Hello please bare with I'm new to this.

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Let me start I guess with my system. I have a Yamaha RX-V467. I listen to movies and music through my computer connected through a Asus Xsonor sound card. I connect through the headphone jack into analog in the receiver. I have found the sound is better that way than through HDMI from the video card. My question is. I want to build a home theater using Alpair speakers in either slotted base reflex or double bass reflex. I'll be using a subwoofer with Dayton SA1000 amp and a 15 inch woofer. I have heard the speakers on You Tube which I know is not a good place to listen but it's the best I can do for now. I like the sound I hear and the fact they are pretty easy to build. No crossovers. I have seen speakers on the net using 2 Lowthers so, I'm wondering if it could be done with Alpairs too. Would this help with the dynamics? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have been doing a lot of research on all the form sites including this one. Reading and trying to learn all I can. Also I was planning on cover the cabinets with formica. Would this affect their sound? Thank you ahead of time for your thoughts. I don.t have a lot of money. Remodeling my house right now so between doing rooms I want to build the speakers. I don't have a wife or kids so size is not an issue. My living room is connected to my kitchen. Measurements are 11 feet wide and 24 feet long or deep.
 
Jparker,

You will be able to do a system without crossovers with the Alpairs. Quite a few diyAudio memebers have HT systems with Alpair drivers and I am linking a couple for your reference:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/markaudio/216073-marks-new-home-set-up.html

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/markaudio/227449-alpair-7-3-ht.html

The Alpair 7.3 was used for for of these builds.

For box plans you can check P10's site:

Frugal-phile | Box Library / Mark Audio

If you are looking for floor stander fronts then the Pensil 7.3 can be an option. For bookshelf size (front or rear) the Mar-Ken 7.3 is a good bass reflex design. Dave has a seperate design for the center IIRC.
 
Thank you!

Cool man! Thank for replying to my post. I have read that building a Mar-Ken is hard for a beginner at wood working and I am a beginner. Lol. I'm retiring from work in a couple of years and I want to build some speakers for my system and kick back and enjoy. I have got to get the saws and stuff to do it. A friend of mine at work is helping with the house and he told me as long as I pay him he will help show me some things. Would a simple bass reflex work just by making it a little taller say 36 or so inches? I know from reading not to go to big on the speaker because that will effect the highs and I don.t want to add a tweeter. That would defeat the purpose. I have been on here looking at the gallery at the speakers. Man the guys on here build some awesome speakers. Wish I lived by some of you, I live in San Angelo Texas. Set down have a good beer and talk. Since I was a kid I wanted good speakers. I have a Cerwin Vega system right now. But even listening on You Tube I'm hooked on Full range. I have been everywhere on the net and good speakers are not cheap. Even good Klipcsh would set me back 2500 and they are not perfect. So I thought if I'm going to spend that much money over time might as will do what I did with my computer and build my own. Like I said size does not matter too much just quality of sound. The wall I'm putting my front speakers and TV on is a little over 8.5 feet. Height to my dropped ceiling will be about 6.5 feet. So as long as the don't go past that anything is possible. I listen to all types of music. Sarah Brightman, Johnny Cash,Korn, and so forth. I figure if full ranges can play theater with all it's dynamics I figure with a sensible volume they should play just about anything. Hope I'm not wrong. Got a little long winded but to help ya'll need info. Thanks again for posting the links. I'm clicking on them now.
 
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zman01 offers some great advice. The only thing I can add is to get an external DAC for 2-channel (music), and for multi-channel (DD, DTS, etc.) try to figure out why the HDMI link is resulting in lackluster sound. You can then configure your music player to output to the external DAC (then analog into the receiver) and configure your movie/video player to stream the digital source directly to the receiver for surround decoding.
 
DAC

Thanks man. The sound card I have has a built in DAC and headphone amp. Signal to Noise is about 115 I think. I got a GTX 460 video card right now. Going to build a new computer when Haswell comes out unless I get busy building speakers. I think the reason for the sound difference might be the DAC in the sound card compared to the video card. Also I'm my 50 year old ears are probably use to analog as will who knows. I got all my music on my hard drive and have a Blu-Ray burner in the computer. So everything goes through there. Makes looking up songs easy. I miss the crackles and pops of vinyl. But can't afford a phono right now and do all this other stuff.
 
