonna walk it for you, you gotta walk it by yourself! DIY!!!

  

   

@sandthemall thx, I am just trying to be a perpetual student… I think everyone should DIY some audio gear…

best to all

jim

Okay time for some replies:

 

OldSchool- I built a dozen Owens Corning 703 2' x 4' panels 3 years ago.

Nearly cried when I heard the improvement.

Then again if I take my gear outside to the patio and

listen, well I just want to move out there permanently.

 

Re all Altec Model 19 proponents. Agreed a great  speaker.

I owned the Altec Maestro 500s. Basically the 19 in a pro version.

Modded them up and moved on.

 

If I build anything it will have only the best components and drivers.

The XO will be designed by someone way better that most. Like

Danny Richie.  

No-Rez inside and braced every which way. 

 

Undecided whether to port or not. 

 

Jonk & Phus- My goal is for the speaker to double as a toaster.

Could not agree more with your perspectives.

 

Rustybut  & Drumax- Funny you should include the Linkwitz photo

from November in Heraldsburg. I was in the room. I liked the effect 

but those speakers have no presence in my book. Also too hideous

to be allowed out in public.

 

 

Thanks for the support!!!

 

 

@gdaddy1 Thanks so much for taking the time to share your great tips.

DIY is a process. And the process is it’s own reward. 
 

Since COVID hit, I’ve built several dozen pairs of speakers. DIY speakers are like potato chips. Once you start, it’s very difficult to stop after just one.

Tuning a speaker will help teach you how to listen. Tiny changes in damping, stuffing, crossover components, crossover design will all show you what is, and is not possible to do.

I would suggest starting, as others have suggested, with something simple. If you are handy and can build a square box with accurate dimensions and a couple of holes in it, there is no need to buy a flat pack. And start with an inexpensive design. Use inexpensive components. Think of this as a sketch, a playful experiment. Don’t expect it to be a showpiece out of the gate. Do expect to be surprised to find how little it takes to have something sound decent. That, and how difficult it is to make something truly exceptional. Keep it manageable, both from a technical build part and from an expenditure standpoint. The less stress you place on yourself for the first build, the more enjoyable it will be. What you learn from listening to the build will forever change how you listen to your system. You will literally be put inside the gear.