Built your own speakers ?

I've only built a sub but sure learned lots from the experience. My next project is my fronts and I'm only looking to spend around 1600. If you take the approach that the saving from dyi going into the parts, I'm sure you can build as good a speaker as commerical. Very good drivers can be purchased from manufactures ( I heard vr 4's. Geez they don't make their own drivers). Crossovers? Parts are made by other people. Enclosure? Material again made by other parties. I am leaning towards building the BESL 2.4 using Seas Excel drivers. Not cheap but will be a very nice speaker. Again I'm looking to spend less than 2 grand. The story may change if your spending megabuck, but I my price range you can do just as well as a commerical company.

Didn't say I couldn't reverse engineer my VR4's and come close to their sound for less money but that would be cheating wouldn't it? (Besides you've got to buy a set and dismantle them to copy them) Seems to me I've seen a ad for a company that does just that advertising is stereophile in the last year or so. (Copies other company's designs) Anyone else seen the ad?

I'm not sure how getting the most for your money is cheating; guess it is a New England concept. I found a site off of the sub dyi that lists the drivers found in many quality speakers. Some of these drivers are included in kits. It takes a leap of faith to go from a pile of parts to speaker, but in my price range you can get a very good speaker.

My opinion is still if I was given the drivers and crossovers of a speaker I like, I'd still be hard pressed to duplicate the sound because of the cabinets. Its not just a woodworking exercise. The sound deadening, diffraction limiting, time alignment issues of the cabinet, not to mention the finish, are not trivial issues.

We know those issues aren't trivial (especially finish), but it is you who is trivializing the speaker building hobby, it seems to me. As far as specialized baffles go, the only commercial manufacturer that does that in a way that would be essentially impossible for an individual to do, is Revel (they're part of a multi billion dollar company, afterall). However, with a few other innovations, you don't need to have an 8 inch radius to achieve ideal diffraction limiting. And anyone can time align a baffle...