Seeking input on musical 3-way build

[Spuddy]

Hi DIY'ers

After putting together a big 'ol tapped horn last month, the speaker building bug has bit me once again for the first time since I was in highschool I've been absolutely satisfied with my current music speakers, which are Snell Type EII's with Scanspeak 22W/8534G Discovery replacement woofers (as recommended by Madisound), which I needed in order to replace the Pyramid woofers that someone, for whatever reason, thought were adequate for the job. However, it's starting to occur to me that if I built my Snells from scratch with Madisound speaker equivelents, the total cost would likely be under $300-$400, so I want to see just how good things can get with the better mid-price drivers available.

Seeing the level of quality that can be had with relatively low building costs, I would like to start planning for a DIY 3 way to take over for my Snells as the main music setup. Some of my general wishes are as follows:


- Above all else - I want these things to disappear and engulf you. The Snells have an amazing ability to disappear and not sound like any speakers are playing the music, so it is my hope to build something on an even higher level that can surpass their fantastic clarity to be the best sound I've ever heard

- Budget anywhere under $1,000 total cost. Obviously less money is always a plus, but I'm trying to outdo some speakers that impress me every day so I'm prepared to do at least little damage to the wallet.

- 3 way design. This is negotiable, but from what I've read a well-made 3 way has a higher capacity to produce linear sound at high volumes.

- Extension to at least 30-35 hertz. Pink Floyd is my favorite band, and some of their songs (IE: Pulse album) use up all of that bandwidth. These will also be my TV speakers, and several shows use up those low frequencies as well.

- WAF - I don't have one! At all!

- Efficiency is important, though not a gamechanger. I'd like to stay away from the horns, but aside from that the more efficient, the better IMO.


While I don't have a ton of speaker building experience, my father is a cabinet maker and I have more than enough equipment and background to put together at least something intermediate. The plan is to gather materials over several months so I don't just go on a speaker bender and abandon my bills, but I do get obsessive, so who knows, maybe I'll be ordering next week haha



Thanks in advance for any input and/or plans! I'll be sure to take pictures along the way to keep everyone posted on how things are going

[rob g]

Hi Spuddy.
Why not add room size, listening distance, expected SPL's.

No wife, go for it while you still can!
If you are big into efficiency and you want the stadium rock sound why not look at the Gedlee speakers (waveguides not horns) for inspiration and a couple of sub's.
More pennies than you have suggested maybe.

[Spuddy]

Originally Posted by rob g

Hi Spuddy.
Why not add room size, listening distance, expected SPL's.

No wife, go for it while you still can!
If you are big into efficiency and you want the stadium rock sound why not look at the Gedlee speakers (waveguides not horns) for inspiration and a couple of sub's.
More pennies than you have suggested maybe.

Here's a MS Paint drawing of my theater/music/tv area (ok, my living room ) more or less to scale. The Snells are what would be replaced for music and tv speakers, so figure that's where the new build will eventually reside





The Gedlees look like great speakers, but I'd really like to make something bigger and deeper reaching. This is not only a music setup, but my TV sound as well, and I really don't want to worry about turning on several different speakers and having dedicated subs running while just casually watching the History Channel haha. Big is fine (in fact, I like big), but I'd like to keep it to just the two mains while retaining a 30-35hz bottomline. Basically I'm looking for something to directly replace what my Snell EII's do, only better.

As far as SPL, I'm perfectly happy with the volume my Snells put out, and according to my junky SPL meter, once I get over 100db at the listening position, my ears start hurting, so as long as we can maintain 105+db at the listening area I'll be happy. It's always good to have headroom, but anything after 105-110db would only be for quick demos

And on efficiency- I'm not really an efficiency nut or anything, it's just nice to have speakers you don't need to push hard to get good sound from, especially since I'll have them running a lot. I'm fairly flexible in this regard, it's just worth saying I'd prefer something that's 95db 1w/1m over something that's 88db 1w/1m

[rob g]

95db/1w at 1m and deep bass with high quality sound and high SPL capability to better the Snells for under $1000?

Snells/Audionote speakers are typically way overrated in sensitivity by Audionote. Take a look at any decent technical review. You do not need 95db unless you favour weedy amp's.

[Spuddy]

Originally Posted by rob g

95db/1w at 1m and deep bass with high quality sound and high SPL capability to better the Snells for under $1000?

Snells/Audionote speakers are typically way overrated in sensitivity by Audionote. Take a look at any decent technical review. You do not need 95db unless you favour weedy amp's.

In that case, lesson learned Maybe I'm just used to hearing about efficiency due to being surrounded by Klipsches and a huge tapped horn; At any rate, more efficient is better than less, but only if all things are equal. My number one concern however is far and away that sound quality takes precedence. I'll build the biggest, most ungainly, ugly, (and even inefficient) speaker there is, if such a speaker can give me the chills when Gilmore is soloing, or completely disappear to the shadows while Eddie Vedder sings Yellow Ledbetter

[rob g]

Almost polar opposite.....

I love Linkwitz Pluto to bits, best small speaker I have ever heard but really not what you have asked for.
Three way version, exceptional quality, not pretty, modest budget, do not care about looks, up to 105db/1w:
Pluto + subwoofer
However you need to listen close to the speakers for really stunning imaging.
Probably not going to appeal but they are glorious.

Want more output, build extra sub's. Same goes for the waveguide, Gedlee, Econowave builds.
That's another option, active Econowave.

[Spuddy]

Originally Posted by rob g

Almost polar opposite.....

I love Linkwitz Pluto to bits, best small speaker I have ever heard but really not what you have asked for.
Three way version, exceptional quality, not pretty, modest budget, do not care about looks, up to 105db/1w:
Pluto + subwoofer
However you need to listen close to the speakers for really stunning imaging.
Probably not going to appeal but they are glorious.

Want more output, build extra sub's. Same goes for the waveguide, Gedlee, Econowave builds.
That's another option, active Econowave.

I'm sorry, but what is polar opposite?

I want to do you justice with your recommendations, so since you are mentioning speakers completely foreign to me, I am going to refrain from commenting further until I have given proper research time to the designs you've entertained me. Thanks for all the input thus far!

[rob g]

Pluto is an omni directional speaker, or a variant on the theme.

By contrast large waveguide designs (like Gedlee designs) attempt to minimize room interaction as much as possible. This is almost certainly a good thing if you listen from a long distance, if you want sharp imaging.
Large waveguide designs use a large drive unit to deliberately beam their output as soon as possible in a drivers working range. This output from this meets with a tweeter crossed low in a very large waveguide with controlled directivity. The larger the waveguide the better as they can operate at lower frequencies. A chief benefit of this is crossing below a point where the human ear is most sensitive.
Linkwitz Pluto also uses a low 1khz crossover. I think this is a serious benefit. However I only have a subjective view on this.

[rob g]

Both designs are efforts to control directivity, in very different ways. Pluto is still a type of controlled directivity design.
Pluto has very even power response but interacts with the room maximally. If you want to hear them give you razor sharp imaging you listen close.

Controlled directivity:
Constant directivity loudspeaker designs

[Moondog55]

Pink Floyd
Big speakers needed


Paul Carmody
"Tarkus"

Tarkus - undefinition