Build my own speakers?

Hi Radrog,

I admire your ambition. Most of the topics you should be concerned about have been identified already. I presume you have the knowledge and tools to build the cabinet.

Building properly sized (tuned) cabinets and avoiding interior standing wave frequencies takes some knowledge and experience. Building a crossover that hands the frequency’s off to the proper drivers, controls excess peak energy at specific frequency’s, and manages the ohm load placed on the amplifier, is also a skill requiring a great deal of knowledge and experience.

Tools for this element would include various books, crossover and box software, and output measuring/graphing software.

If you wish to proceed with the learning experience, I would recommend diving in and enjoying it. You will undoubtedly experience many trial and errors as you refine your speakers. If you want the enjoyment of building it yourself, with reasonable chance of success, and cost savings, I would recommend this path:

Complete kit with drivers and crossover, and cabinet plans: http://www.selahaudio.com/id141.html

If you want to do it all with plans for the complete project: http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/projects.cfm

Here is a site from Seas drivers, with recommended DIY projects: http://www.seas.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=38 This project is available from the Madisonsound catalog.

Scanspeak may provide similar help.

These options would put you in charge of building the quality cabinet, and reduce the amount of engineering you would have to do for the crossover and cabinet design elements.

Good luck,

Mark

You have just discovered one of the surprises in high end audio. Typical high end $5000+ speakers that use $50 woofers and tweeters. Most of what you pay for is woodwork, exotic veneer/finish, shipping and packaging and of course some markup (manufacturers need to live!).

If you care only about sound quality then go either DIY (no resale value) or better to go for pro designs in a low cost finish (limited resale value because of low WAF but you got more high quality sound instead of high quality finish).

I would say that the lowest cost option to ultra high end sound is to buy a high quality pro grade two way active second hand monitor of your choice and build your own subwoofer using this LMS 5400 driver. You can probably achieve similar to $50K sound for around $5K. Of course it won't look anything like $50K but if that concerned you then you probably would not be thinking DIY.

Building your own subwoofer is easy but a speaker is tricky...so definitely go for kit/clones if you want to build a speaker - but even DIY is hard to compete with the cheap speaker imports from China. Many boutique high end speakers are now made in China (Quad etc.)

Hi Radrog,

I posted the first link twice. Here is the link I wanted to post secondly. You will find plans for most of these projects.

http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/projects.cfm

Good luck,

Mark

My $.02 would be that while crossover design is not what gets emphasized in ad copy and is not nearly as much fun to think about as high-tech drivers and exotic materials, it's really the heart and soul of loudspeaker design.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

Go for it. I started out slow by building a subwoofer first. Despite the fact that a sub is a simple box/amp/driver, there is a whole lot more to it than slapping those components together. I learned a ton. I met many great contacts as well. By the end of the design phase I was using subwoofer computer models for calculating the box dimensions to achieve a particular "Q" rating that I wanted to achieve, pretty cool stuff.

Later, I wanted to try out a single driver speaker (the ones in my System now). After reading a TON of info on the WEB, I decided to build a pair and settled on a proven design complete with detailed plans. I learned a great deal about resonance, porting, soldering as well as the many different types of resistors, coils and capacitors that are available. Here too, I met many new folks some of who have become good friends. Even if the outcome would have not been to my liking, I would have come out ahead with the knowledge I have gained and the friendships I have made.

Several weeks ago I was plotting the frequency response of my system on a test tone CD and a SPL meter. If you would have told me I would be doing that a year ago, I would have thought you were nuts!

Considerations:
1. Try out a relatively simple design first.
2. Try out a proven design, don't go to the self design route first, you will be amazed the things you have taken for grated.
3. Undertsand your wood working limitations (tools and ability) don't exceed these.
4. Have patience, don't be dissapointed at your mistakes, learn from them.
5. Take the time to meet and ask people on this site and others for help. You will be amazed at what you don't know.

Granted, my single drivers are much simpler a design than multi drivers are, but start something and enjoy the ride.