What building my own speakers has taught me...

I am curious how they sound. Are they comparable to anything we might know?

@kennyc 

I don’t actually mean to sell anyone on the idea of DIY, but if you are a closeted would-be builder, there are great kits, all included, at a variety of price and performance points. 

@jsd52756  - You did, you are welcome.  I’m sure you’ll be pleased. 

@mahgister - Thank you, but honestly I’ve gotten lucky and gotten good advice in part selection. 

@parkergetdean - The best I can do is probably tell you what I like to listen to and what I don’t.  At shows, my two consistently favorite rooms are Fritz and Vandersteens.  I also often like the top end Monitor Audio speakers.  If you have heard these you’ll know they are extended and musical and natural but also could be considered too laid back by some.  They do not excel in jump factor either.  Right now they are tuned a little neutrally for movies but I use a little EQ for Roon to make the music a little deeper. 

Above all, they don’t sound like a commercial speaker.  You know the feeling when you listen to an all B&W or Focal or McIntosh speakers and feel like you could recognize them in any room?  You can’t really tell mine.  They lack treble "character."  They sound effortless without the excess air of say some ribbons as well.  Another couple of characteristics which bugged me personally from mega buck speakers is either excess reed sounds or excess throat sounds, which shows up especially with a singer like Diana Krall.  Her piano sounds soft and delicate, but not amplified, it just sounds like it’s in the room, and you can hear her pedal work as well as the notes without either being exaggerated. 

In Patricia Barber’s Cafe Blue (which despite being overused for demos is NOT musically her best album, listen to Live at the Green Mill) there’s a finger snapping at the start of a track, and yes it sounds natural, and present but no it does not bite you. 

With movies, despite only having 5.1 speakers, it’s immersive and things that fly over sound like they fly over! There’s a separate Hsu sub for the Low Frequency Effects, and listening to Battle Los Angeles there’s a scene where our heroes to be are in a hellicopter getting shelled and you FEEL the helicopter drop from underneath you when a nearby shell explodes. 

This is aided in large part by my first active speaker, the center channel kind of sort of inspired by Troels designs.  Mine is physically much smaller, thanks to using a sealed cabinet and active, but his ideas for driver selection got me started. 

One thing  I really liked when I was done was that the 4th order crossover really provided me with superb vertical and horizontal dispersion, making it an excellent experience no matter where I was in the room.  In converting my main speakers I wanted to bring that 24 db/octave goodness over. 

All told, I have about 1,500 watts of power in 3 triamped speakers in my home theater, plus the sub.  That’s a huge amount of power and surface area for my pitiful little living room! 

If i did the math right, I can get about 110 dB of sustained volume from the bass through the mid range at 1 meter.  

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful speakers guys.  Congratulations!  I wish I had the talent to do it.  I tried making a pair back in high school with a friend that got components from France.  He ended finishing his and they looked rough and sounded worse.  At least he got further than I did.  Speaker builders we were not.  Enjoy!