Hi guys,
I concur with Erik's suggestion to experiment with DIY. The right kit can produce results that will rival commercial designs costing a whole lot more. Many times in fact
Apart from the unavoidable manufacturing costs which entails rent, staff salaries, R&D, rates and taxes, advertising, shipping etc. DIY affords one the opportunity to do things that manufacturers generally can't.
To explain in detail would take pages, but briefly : The crossover as heart of the speaker is by necessity often done as cheaply as possible. I have seen some surprisingly shoddy examples in expensive speakers. For the DIYer seeing as you will be building only 2 sets it is of small consequence to spend $10 on the series cap to the tweeter, whereas the manufacturer will allow perhaps $1
It is also not too expensive to use quality resistors like Mundorf or Mills to replace those noisy sand cast abominations which are almost standard fare in lots of pricey commercial speakers.
Then there is the opportunity to adjust the kit speakers dimensions to suit yourself so long as the overall volume is kept the same and the width is not significantly changed. By this I mean increasing the height of a standmount design to that of a floor-stander. This generally looks nicer than using stands and to keep volume the same the bottom of the box can be filled with sand.
The sand acts as a sink for resonances and adds stability by sheer mass. It will be obvious to most that a commercial manufacturer would never entertain this adding sand idea even apart from increased transport cost.
Mostly when I build conventional speakers I shape some thin veneer at the back of the box into a semicircle spanning the 2 sides creating a 'U' which I then fiberglass and fill the cavities with sand. This stiffens the box tremendously and the shape breaks up standing waves.
Some of the money saved with DIY can be used as mentioned to improve XO and buy quality binding posts, avoiding anything brass, and replacing internal wire with OCC single strand wire preferably soldered in place.
The kits mentioned by Erik I have not heard but have myself used the outstanding value SB Acoustics drivers and had superb results.
What suggests itself to me here is to build the smaller 2-way as per my idea of stretching the cabinet into a floorstander with sand etc. and augment the bottom end with OB servo subs. Drive the tops with a tube amp filtered to HP at about 80Hz and the port plugged and I bet I would win money on some finding their jaw hit the floor :)
I concur with Erik's suggestion to experiment with DIY. The right kit can produce results that will rival commercial designs costing a whole lot more. Many times in fact
Apart from the unavoidable manufacturing costs which entails rent, staff salaries, R&D, rates and taxes, advertising, shipping etc. DIY affords one the opportunity to do things that manufacturers generally can't.
To explain in detail would take pages, but briefly : The crossover as heart of the speaker is by necessity often done as cheaply as possible. I have seen some surprisingly shoddy examples in expensive speakers. For the DIYer seeing as you will be building only 2 sets it is of small consequence to spend $10 on the series cap to the tweeter, whereas the manufacturer will allow perhaps $1
It is also not too expensive to use quality resistors like Mundorf or Mills to replace those noisy sand cast abominations which are almost standard fare in lots of pricey commercial speakers.
Then there is the opportunity to adjust the kit speakers dimensions to suit yourself so long as the overall volume is kept the same and the width is not significantly changed. By this I mean increasing the height of a standmount design to that of a floor-stander. This generally looks nicer than using stands and to keep volume the same the bottom of the box can be filled with sand.
The sand acts as a sink for resonances and adds stability by sheer mass. It will be obvious to most that a commercial manufacturer would never entertain this adding sand idea even apart from increased transport cost.
Mostly when I build conventional speakers I shape some thin veneer at the back of the box into a semicircle spanning the 2 sides creating a 'U' which I then fiberglass and fill the cavities with sand. This stiffens the box tremendously and the shape breaks up standing waves.
Some of the money saved with DIY can be used as mentioned to improve XO and buy quality binding posts, avoiding anything brass, and replacing internal wire with OCC single strand wire preferably soldered in place.
The kits mentioned by Erik I have not heard but have myself used the outstanding value SB Acoustics drivers and had superb results.
What suggests itself to me here is to build the smaller 2-way as per my idea of stretching the cabinet into a floorstander with sand etc. and augment the bottom end with OB servo subs. Drive the tops with a tube amp filtered to HP at about 80Hz and the port plugged and I bet I would win money on some finding their jaw hit the floor :)