hi everyone
i was looking at getting some new loudspeakers for my house but i just can't seem to justify spending 600-5000 on a set of speakers that will be outdated in 2 years at big name stores. and from what i have been reading those speakers are not always the best quality. I've been looking into this DIY loudpeakers but i have no idea where to even begin. I have a little bit of woodwork skills (but i have a friend who is handy at it) and absolutely no idea on how what is needed to create a crossover that will work with certain drivers. or how to design a box that will work well with the drivers.
I've been looking at DIY for a while because I would like to replace the current speaks I have With something a little bigger, cooler looking and most of all, to have a sound presence that is similar across all speakers, and have the speakers match. I am quite fond of front towers with several woofers/mids and a tweeter. i don't need anything too crazy or complicated
So - let's start with what I have currently:
Yamaha HTR 6090 I believe. 7.1, and 120w per channel
Up front - 2 older Pioneer speakers (12" woofer, 4" mid and tweet
Precision Acoustics Center channel (from best buy) 2 x 5" and a tweet
Back rears - some cheap Polk Audio not too sure of the size
I don't have any presence speakers yet for the full 7.1 setup but i would like to try some di-pole or bi-pole syle
Subwoofer- a Velodyne 12" DSP
so you can see I have a real mish-mash, my sub is the only speaker that i truly enjoy at this time.
I will be using this system for mainly movies 65% video games 30% and music maybe 5%
I was told sealed units would probably be my best and simplest approach
Goals
Budget - well my budget is pretty flexible seeing as good quality stuff isn't cheap, but i don't want to break the bank either. I think $1000 should be ample to get a nice set of front speakers ands maybe some rears.
Sound - I'd love it to sound great (especially for the price), and would be happy with decent sound - it'd be nice to get some imaging again, and some rich, clear tones. I'd like all the speakers to match in tone (not necessarily the same speaker/sound - but similar
Look - I'd like to go with something that will look pretty cool - I would like to do towers up front for sure with multiple drivers that are decent size say 7". as for the rears i can settle with some decent bookshelf ones on stands. I havn't found many centre channel designs but this would be key for my setup. and i'm not sure if anyone here has tried the bipole rear speakers with tweeters on the outside and a center driver (example, monitor audio BRFX, or Axiom QS8) these would work for my presence speakers as well.
My journey so far...
Looking around at DIY BEFORE I found you guys (and by you guys, I mean people knowledgeable in building speakers that sound great, not just people who find a speaker and build a box that looks decent, but don't take into account all the sonic information)
I found a company that id DIY speakers called Schumakubins, they look like a nice basic design and are realitivy decent budget and are a so-called complete kit. they use Dayton drivers and from what i read they are not too bad. Has anyone built these before or used these components?
I also looked into the Raw accoustics, occam audio, CSS, but i wasn't too key on thier designs they were either not enough for me or overkill. i also looked into a few at diyprojects.com
i am in canada so local electronics would be nice to help save on shipping
But now - well, I need advice
Thanks
Newbie.
i was looking at getting some new loudspeakers for my house but i just can't seem to justify spending 600-5000 on a set of speakers that will be outdated in 2 years at big name stores. and from what i have been reading those speakers are not always the best quality. I've been looking into this DIY loudpeakers but i have no idea where to even begin. I have a little bit of woodwork skills (but i have a friend who is handy at it) and absolutely no idea on how what is needed to create a crossover that will work with certain drivers. or how to design a box that will work well with the drivers.
I've been looking at DIY for a while because I would like to replace the current speaks I have With something a little bigger, cooler looking and most of all, to have a sound presence that is similar across all speakers, and have the speakers match. I am quite fond of front towers with several woofers/mids and a tweeter. i don't need anything too crazy or complicated
So - let's start with what I have currently:
Yamaha HTR 6090 I believe. 7.1, and 120w per channel
Up front - 2 older Pioneer speakers (12" woofer, 4" mid and tweet
Precision Acoustics Center channel (from best buy) 2 x 5" and a tweet
Back rears - some cheap Polk Audio not too sure of the size
I don't have any presence speakers yet for the full 7.1 setup but i would like to try some di-pole or bi-pole syle
Subwoofer- a Velodyne 12" DSP
so you can see I have a real mish-mash, my sub is the only speaker that i truly enjoy at this time.
