Hello (with a dash of humble pie)

[tli]

First, hello and thank you in advance for your help, patience, wisdom, and cheer. I'm doing what I can to LEARN before I stick my neck out too far but am ultimately interested in building a speaker and amp combo for a second home. They'll be my first and as such, I have a healthy dose of patience on my side (hoping a small dose of brains, talent, and anal retentive habits will also carry me to the finish line).

DIY - that's the goal. I'm hoping to go beyond the retail chains that have my existing two systems currently doing a respectable job. It's time to build!


My Project

• Cabin/second home in northern Arizona - want to keep the electronics "pure" and focused solely on audio (no plans for satellite, gigantic TVs, surround sound, etc.).
• Chief input source - likely digital (Pandora and iTunes via iPad, SACD, other). I've never owned a turntable.....but am not against it!
• Speakers - single driver build, looking to pull from commonsenseaudio<dot>com but AM OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS. As I am a absolute newbie (in terms of building an amp), I will do the speakers first since they're more straightforward and usable immediately.
• Amp - I definitely need to keep reading. As of now, I honestly don't know what I don't know. While I at least (as of this past weekend) now know the difference between a diode and a triode, I wouldn't know what to do with a box of them.
• DAC - given my known digital input needs, this is just another piece I'd rather build than buy (if possible).

We'll see what the next 12 months brings. Busy dad/husband/work being the culprits in my way........but the enthusiasm is there.

--tli

[wintermute]

Hi tli, and welcome to diyAudio. It sounds like you have a plan, and you are certainly in the right place to get help with those plans

Check out the full range forum for single driver speakers. that should get you started. Don't fall into the trap that many of us do,, and have too many projects being worked on simultaneously if you can limit yourself to one at a time like you have mentioned you are more likely to get them all done IMO (I talk from experience of trying to do too many things at once )

Tony.

[tli]

Thx for the quick reply and I couldn't agree more. Whoever made the notion of "multitasking" popular is hopefully no longer here to further complicate matters. He/she did enough damage with that one .

Speakers first, re-evaluate my wants at that time. I've got an older Harman Kardon receiver I can run those through so no rush to go overboard and wind up with something unfinsihed.

.....and off I go!

[riverwarrior]

It does sound like we have similar goals.

I have built one pair of speakers from commonsenseaudio. I used the standard 8, and I feel that they are a good starting place, but the frequency response is far from ideal.

I am also interested in building a DAC at some point, though as you mentioned, life as a dad/husband/work does not allow for all things to be accomplished in a reasonable time frame.

Good luck