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Audio output on your video card's HDMI interface does not go through a DAC, it is pure digital. The DAC stage happens in your Yamaha in this configuration.

If you like analog sound, a computer sound card DAC is not the best solution. When I switched to an external DAC, I couldn't believe how much more "analog" it sounded compared to my sound card. Your mileage may vary, but start with the speakers and tweak the other stuff later.
 
I saw a cabinet in one of the diagrams that might be cool for two centers. I'll describe it. It's on the page marked Home Theater Appendix. The cabinet that is laying on it's side and has a piece of wood with holes behind the driver. It's 10 7/8 inches long. It looks like two of those hung over the TV would be good for center wired in series. Also I noticed that 11opas system,which is amazing,he is using a driver at the top and one in front. Would it be possible to that in a Pensil and if you can,then do you have to compensate if you are running the same drivers. By compensate I mean notches. I don't know how to solder and with so many things going on right now learning would be difficult if not impossible. Many thinks for ya'lls advance and I am paying attention and trying not to be a pest. If I could I'd by the beer. Lol.
 
Jparker,

I have a couple of Xonar cards too (2 channel STX and the DX which is 7.1) - they are pretty nice cards - good place to start from. A good DAC is an improvement - you can add a DAC later as Cogitech has suggested; I recently added a HifimeDIY CS4398 DAC and do notice an improvment in sound on my system (PC based).

The free CGR (Classic Golden Ratio) Mar-Kens from Dave are bass reflex boxes and relatively simple builds, The paid plan-set Mar-Kens are more difficult to build, and look pretty cool with the wide chamfers. Due to the narrower baffle and wide chamfer these will have slightly better imaging vs the CGR-Ken. The designs in the HT appendix are pretty simple builds and designed for the Mark Audio CHR-70 drivers. The Alpairs are better sounding that the CHR-70.3, but having said that, the CHR is no slouch and very good value for money. Maybe Dave can suggest if the same center will work for the Alpair 7.3? BTW, a center with one driver should be sufficient - please refer to page 3 of the plans.

If you make BR boxes tall and slim, then my understanding is that it becomes a quarter-wave speaker. The Pensil 7.3 is also a relatively simple build (in case you are planning the fronts as floor standers), and are 37" tall - that should be close enough to your stated 36" height preference. It has a simple slot port.

For HT in full glory, speakers with single full-range drivers (or other speakers for that matter) will need sub-woofer assitance.

It would be great to chill out with fellow diyAudio members and talk speakers, and amps, and DACs, but at least we have the forum where we can learn and exchange ideas. :)
 
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Oh yes I'm more interested in building the speakers right now. I have seen some expensive DACs. I'll ask about connecting later down the line. Speakers are more important. If nothing else I can build the electronics "around" the speakers as per how the sound and what sound I want. Maybe throw in a EQ later. I know that might sound crazy but the speakers I have now are VE-5ms and VE-5c Cerwin Vegas. My subwoofer is an old 100 watt CV I bought at a Rex appliance store 13 years ago. It went out on me and the speaker rattles. So I started looking at subs and good ones that are 300 and 900 watts are just as expensive as building my own and the accomplishment as well. So I thought just build everything and get the sound I WANT not what some one else wants.
 
Yes I have the STX that came with headphones.I got it from a friend without the headphones for 50 dollars. I don't think he knew what he was getting rid of. I tired to talk him out of selling it, him being my friend, but he did not want it so I bought it. Been glad ever since. As far as height they can touch the ceiling if that what it takes. I have not got the drop ceiling in yet so I can just move it up. Like I say I'm remodeling my house which embarrassingly is a trailer house but I don't make much money and it's paid for. I can some what build to accommodate the speakers. That's why I'm picking and choosing now so I'll know what I have to do to get where I want to be. If I need to change a wall I can since I'm re-paneling as will so I'm planning everything so everything can work together. I think that is the smart thing to do. I have 3.5 years then I retire. I won't retire with the same money I'm making so I want to do everything that needs to be done and I want to before I do. I work for the State of Texas so retirement amount is what it is.
 
