monitor or minimonitor

[then_dude]

hey everybody, i'm brand new here, so this is my first question


i wanna build a mini monitor, or a monitor, but in both ways i'm gonna put a sub next to it. So i want something that sounds extremely good but doesn't cost a thing, hahaah, everybody wants this offcourse.

But i want is sound better then let us say an b&w matrix 805 (no nautilus because i haven't heard it yet). Is this possible for 350 dollar, or euro, and if so, does somebody know a design for such a baby ?

it may be minimonitor, but also monitor

thanx very much

[cadmaniac]

Check out some of these designs: Humble Homemade HiFi

[sreten]

http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/869/

You'll have to work hard to do better than the 805, especially in Europe.

The cabinet design of the 805 is very complex.
The more modern versions do not have the matrix cabinet.

Try this :

http://home.hetnet.nl/~geenius/HATT-III.html

sreten.

[then_dude]

hello, i have looked a lot at the hatt se;
but is it better then an 805, because, off course there is the pleasure of building it. But on the german ebay, an 805 in perfect condition goes 400 euro, that is as much as, if you use good components in the crossover of the hatt, the price of the hatt

but off course, the b&w has a higher price tag if i wanna sell it again, and maybe, over a couple of years i will do that again, so what would you do guys ?

if it's better, i build it, if it's equal, i'll buy the b&w

thanx a lot

[CeramicMan]

You may end up spending quite a bit more than Eu350 on your project if you truly want it to sound good. Tell us a bit more about what you want from it. You could make it look nice with real veneer and expensive accessories like the B&Ws and be disappointed with the sound, or you could buy better quality speakers and put together the enclosures from offcuts.

The subwoofer's an extra cost, remembering about active crossovers and suchlike. But then, you could make the mini-monitors sealed, and save on box volume and vents etc, and just let the sub handle the bass. When I did something similar, I spent most of my money on speakers, and only a fraction on enclosures. I'd write more, but it's 23:41 in New Zealand right now and I'm tired...

CM

[michael]

You seem to really love the 805s and they have them reasonably priced on ebay, without the time input of DIY, id say buy them, they are what you really want. But DIY the sub, use something like a sealed XLS or 2, as these will have the tight sound of B&W subwoofers but at a fraction of the cost.

[then_dude]

well it isn"t exactly that i'm a b&w guy, i'm not one of the havy supporters of b&w; but it's a brand that everybody buys, so you can find easy on second hand market, personally i love, jmlab and jean mary reynaud, harbeth, spendor.

But i'm a student, so i gotta watch the money. I have heard the b&w 805 alot, it isn't bad, but i have never heard a monitor which really captured my heart,(i haven't listen them much already).

and indeed, i would make the subwoofer, there a desings that are better the rel stratta III; I have heard them with the 805 and and a Unison Research Simply Two as amplifier. It did the tric, it was a enorm step forward for me, but it wasn't everyrhing.
(the sub was very fine, but the 805 wasn't magic)

thanx guys

[then_dude]

i'm planning on 350 only to the speakers, not the sub, that will be 500 i think. I'm gonna build a active sub, in a very small enclosure. I'm not a look guy, i'm gonna spend as little money as possible on the look, so no veneer, just simple 28mm mdf and that's it. all the money will go into the speaker itself, maybe i'm gonna wind my coils manually, (so that's is a little les money), and condesators will be industrial paper in oil probably (a friend of mine can get them for free). So that's again an advantage.

But i can build the speakers now, and the sub within a half year or so.

[Havoc]

Don't know why you need monitors for, but go and have alisten at the PMC DB1. Just the pc speakers I needed.......

[then_dude]

well, indeed, i have thought a lot about the concept, i have a long history iof thinking, none of building,

first i have been a member of the DIY ESL club, but nobody could convince me with their own designs, and offcourse the narrow radiation of those speaker and the size, and difficulty with the amp as the impedancy goes down. (the only good one was the quad, but that's a commercial one )

then i wanted to build an proac response 2.5 clone, but it was about 1000 euro(1250 dollar) for diy; which isn't nothing. But i was afraid of the quality, although it will be very good, a powerd sub would do porbably better bass, and the monitor would do better the upper range then the proac, and next the porac is rather big, i don't know where i'm gonna live the next years, so that's MAYBe an issue.

after that i thought of an TQWT with a single driver, (this one i'm gonna build just for fun, because you can find very cheap drivers and its fun)

and then i thought about monitors ccombined with a sub, but everything has his pro's and contra's, but i will take a look at your poroposal, thanx very much already