newbie looking to build speakers

[m090030]

Hi everybody. I'm new to building speakers, but I do a lot of work building/fixing/working on everything that I own, and I enjoy making things, so I think I would like making my next set of speakers instead of buying them. I wouldn't exactly call myself an audiophile, but I enjoy good sound quality.

I'm looking to build a pair of decently priced floorstanding loudspeaker for my home theater system. I was looking at Klipsch F-30's, so those are kind of my benchmark for sound quality. They go for around $600/pair, so if I could keep it below $300 that would be nice. Also, I'm driving them with a Denon AVR-1312, if it makes a difference.

I've read a lot about crossovers and tuning both them and the cabinet, which is way over my head, so I want to build a proven design. I've been looking at THIS one, the only problem being that just the components cost $430, not including the enclosure, shipping, or incidentals.

So the question; what is a good plan for me to build given a budget of $300 and the audio quality I'm looking for? I have a subwoofer (though it's a POS and I plan to make my own one of those later too...), so extreme bass isn't so important, but I like the sound of larger woofers (~8"). Sorry if this question gets asked a lot, but I searched for a while and while I found some designs, I think there has to be something out there that better matches my goals!

Thanks!

 

[DougL]

You are on the right path.
I met Zaph at a Chicago DIY a few years back, and listened to a pair of his speakers.
That pair lived up to my expectations.
I would look at HT Guide as well. I built a pair of Modula MT for a friend.
I could live with them for a long time.
Budget does become an issue on a 3 way, and 8 inch drivers are rare on 2 way designs.

HTH

Doug

 

[RockLeeEV]

I'm getting the sense that you want a lot more performance than you're willing to pay for. quality drivers and crossovers aren't exactly "dirt cheap". There's definitely value in DIY, but at the very low end I don't feel it's much better than a good commercial speaker, especially with some DIY mods - economy of scale. For example consider picking up an Infinity Primus P363 and doing mods to it.

Anyways my recommendation is this:

SEOS12 with Eminence 12 Pro Woofers

 

[m090030]

Thanks for the replies. RockLeeEV, I think you may be right about my expectations; I think I just need to figure out what level of quality I can live with, and what I'm willing to pay for. I have some other projects to finish before I tackle these, so I'll continue to look for different builds and see what I can find.

 

[sreten]

Hi,

If quality versus budget for a low budget is the main issue, the highest
you can soar is buying very good used commercial speakers, carefully
matched to your sort of requirements.

This gets a really good review :
Infinity Primus 360 loudspeaker | Stereophile.com
All the technical details indicate a thoroughly well engineered speaker,
though I'd personally check out the internal stuffing arrangements,
and possibly some mild internal tweaks depending on internal details.

I reckon you could pick up a good pair for your $300 budget.

rgds, sreten.

 

[riley.reynolds]

Budget minded projects:
https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/diy/amiga
https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/tarkus
https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/swope-ht

ive been impressed with paul's projects so far, ive made the overnight sensations and the classix II. The overnight sensations are excellent, the classix i still think i need some tweaking on. I think the best bang for the buck would be to build the Swope MTM's based on how my overnight sensations sound. I like the looks and sound from the hivi drivers.

i think my DIY speakers are at least on par with my Klipsch rf52 HT setup for sound quality but the klipsch can go much louder than the small speakers ive made.

Every speaker has its drawbacks. You always trade one quality for another.

Also you might build a couple sets of speakers before you find ones you like, or you might become an addict and want to build ALL the designs.

enjoy

 

[m090030]

Thanks! That undefinition site has some good ones.

As for the Primus 360, they look pretty good, but where would I buy used ones? Nothing came up on ebay, and I don't know of anywhere else to go for used stuff.

 

[m090030]

So as much as I want to build the ZDT3.5 (I tend to go all-out on things), I think I will be more suited to the Swope HT 5.1 system, building the fronts first then seeing where it goes from there.

I do want floorstanding fronts though, so would it be a problem to add a non-acoustic compartment, similar to the ZDT3.5, to bring the Swopes up to ear level? I would probably still line it with foam and fill with polyfill, or something similar, to keep from resonating. Might even make a convenient place to mount the crossovers.

 

[RockLeeEV]

Thanks! That undefinition site has some good ones.

As for the Primus 360, they look pretty good, but where would I buy used ones? Nothing came up on ebay, and I don't know of anywhere else to go for used stuff.

dunno about used, but they're pretty cheap even new, if you look around for deals (the p362 and p363 are the same as the p360, besides some minor modifactions).

There's a whole list of diy mods you can do to them to make them as good as many much higher end speakers, depending on how much work you're willing to put in.

 

[gfiandy]

Adding a non acoustic chamber does slightly change the radiation pattern change over frequency but it is of the order of 1 db and is unlikely to change the character of the speaker.

If you add one the best bet is to fill it with sand. This will give the speaker a really good solid base and won't resonate.

Regards,
Andrew