Hey guys,
I've just been told by a good chap who builds bespoke furniture that he'd be up for building some speakers with me!
Bloody exciting, as I've wanted to for a while but never really had the tools.
I want to build a pair of bookshelf speakers for a small to mid sized room, that can be driven easily by my 40W gainclone. The amp isn't important though, probably going to build something new at some point soon.
Anything up to £1000 for the drivers and crossovers is what I'm aiming for. I'm really a fan of speakers that can manage good imaging, so fairly detailed but not harsh sounding. I'm currently running some B&Ws 685s which I love the characteristic of the sound they produce.
Been looking at some of the kits on this website, I quite like the look of this one:
ARIA MHT - Visaton 2-way column speaker DIY kit - per pair (5948) - Europe Audio
Anyone have any experience with that?
Also, I find fullrange drivers quite interesting, I would be up for a design based around a set of them if anyone can recommend a good one?
Cheers,
Will
I've just been told by a good chap who builds bespoke furniture that he'd be up for building some speakers with me!
Bloody exciting, as I've wanted to for a while but never really had the tools.I want to build a pair of bookshelf speakers for a small to mid sized room, that can be driven easily by my 40W gainclone. The amp isn't important though, probably going to build something new at some point soon.
Anything up to £1000 for the drivers and crossovers is what I'm aiming for. I'm really a fan of speakers that can manage good imaging, so fairly detailed but not harsh sounding. I'm currently running some B&Ws 685s which I love the characteristic of the sound they produce.
Been looking at some of the kits on this website, I quite like the look of this one:
ARIA MHT - Visaton 2-way column speaker DIY kit - per pair (5948) - Europe Audio
Anyone have any experience with that?
Also, I find fullrange drivers quite interesting, I would be up for a design based around a set of them if anyone can recommend a good one?
Cheers,
Will
Or you could go a different way, get vintage 10inch Tannoy dual-concentrics and give them the quality enclosure they deserved but never got. At least not from Tannoy.
Drivers to look for would be III LZ (10" Monitor Gold), 295HPD or 2558.
Just make sure the drivers come with the crossovers!
There is plenty in there to upgrade and fiddle with but they also contain an autoformer which is not easily replaceable. Tannoy put the 295HPD in a bookshelf-sized box and called it Eaton. Plans are readily available, keep the internal volume and port size.
The rest is only limited by your imagination.
Drivers to look for would be III LZ (10" Monitor Gold), 295HPD or 2558.
Just make sure the drivers come with the crossovers!
There is plenty in there to upgrade and fiddle with but they also contain an autoformer which is not easily replaceable. Tannoy put the 295HPD in a bookshelf-sized box and called it Eaton. Plans are readily available, keep the internal volume and port size.
The rest is only limited by your imagination.
Just had a quick look, they look like pretty impressive drivers.
Kinda look like an older version of what Kef are trying to do these days with their coaxial drivers.
There a bit big though, that's the only problem. I need a pair of speakers that can fit nicely on stands in a fairly small room.
Kinda look like an older version of what Kef are trying to do these days with their coaxial drivers.
There a bit big though, that's the only problem. I need a pair of speakers that can fit nicely on stands in a fairly small room.
You could do a lot worse than looking through these to see if you can find something to suit your needs:
DIY Loudspeaker Projects Troels Gravesen
Zaph|Audio
How about a Zaph SR71?
DIY Loudspeaker Projects Troels Gravesen
Zaph|Audio
How about a Zaph SR71?
I like the look of the Zaphs, seem a little cheaper than the Troels Gravesen designs.
Having said that I like the look of the the ZD5
As the floorstanding version is so thin I think I could get away with it, and for that bass... "drools"
I've been looking at the the crossover design for it, and for some of the inductors he's listed the DC resistance values. How critical are these to the design? And if I can't find an inductor with the set resistance value could I get away with parralleling a resistor with the inductor, or putting one in series with it?
