2. speakers
  3. 1066684165

DYI Speakers. How good can they be?

Ive been doing alot of research into DYI audio. About 3-4 months ago i was getting kinda sick of my job and realized i dont want to do telecommunications my whole life. So what do i want to do? I love building things and i love Audio gear.

I recently went out and bought "Loudspeaker Cookbook", and "Designing Building & Testing your own Speaker System". I have recently ordered a book on electrostatic speakers and im looking at the local college for some physics, electronics, and mathematics courses. Im considering learning some metalurgy and taking some welding classes as well. It will be a while untill i can get all the tools i need, untill then i need to sharpen my most important tool for this task, my knowledge of speakers.

There is alot of complex stuff involved in these, but then again, my current job is extremly technical and complex. So i dont have any doubts of my ability to learn this stuff. It looks like ALOT of fun as well.

Im hoping that in 15 years or so i will be able to produce my own line of High-End speakers, but first i would like to complete at least 50 different speaker projects including electrostatic as well.I have been scouring the internet getting as many speaker recipes i can find, and i plan to build a speaker of every plan i can over the next 5 years or so. This will get my hands dirty and heelp me learn alot of the do's and dont's of speaker building before i start to design my own line of speakers.

Every now and then i think about Speakers from companys like Wilson, Vienna Accoustics, and such, and wonder if i could ever build something as refined.

Then i realised everyone who designs these things has to start at SOME point, and every line of speakers out there started as a DYI project.

I hope withint the next 10-15 years have a marketable product of my own design (of course) that will definatly have my personal sonic signature, and be something all of you will enjoy.

That being said, What are your experiences with DYI Audio? Have you ever run across a set of home-built speakers that put a good percentage of high-end speakers to shame? Im not looking for recipes, i'm just curious of anybodys experience with really well done homemade speakers.

I cant think of any job out there more satisfying than one that challenges you to think, requires you to use your hands, and shows significant progress or a finished product at the end of the day.
slappy

Showing 2 responses by ed_sawyer

ed_sawyer
588 posts
 
It's certainly possible. Some examples:

http://www.magico.net/ - this guy is basically a one-man-band who has taken it to the next (ultimate?) level - he's still on the DIY/BASS speakers list and contributes ideas from time to time. But, he's also doing exotic commissioned speakers for big money. He's done several pairs of very unique speakers - follow through his site to see some of them. The quality of the work surpasses everything I have seen from Wilson, (insert favorite commercial manufacturer here), etc.

http://www.cain-cain.com - Terry Cain & his wife, also a small operation (with a few folks that work for them). He is an accomplished woodworker that has moved into building speakers a few years ago. He's met with commercial success, and most of all his work looks and sounds great, for reasonable money. It fills a niche that is not covered by traditional manufactured speakers.

http://www.electronluv.com/ - while not speakers, Josh has also taken his passion (building tube amps) to a commercial level - his stuff is great, it's not cheap and the wait for it is long, but in the end it's worth it.

Bruce Edgar (Edgarhorns) has also done some great work, as mainly a one-man operation. I think the time is ripe for something similar from other folks (maybe you?) - a compression-driver based 3 way horn system, maybe ? It's a niche without many players.

I'd suggest you would find the best success with something rather exotic, both in design/build and perhaps in appearance, something that no one else is doing or at least not doing well. Go for the small-volume, higher-price market, rather than trying to make and sell 1000 pairs a year. At this level, appearance matters at least as much as sound (not that it should.....)

have fun,
-Ed
ed_sawyer
588 posts
 
Check out Norh - they make speakers out of cast synthetic marble. Pretty cool. ADS used a novalith-type ceramic (?) for their CM (compact monitor) series of speakers in the late 80s/90s. I had a pair - interesting. They were 2 pieces, both cast/molded/machined. The head of ADS at the time is now making speakers under the Aerial name (Mike Kelly - great guy), he uses Novalith for the 'head' of the Aerial 10T - also a cast piece. Very expensive, but very dead and dense. He told me one time that fully 1/2 the cost of the 10T was in the 'head', not sure if that included drivers or not, but either way - clearly an expensive proposition for that material.

have fun,
-Ed
More to discover