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What building my own speakers has taught me...

Hi Everyone,

After 8 years or so I have finally finished my "reference" speaker system.  I say eight years because what started as a small, high end 2-way has morphed into a 3-way active system.  Really happy with the results for myself... but I wanted to step back a little and reflect on the audio industry right now. 

First, I’m not here to convince you to DIY your next pair unless you NEED to build something.  And I’m not here to rail against the high price of gear, which does have some merit.   Mostly what I think about is how difficult it really is to make a business selling audio gear, and that I’m actually SHOCKED at how many companies attempt to do so, and even more when they thrive. 

Pricing out all the components in my speakers I come to a total parts cost.  Lets say it’s $1,000.  It could be $10, the actual amount doesn’t matter, but pretend it’s $1k. If I try to imagine "How would I take this product to market?"  I simply can’t get to a selling price under 15 to 20 times manufacturing cost. 

At the same time, the cost of the average "reference" speaker over the last 20 years has really skyrocketed, while the audio enthusiast market has dwindled.   Then along came HDMI whose ridiculous licensing and technical requirements seems to at least have been partially responsible for Meridian and Theta Digital dwindling from the market. 

I can’t imagine how hard it is for anyone besides say Sony or Harman or Samsung to be in the market for audio gear.  Increased costs, high competition, dwindling consumers.....  are we in a bubble or does every generation think "this is it, this is the end of high end audio?" 

erik_squires
kennyc
2,952 posts
 

I’m glad @erik_squires has completed his speaker project so can now enjoy them - greatly appreciate his contributions to this forum

deep_333
2,438 posts
 

I helped my nephew diy a 3 way horn on a recent weekend. He’s got a active crossover used klipsch heritage running on a cheap behringer dcx2496 i gave him at some point...I guess it made him feel he’s a horn guy.

Had to deal with something like this for a bit....

https://www.tiktok.com/@northvalleygrp/video/7525237586105863454?lang=en  My daughter could have built it for him with her eyes closed.

Eminence 12 inch woofer

JBL selenium driver and some cheap PRV compression drivers

Cabinet with a single woofer in a ~ 2ft by ~2ft by ~13 inch sealed mdf box and bracing, extension down to around 40hz. Mid and High drivers screwed on to jbl horns, open baffle above the box...Approx, 650 dollars in parts....With the active crossover dialed in, it started to sound like it could put a hell lotta speakers out of business .

I would wager that he won’t be missing any qualios and voltis and whatever anytime soon...

 

Interestingly, for my build, I also went three-way active. I did not try to do the cabinets myself. Woodworking is not already my hobby and I could not do a good enough (solid and robust and visually accurate) job myself without first putting in years of effort. It was still not cheap, as the Purifi drivers cost a pretty amount. In some ways I got the active crossovers for free. But first I had to pay for BACCH4Mac software, that happens to have an active crossover module built in. It is only fourth-order. But I have drivers that have pretty wide frequency overlaps. So it is fine. The 10-inch cross to the 6.5-inch around 200Hz. The 6.5-inch to the tweeters around 2500Hz. So the 6.5-inchers really cover the imaging.

I considered using broadbands with no tweeters. But when playing very loud in tests, I found broadbands to get stressed.

That said, there are some pieces that sound simply phenomenal with a broadband surrounded with a horn. With what I “saved”, maybe I can afford another system with horns for when they are better.

erik_squires OP
17,551 posts
 

@kennyc  - Thank you so much for the  kind words. 

asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
5,191 posts
 

Hi @erik_squires , and the new speakers look great and I suspect that you're pleased with the $'s and effort involved.

My DIYs' are a bit more involved, and the time frame involved has stretched longer than I'd expected, but what's a Quixotic affair supposed to last in any case.

Out of curiosity, I Goog'd 'DIY Walsh' with my DIY Audio imposter handle using the AI search.  Popped up, replete with pics and commentary.

I was surprised, it seemed to be kinda complimentary overall in catching the gist of the affair. 

Not that I've no real intentions of flooding the market, no.

A signed and numbered limited edition with a lifetime (mine) warranty., perhaps.... ;) *wry L*

In the meanwhile....Merrie Xmas and Happier New Yearnings, all y'all.
Keep the fire bottles glowing and the Solid States cool... 👍🤞😎

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