Having said that I like the look of the the ZD5
As the floorstanding version is so thin I think I could get away with it, and for that bass... "drools"
I've been looking at the the crossover design for it, and for some of the inductors he's listed the DC resistance values. How critical are these to the design? And if I can't find an inductor with the set resistance value could I get away with parralleling a resistor with the inductor, or putting one in series with it?
Stay way from the tweak with the resistor (+inductor), because you are adding more difficult to control variants. One of them is the power that goes trough.
It doesn't mean you can not test inductors in the inductor path. Said that, I would not give that importance but the fact of choosing the speaker (drivers), kit first. There was some talk on a new SEAS driver on diyAudio...
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/186664-new-seas-coax.html
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How about going the active route with MiniDSP, that Behringer thing or a diy board (if you don't want digital) as a xover?
Saves you all that messing about with inductors, capacitors and resistors and gives more detail and tighter bass.
Plus no insertion loss and it won't cost more than boutiquey cap and inductors even when counting the extra amp.
Saves you all that messing about with inductors, capacitors and resistors and gives more detail and tighter bass.
Plus no insertion loss and it won't cost more than boutiquey cap and inductors even when counting the extra amp.
I've managed to find coils for the crossover design that have DC resistances within 10% of the desired value, so I assume that will be ok as there's always the tolerance factor.
With the active route, using a digital crossover would be a wee bit too expensive for me as I'd have to buy and modify another Azur Dacmagic so the diy boards would be the only choice. I've been looking at them and I can get the LR2 slope that the ZD5 needs, but the crossover is more complex than that; with a notch filter and a ladder delay circuit.
So the question is really, would it be possible to integrate those circuits into an active crossover as well?
With the active route, using a digital crossover would be a wee bit too expensive for me as I'd have to buy and modify another Azur Dacmagic so the diy boards would be the only choice. I've been looking at them and I can get the LR2 slope that the ZD5 needs, but the crossover is more complex than that; with a notch filter and a ladder delay circuit.
So the question is really, would it be possible to integrate those circuits into an active crossover as well?
Of course that is possible but way beyond my abilities.
I use active xovers which I bought s/h and then modified a teeny little (but very effective!) bit and a parametric eq (also s/h) to provide the notch filter and treble boost my drivers need.
But there are many knowledgeable people at the 'analog line level' part of this site.
May be someone there can help you design a board or modify an existing design.
I use active xovers which I bought s/h and then modified a teeny little (but very effective!) bit and a parametric eq (also s/h) to provide the notch filter and treble boost my drivers need.
But there are many knowledgeable people at the 'analog line level' part of this site.
May be someone there can help you design a board or modify an existing design.
Have you ever heard Salk speakers? How about this one, designed by Dennis Murphy:
New DIY MTM Towers designed by Dennis Murphy and Paul Kittinger - Audioholics Home Theater Forums
New DIY MTM Towers designed by Dennis Murphy and Paul Kittinger - Audioholics Home Theater Forums
How about this?
CA18RLY/22TAF-G
I also built a monitor version of this and they sound fantastic:
MAYA
SEAS MAJA, Andy
They both look pretty sweet, I didn't realise that Troelsgarden had so many more speaker designs; I'd just been looking at the ones on the front page!!
One thing I definately would like is a speaker that has a similar bass response as my 685s, as I do listen to a fair amount of bass heavy music.
I found the response on this website:
B&W 683 Surround Speaker System Measurements | Ultimateavmag.com
It seems like there are few bookshelf speakers, even diy that can compare to its bass extension. Which is weird. Is it because the 685 is heavily ported or is it all just a big trade off?
One thing I definately would like is a speaker that has a similar bass response as my 685s, as I do listen to a fair amount of bass heavy music.
I found the response on this website:
B&W 683 Surround Speaker System Measurements | Ultimateavmag.com
It seems like there are few bookshelf speakers, even diy that can compare to its bass extension. Which is weird. Is it because the 685 is heavily ported or is it all just a big trade off?
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