I will be using this system for mainly movies 65% video games 30% and music maybe 5%
I was told sealed units would probably be my best and simplest approach
Goals
Budget - well my budget is pretty flexible seeing as good quality stuff isn't cheap, but i don't want to break the bank either. I think $1000 should be ample to get a nice set of front speakers ands maybe some rears.
Sound - I'd love it to sound great (especially for the price), and would be happy with decent sound - it'd be nice to get some imaging again, and some rich, clear tones. I'd like all the speakers to match in tone (not necessarily the same speaker/sound - but similar
Look - I'd like to go with something that will look pretty cool - I would like to do towers up front for sure with multiple drivers that are decent size say 7". as for the rears i can settle with some decent bookshelf ones on stands. I havn't found many centre channel designs but this would be key for my setup. and i'm not sure if anyone here has tried the bipole rear speakers with tweeters on the outside and a center driver (example, monitor audio BRFX, or Axiom QS8) these would work for my presence speakers as well.
My journey so far...
Looking around at DIY BEFORE I found you guys (and by you guys, I mean people knowledgeable in building speakers that sound great, not just people who find a speaker and build a box that looks decent, but don't take into account all the sonic information)
I found a company that id DIY speakers called Schumakubins, they look like a nice basic design and are realitivy decent budget and are a so-called complete kit. they use Dayton drivers and from what i read they are not too bad. Has anyone built these before or used these components?
I also looked into the Raw accoustics, occam audio, CSS, but i wasn't too key on thier designs they were either not enough for me or overkill. i also looked into a few at diyprojects.com
i am in canada so local electronics would be nice to help save on shipping
But now - well, I need advice
Thanks
Newbie.
Your best bet is an existing design, have a look at these sites to see what's possible:
http://www.zaphaudio.com/
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Loudspeaker_Projects.htm
http://www.rjbaudio.com/projects.html
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/
http://www.zaphaudio.com/
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Loudspeaker_Projects.htm
http://www.rjbaudio.com/projects.html
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/
don't worry about knowing how to design a crossover, try a proven design and enjoy the fruits of some very talented people on these forums. pete has given you a boatload of great designs.
also try: http://www.geocities.com/woove99/Spkrbldg/
the shumakubins are nice looking design by pete schumaker. don't know if he frequents this board but you can find him at: http://techtalk.parts-express.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2
he has these and similar designs in 2 way, 3 way, mt, mtm, and mtmww layouts. ask him which of his might work best for you.
as well as CSS, you can buy parts in canada from solen.ca. saves shipping hassles. look through these links and narrow down what looks interesting, then come back and you will get good advice as to which might fit you bill. yes, the sealed/subwoofer combo is probably the easiest to implement but don't limit yourself to that. some like the tonality of sealed, some like vented. most any design can be switched between the two configurations. remember, if you want a tower, any monitor can be built into a tower by extending the box downward to get the desired height and putting a plate inside to maintain the correct air volume.
blue934
salmon arm, b.c.
also try: http://www.geocities.com/woove99/Spkrbldg/
the shumakubins are nice looking design by pete schumaker. don't know if he frequents this board but you can find him at: http://techtalk.parts-express.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2
he has these and similar designs in 2 way, 3 way, mt, mtm, and mtmww layouts. ask him which of his might work best for you.
as well as CSS, you can buy parts in canada from solen.ca. saves shipping hassles. look through these links and narrow down what looks interesting, then come back and you will get good advice as to which might fit you bill. yes, the sealed/subwoofer combo is probably the easiest to implement but don't limit yourself to that. some like the tonality of sealed, some like vented. most any design can be switched between the two configurations. remember, if you want a tower, any monitor can be built into a tower by extending the box downward to get the desired height and putting a plate inside to maintain the correct air volume.
blue934
salmon arm, b.c.
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