Can the Dynaudio C1 be beaten by a DIY design

obiwan · 27th June 2007, 02:12 PM

The Dynaudio C1 bookshelves sound great. But at US$6500 a pair do you think speakers of equal coherence, balance and poise can be done DIY. Are the scan speak revelators really up to the task?

tktran303 · 27th June 2007, 03:05 PM

Compared to some other manufacturers, Dynaudio's recent commercial products (Audience, Focus, Contour, Confidence series etc) all seem to measure consistently well, at least in terms of linear and non-linear distortion. They are one of the brands I would recommend to a friend who just wants to plonk down some cash or swipe their credit card.

But, for US$6500 bookshelf, it had better be a great speaker.

But for that kind of cash, you could buy other musical and well-engineered, but full sized speakers, like like the Music and Design NaO II, Linkwitz Orion+, Selah Audio 3D, Nomad Audio Ronin, Salk Sound HT3 etc...

terry j · 27th June 2007, 03:43 PM

without a doubt my dear fellow!

The other side of that coin is how good are your DIY skills? In terms of that money, put into drivers alone, then the Dynaudios (or any other commercial speaker for that matter) would be left gasping in it's wake.

In your case, you are even more well poised than most. Reasonable driver selection, no absolutely stupid 'design decisions' (bass unit, midrange and tweeter seperated by 300 mm for example, you know what I mean)and you are done.

Because you are using the deqx then all the intricacies and decisions of designing and building a x-over network are handled, and how!

Just realised you said $6500 US!!

Double everything I just said. For that money you can get the drivers AND have the boxes built with cash left over.

BHTX · 27th June 2007, 05:25 PM

I'd NEVER pay $6500 for such a simple 2-way bookshelf, regardless of how wealthy I was. But, that's just me.

sdclc126 · 27th June 2007, 07:40 PM

I would venture to say that you can equal or beat a commercial bookshelf speaker at that price for a tiny fraction of it. It's ridiculous. There are plenty of great DIY design out there that you'll be happy with for only and handfull of hundreds of dollars.

Remember - ALL commercial products essentially start out as DIY - somebody designed, built and tested individual prototypes before they went mass production. Yes companies have more money to invest in R&D, but the raw materials are out there and available for individuals to make the same things, with similar end results.

obiwan · 27th June 2007, 10:07 PM

I'm just wondering how many $1000 to $2000 speakers I'd have to make up before I'd be as happy as what I'd be with the C1's. Let alone what the cabinet would look like.

I guess I should just give it ago and trust the DEQX that I have. It's just that I thought with my DEQX I could get my Dynaudio Special 25's to sound as good as the C1's, but I just can't get there. But I think that's down to the 8inch Special 25 driver isn't ideal for great midrange, and also I suspect I'm hearing the cabinet interfering with the sound. I have actually ordered the dense wool pads to put around my tweeters from diffractionbegone.com. Will see what that does.

I was going to order in the Parts Express cabinets to have a play, but then found out they'd cost $400US just in shipping fees. I need to find someone locally who can make cabinets for me. I'd like to have Scan Speak drivers in a cabinet, but I want the cabinet to look good an sound good

obiwan · 27th June 2007, 10:11 PM

Terry, the little C1's are $10,000 here.

David Gatti · 28th June 2007, 12:34 AM

You could build a beautiful little 2way using Audiotechnology drivers and fancy capacitors for about 1/5 th of the price of the Dynaudios!

aerius · 28th June 2007, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BHTX I'd NEVER pay $6500 for such a simple 2-way bookshelf, regardless of how wealthy I was. But, that's just me.

I would, if there was a 1/3 pound nugget of gold inside each speaker.

obiwan · 28th June 2007, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David Gatti
You could build a beautiful little 2way using Audiotechnology drivers and fancy capacitors for about 1/5 th of the price of the Dynaudios!

Had a look at their website, so they don't do tweeters. Looked at their prices on the Australian soundlabs site, they're even dearer than the Scan Speak, but still cheaper than a fully made Dynaudio C1. About $1000 though per 6 inch driver.

So where do you Australians get your cabinets made up? Or do you do it all yourselves (well I guess this a DIY forum).

27th June 2007, 02:12 PM	#1
obiwan diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2006	Can the Dynaudio C1 be beaten by a DIY design The Dynaudio C1 bookshelves sound great. But at US$6500 a pair do you think speakers of equal coherence, balance and poise can be done DIY. Are the scan speak revelators really up to the task?

27th June 2007, 07:40 PM	#5
sdclc126 diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego, CA	I would venture to say that you can equal or beat a commercial bookshelf speaker at that price for a tiny fraction of it. It's ridiculous. There are plenty of great DIY design out there that you'll be happy with for only and handfull of hundreds of dollars. Remember - ALL commercial products essentially start out as DIY - somebody designed, built and tested individual prototypes before they went mass production. Yes companies have more money to invest in R&D, but the raw materials are out there and available for individuals to make the same things, with similar end results. __________________ Soft Dome

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27th June 2007, 03:05 PM	#2
tktran303 diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Perth, WA	Compared to some other manufacturers, Dynaudio's recent commercial products (Audience, Focus, Contour, Confidence series etc) all seem to measure consistently well, at least in terms of linear and non-linear distortion. They are one of the brands I would recommend to a friend who just wants to plonk down some cash or swipe their credit card. But, for US$6500 bookshelf, it had better be a great speaker. But for that kind of cash, you could buy other musical and well-engineered, but full sized speakers, like like the Music and Design NaO II, Linkwitz Orion+, Selah Audio 3D, Nomad Audio Ronin, Salk Sound HT3 etc...

27th June 2007, 03:43 PM	#3
terry j diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2006	without a doubt my dear fellow! The other side of that coin is how good are your DIY skills? In terms of that money, put into drivers alone, then the Dynaudios (or any other commercial speaker for that matter) would be left gasping in it's wake. In your case, you are even more well poised than most. Reasonable driver selection, no absolutely stupid 'design decisions' (bass unit, midrange and tweeter seperated by 300 mm for example, you know what I mean)and you are done. Because you are using the deqx then all the intricacies and decisions of designing and building a x-over network are handled, and how! Just realised you said $6500 US!! Double everything I just said. For that money you can get the drivers AND have the boxes built with cash left over.

27th June 2007, 05:25 PM	#4
BHTX diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2006	I'd NEVER pay $6500 for such a simple 2-way bookshelf, regardless of how wealthy I was. But, that's just me.

27th June 2007, 10:07 PM	#6
obiwan diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2006	I'm just wondering how many $1000 to $2000 speakers I'd have to make up before I'd be as happy as what I'd be with the C1's. Let alone what the cabinet would look like. I guess I should just give it ago and trust the DEQX that I have. It's just that I thought with my DEQX I could get my Dynaudio Special 25's to sound as good as the C1's, but I just can't get there. But I think that's down to the 8inch Special 25 driver isn't ideal for great midrange, and also I suspect I'm hearing the cabinet interfering with the sound. I have actually ordered the dense wool pads to put around my tweeters from diffractionbegone.com. Will see what that does. I was going to order in the Parts Express cabinets to have a play, but then found out they'd cost $400US just in shipping fees. I need to find someone locally who can make cabinets for me. I'd like to have Scan Speak drivers in a cabinet, but I want the cabinet to look good an sound good

27th June 2007, 10:11 PM	#7
obiwan diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2006	Terry, the little C1's are $10,000 here.

28th June 2007, 12:34 AM	#8
David Gatti diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia	You could build a beautiful little 2way using Audiotechnology drivers and fancy capacitors for about 1/5 th of the price of the Dynaudios!

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