2. speakers
  3. 1016297717

Rolling your own

How hard is it to build your own speakers and have them sound great. I dont want to make to simple the fact of building expensive speakers but It looks like some off the shelf drivers and crossovers and go to, is it Poland? to have a few hundred cabinets built and finished to your specs.

What about copying current hi end speaker designs, and the drivers, and the way their cabinets are built. Some of the best playing guitars I have ever played were custom built.
Can you study this craft then do it your self or can you make a 15k mistake? What do you do if you want to sell them.

Really peaking my interest currently is maybe a copy of the legacy focus with some atc drivers? With a copy of the dunlavy tower woofers, or my ultimate, a copy of the German Physiks Gaudi with 4 ddd bending wave drivers, six mid metal driver speakers and 4 super sub woofers? The parts not including cabinets (if you didnt buy the gp subs) about 15k do you need special crossovers for the ddd's I burnt mine up but the new crossover is suppose to take care of that. Could you use pro audio crossovers that are active and adjustable?

The only home built speakers I heard are usually horns which are ok but not what I want.

The type of music I listen to mostly modern alternative,classic rock, Ill keep my electrostats for the old smokey jazz thing. But some times I want a concert in the hole ( the room is undergrond) so i want the db inthe 110-120 range.

My room is 20 x 25 and have different ss amps and 4 big 250w tube monoblocks. I live in the middle of no where and no one else around the area has this vice.

Thanks

Kelton
kelton
kirk930's avatar
kirk930
285 posts
 
i am waiting on cabinets right now. i bought all the woodworking tools and started on the project. what a disaster. i built some firewood. it is fun though.
tweekerman
473 posts
 
Hey Kirk I as well was thinking on ATTEMPTING to save on cabinets, but i felt i would be wasting money and more important my time. Which drivers are you using? Which order house? How difficult are the kits?
trelja
3,223 posts
 
I am also a big fan of DIY speaker projects.

Zalytron is a great source for parts, there are several other North American retailers of parts from companies like Accuton, Axon, Dynaudio, Eton, Focal, Kimber, OrcaDesign, Raven, Seas, Solen, Vifa, the list goes on and on.

My only caveat about Zalytron kits is that the crossover designs are for the most part from the late 80's - 90's. A lot has happened since. Mostly, the simplification of networks mandated by the return to lower powered amplification(tube/OTL/SET). Whereas these kits often feature third order crossover topologies, in my opinion, gains can be made by investigating things like first and second order networks. Also, running drivers with no parts in the circuit and series networks can produce stunning results. Just one person's opinions.

To maximize impact and what a driver will produce, please use the best crossover components your project affords. For example, using a 12 gauge coil in place of an 18 gauge will pay dividends far beyond the cost. Film and foil caps are not always necessary(especially on a novice - mid level project), but certainly a good polypropylene along the lines of SCR, Axon, WonderCap is worth it. And, the best value in DIY speakers are wirewound resistors. For a maximum of $15/project, the clarity and reduction in harshness, grain, sibilance, and shrillness cannot be bested. Also, do not skimp on the quantity and quality of the internal wiring.

Good luck!
tweekerman
473 posts
 
Hey Trelja ZALYTRON offers all the drivers you mentioned in kits The Raven 1($200 each) R-2($300 each) R-3($1600EACH!!!) are rumored to be SUPERIOR drivers. If a commercial lab offered the R-3 in a design they need to charge you about $6K just for the R-3 so total cost with woofers cabinet and xover would probably be a $25K speaker!!!! What a RIPOFF!!! You can get the R-3 driver in a design by ZALYTRON ALOT ALOT less and DEFINETLY WOULD SOUND BETTER! If you price the drivers that commercial labs use they are all CHEAP! and the HYPE tells you WOW!! don't they sound great! Your points about 2nd order and Xovers i don't understand fully. Except i think you're trying to say that the QUALITY of the (hidden unseen) Xover is of extreme importance. POINT: even if you had a kit made and a R-3 was used, if the xover is of so-so design and quality, then the driver will never be near its full potential. So i'm looking into the little-known active xover called MARCHAND. Their TUBED X126 ($1400). I talked to a Marchand dealer(ZALYTRON is a dealer as well) and he said the same as you. Usually the xover in a cabinet every time holds back the full potential of the driver. He said the Active xover is far superior to passive. The Marchand requires no xover in the cabinet it does all frequency control! However it is a expensive venture. But remember there are folks out there spending $5K to .... on speakers that i don't like at any price! GOTTA GO
hifiguy
15 posts
 
Start with a kit, as crossover design is VERY tricky and will make or break the success of your project. The crossover is really what makes a "good" speaker "great". Without an expertly designed crossover, you'll most likely end up with mid-fi quality speakers, even if you use great drivers and parts. Most world class speaker development is 5% designing and building and 95% listening and tweaking the crossover until it is "right". Really, save yourself the time, headaches, and expense and use someone else's expertise - buy a great kit.

The best kits I've seen out there, where you are not merely building 2 way bookshelf "toys" are:

BESL Speakers - www.bamberglab.com
NorthCreek - www.northcreekmusic.com (already mentioned)
and
Zalytron's selection of projects

Good luck!
More to discover