Speaker Suggestions for GC

[dsavitsk]

I am building my first Gainclone (a BrianGT special) for a friend, and I am looking for speaker recommendations.

He will almost certainly want used. The requirements are under $500 (though less is certainly better) and floor standing (unless you know of a bookshelf with enough bass oomph, but I don't.) My first thought is older B&W's (DM630, etc) but I am wondering if anyone has other specific good or bad experiences.

Thanks,

Doug

[dsavitsk]

Nobody here has plugged their GC into a set of speakers? I'm just looking for "I played mine through ______ and it sounded good to me," or "I tried ______ and it was not my favorite combination." Nothing more scientific than that. Thanks,

-d

[kmj]

it's a DIY-forum, so why not build a pair?

[random_id]

Building a set for $500 sounds like a great idea to me.

I am playing my GC through a TL with an 8" peerless woofer and a Morel tweeter. It sounds great...and far less than $500. Actually, that was the first set of speakers I built and I later learned (after figureing out how to model stuff on the computer), that there are some frequency problems with the speakers. Hey, they still sound great, crisp, full, and wonderfull.

If you don't want to make a set of cabinets, you could always try a kit, or pre-made cabinets from Partsexpress.

[fireman]

I don't know what your friend is into but how about Fullrange Open Baffles ? I bought a pair of really nice 10 inchers from Planet10 and built the prototypes you saw on my website. At less than 50 USD including shipping from BC, helper tweeters and baffle material, this definitely is a Frugal-phile(tm) project.

Even though they sound really good, this is not really an out of this world hi-fi project. But this is definitely the project that has given me the highest amount of satisfaction up until now. For one thing, fullrange drivers offer a unique perspective on the music you listen to. And then, you get rid of the box by using open baffles. Ohhhh Myyyyy God You have to try it for yourself to understand what those boxes do to the sound... I'm not sure I'll ever want to go back.

Going back to the subject of this thread, I also built a pair of John Krutke's Silver Flute speakers. For the price, they sound pretty darn good. Sure, you can get way better speakers but you'll have to pay quite a bit more. Those little puppies are not hard to drive so your friend's GC will have no problems with them.

Neither project will give you the oomph you're looking for though. But with the cost involved in both projects, you could built a pair of nice little subs from 2 ApexJr Super 8 drivers (70 USD for a pair) and a pair of Audiphile plate amps (200 USD for a pair).

I hope this is the kind of answer you were looking for. If not, keep asking around. Eventually, something will come up !

[dsavitsk]

Thanks for these. I think the DIY route is not appropriate for the project (due to apartment life if for no other reason) but I may try that for another project. Any commercial suggestions?

-d

[llmobll]

Well basically i think that most use the GC for bookshelf powering. In your case I would build a 2.1 system. get a stereo and mono block and just use something like a Athena, Energy, Polk, bookshelf paired with a 10" or 12" sub and you have a respectable setup.

The reason so many people aren't replying is because they use the GC for soo many different setups that a recommended setups hasn't been established, mainly because everyone is different and uses the GC for different purposes. Personally i would build a 2.1, i like the sound, without breaking the bank.

-dan

[G4ME]

Ideally, I am looking to build a pair of MTM TLs (not sure what designs i will go with at the moment, but i have heard great things about North Creak Rythms) with active cross overs built into the GC amp. keep things nice a simple.