I going to add as a side note that I'm glad that people from different backgrounds and countries can come together and talk. I appreciate that very much. I have been to a few places to ask advice and they were rude or I never got a response so I'm glad that I got some advice. I was shocked that I got responses as fast as I did. Lol. We all live and breath the same. We need to come together and get along. Thanks again.
 
Thank you Dave. I'm looking all over the site lol. Man so many cool designs it's amazing some of them. I'm trying to take it all in. I look wherever I'm pointed. I started reading about full ranges a while back and seen all the different designs of cabinets I knew something had to work with HT. Especially since receivers are only 100 to 120 watts anyway you know? And efficiency is almost a must because I burned up a Techniques receiver in 2000 because I had I set of old CV VS-100s and L-7 center and L-7 2-ways for surround. Man I had it cranked. Anyway the receiver got too hot because the CVs were not working hard and fired the board. Hind sight is better than fore sight. So I learn that efficiency is important to a degree. That and I'm older and wiser. I usually work nights but it is a holiday here,MLK's birthday so I'm off. Most of the time I'll be on on the weekends. I sleep during the day so if someone post and I don't get back right away that's why. Don't want to be rude.
 
So you will know I'm paying attention a FH3 is a Frugal Horn. 3 being third gen. It looks more complicated than a Pensil so I was thinking I could build Pensils now then sell them later and Build FH3s when I know how to work with wood more. That being said how would a sealed cabinet work with the Pensils and would it be fine for use with the FH3? All running the same speaker of course. I know that from reading as much as I have. Really all drivers need to be the same. Also would 3 Pensils across the front and sealed or bass reflex as surrounds work? I'm going to be using a sub also. 15 inch 300 or so watts and the same spl. Don't want to over power the other speakers with too much bass. It's going to be ported. I'm going to start buying the Alpairs with my income tax. Would the 10.2s be too big? Would they cut the highs too much? Thank you for your help. You guys build some great stuff. Ya'll have my respect and admiration.
 
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If you are remodelling to the extent you said, you could consider doing in-wall front left, right and centre. Normally this would be done in drywall, which is pretty sound-neutral. Not sure how thick your panelling is, but it could always be reinforced on that wall. Maybe drywall, then panelling.

Something to consider, anyway. Many people around here would jump at the chance to do in-wall. Would be cheaper, and would potentially provide the best sound possible, if implemented correctly.
 
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Wow! Did not think of that. Actually did not think it would sound good if I did. I was planning on using Cinnamon Beech MDF paneling. But if I can go another route and use something else that's ok too. So many things to consider. So I could put 2 drivers on each side of the TV for the mains and 2 at the bottom for the center to keep the ohms the same build 2 driver surrounds. 4 ohm loads on each. Now I'm wondering would it be too much to use a 8 inch sub at the front to boost the mid bass and a 12 inch behind the couch to boost the lows. My room measurements I posted earlier. Room is 11 feet wide and 24 feet deep to the fridge in the kitchen. I am going to have a small wet bar in the middle but still it will be open. I like loud. I live 25 miles out of town so people out here are pretty cool. Neighbors listen to the same music I do. I do like to drink beer and crank the tunes lol. Yeah Texan go figure lol. See only my budget is stopping me. I could have an outside theater if I wanted too on my screened-in-porch when I get it built. 2o'clock in the morning might cause a problem though:). I just want to keep the philosophy "keep it simple stupid" as far as crossovers and the like. That philosophy as served me will over the 50 years. I just have to be careful of thieves.
 
In- wall would not take up that much room either because no cabinets. What kind,if any,fill do I use? I'm glad you suggested that. That would make things much easier and I could have more money for the subs and better quality as will. I'll try to send a picture later of the wall I'm using. Have to learn how to upload have never done it. I have been ignored at other sites when asking questions so I just have been reading and looking over the past year to learn. Just fyi to the moderators I will donate to the site for helping me. I'll have to wait for income tax. You guys have helped me a lot in a short period of time that's the least I could do. Don't have a lot of money but I appreciate the time and effort ya'll have done to reply. Man finally got to a place where I can get some good ideas and talk. Thanks again.
 
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