DIY mid to low end speakers. Worth the price?

Use good drivers like Scanspeak and a good crossover.  If you are halfway decent in the shop your DIY speakers will be a great value and give you much enjoyment.

I'm with the MDF advocates here- it is the right material for the box. A beautiful and properly applied veneer of hardwood or even an exotic wood is a great way to get that furniture look while retaining performance. 

I'm a fan of the GR research DIY kits, although there are a number of others that are really good. 

These Polk Monitor 70s might be Best Buy junk for all I know.

@n80 my apologies; I meant that Polk Audio, despite being usually associated with entry-level big box products, made some very good, sometimes highly innovative speakers - the old RTA series among others - before Best Buy even existed.

If I may offer a suggestion, try driving your Polk speakers with a good-quality, high-current Class AB amp. If you like what you hear, used Class AB amps can be great bargains. Good luck!

@n80  I was thinking about all this last night. I have a decent band saw and could resaw some of my nice white oak and use that like a veneer on the front. I could not cut it anywhere near as thin as bought veneer but I might play around with this idea. 

I doubt you’ll have any regrets once all is said and done.  No doubt there’ll be some unforeseen "puzzles" to solve along the way, but overcoming the hurdles is part of the fun and reward of a journey like this. 

I don’t think it’ll be difficult to have speakers that will surprise and impress you.  Decide what’s important to you, and choose what you think can satisfy those needs.  I’m a believer in all the little things that some don’t think matter much- from cabinet enhancements to stiffen and reduce box resonance, to treating the front baffle for less diffraction, to flush mounting the drivers and keeping the driver centers as close as possible, to improved crossover parts, wires, and connections (copper or brass and no steel), and even laying any inductors at 90° to each other.  ...doing as many of these as you can will certainly make a difference, or at least lay the groundwork for a difference.  Plus, you may be able to pursue some of these upgrades at some point down the road if you get the urge....other tweaks are best off done from the onset of designing the cabinets for improved sound quality.

Keep us posted!

Not an expert but trying to be self taught, the limitations of using hardwood panels (construction aside) are that they will ring and color the output.  If you must use solid hardwoods you must use well affixed bitumen.  This is to dampen the panels.  It does this through mass loading and absorbing the energy.  This is NOT the same as batting, wool, or filling the volume.  Which is also highly recommended to limit standing wave energy.   Not sure what your kit includes but the bitumen will likely be necessary.   Also, cross bracing panels / baffles will also help (can have large holes in them to allow air movement).  

I’m back to thinking about doing these speakers again.

I’ve been messing around on the band saw and I’m having decent luck re-sawing the oak into ’veneer’. It is a little less than 1/8th inch so not store bought thin but I think that glued to MDF front panels it will be fine. I may still build the sides and tops with hardwood. Or maybe 1/4" thick hardwood over MDF. 

The Tori tower components cost $600. I’ve got all the quarter sawn white oak I need. So the only things at stake are the $600 and my time. If they suck I’ll use them in my basement shop.

I’ve got a lot to work out in my head and I may get them nearly built before I buy the components so if I can’t pull off the woodwork I haven't wasted any money.

And the truth is, even if they sound average they will probably look better than the vinyl ash finish on the current towers that stand out like a sore thumb in the cabin.

I’m starting a cabinet project right now for the stereo components which also look bad in the rustic cabin. I’ll start on the speakers after that. I work slow so it will be a while.