DIY Speaker Kits, a good idea?


Looking at the high quality of drive units in DIY loudspeaker kits like from Madisound, GR Research, SEAS, etc., it easily looks like a sonic bargain.

However, the typical audiophile mantra is to demo for yourself to find what subjectively “resonates” with you.  Can’t do this with a kit.  But a kit could be a sonic jackpot for one on a tight budget.  Also seems fun to build.

What’s your opinion?

kennyc

 

A rough idea of what the re-frame might look like.  The oval on top would probably a carving of some sort.  I'm thinking maybe a walnut / bordeaux wine color dyed cherry mix.

aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder.

Like 'Go Faster' Stripes showing their dominating presence on a Vehicle, creating the sham, this thing in a speed king.

Will the Speaker be improved or any more bearable as an object with or without the intricacies added.    

 

Like 'Go Faster' Stripes showing their dominating presence on a Vehicle, creating the sham, this thing in a speed king.

@pindac 

When and where I grew up, go-fast stripes were a manufacturer's go-to way to making a humble sedan into a nimble sports machine. That, a pair of fog lights, a displacement bump all the way to an awesome 1300 cc, ridiculous rear-wheel camber and you were set.

Haven't thought about those bestriped family sedans in ages. A few of them were actually legit fast, but most were donkeys in race horse drag.

Kids would swap the stock carb for a double-barrel from the junkyard and claim phenomenal performance increases that existed only in their heads. But the engine would foul plugs and sputter and miss at idle like a real Italian sports car, so there was that.

The more it changes...

 

@nogaps: One ET LFT-8b owner claims that when he removed the wood trim rail from the top of each speaker, the height of the sound stage increased. I haven’t tried it yet, but diffraction caused by speaker enclosures is a real thing, and can result in the sound stage being "locked" onto the enclosure (rather than floating free of it). If removing the top rail increases image height, it’s possible that removing the side rails may result in increased sound stage width (and improved center fill?).