No one should be depressed if designing of first projects and difficult concepts take long time. Setbacks are waiting behind corners also for experienced designers.
Also powerful design methods such as simulators with multi-variable and multi-target optimizer require comprehensive and valid measurements and experienced operator who can specify good initial values and targets. But no one have to use time for design phases which can be delegated to (free) software. Designing remains a learning process, but speed increases with bigger steps.
Out of thousands of recordings, I can't think of any that are absent of some type of reverberation, live or artificial. Maybe ZZ Top Deguello is one, if my memory is correct.
The sound will have been mixed whilst listening on speakers in the recording studio, granted, "near-field", then there is the unknown quantity of the studio acoustics not to mention the engineer's preferences
I have a friend that works at an Exotic car dealership. The dealership has a very wealthy customer that just purchased a 3.5 million dollar car, He also has an 18000 square foot garage at his home with 50 more expensive cars. This guy owns watches, some worth more than any vehicle I've ever owned. So, My friend asked the wealthy person if he has a Hi-end Stereo's and His reply went something like this: No, but I want to get into that in the near future, I'll have to look for the most expensive brands so I can put a system together.
Sure, but if you take away the studio acoustics from each and every recording that exists, I believe we still have a balanced recording, except for maybe the bass response on some.
Strangely, personal preferences are very prevalent with audio enthusiasts. My listening desire is to accurately reveal what is on the final recording without room influence or effects. It's likely somewhat different than what was heard in the studio.
I Ran into one guy with a very different goal. He builds tonearms and assembles systems to resemble the sound of records as they would have sounded on the equipment that was used during the time of release of the record. To me, this is Gross
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For me;
Phase 1:
Researching which drivers will complement each other in terms of frequency response, nonlinear distortion vs frequency, physical arrangement on a baffle. This involves analysing data from manufacturers datasheets, third party databases of measurement data such as Zaph Audio, and my own data obtained by purchasing drivers and measuring them on my own test baffle. Time taken for this phase: weeks, months
Phase 2:
Calculating the size of the enclosure(s), drawing up a design of the enclosure. Often this happens over a long period of time but it doesn't involve much actual work. When I get inspired by designs I see, I often ballpark if a certain combination of drivers I had previously investigated could fit a certain form factor so I have a fair idea in my head of what the speaker is going to physically look like before I draw anything. Time taken for this phase: days
Phase 3:
Building the cabinet for the selected drivers, finishing the cabinets to a professional level. Time taken for this phase: months, years depending on motivation
Phase 4:
Mounting the drivers in finished cabinet. Measuring each driver individually without crossovers. Time taken for this phase: 1 day.
Phase 5:
Designing a crossover using CAD software based on the collected measurements. Designing and manufacturing printed circuit boards, obtaining crossover components. Time taken for this phase: days, weeks
Phase 6:
Assembling the crossovers, mounting them in the cabinets. Hooking up the drivers, measuring the finished speakers, checking the it matches expected simulations, troubleshooting if it doesn't. Time taken for this phase: days
Phase 7:
Listening to the speakers, subjectively deciding if the crossovers need any minor tweaks. Time taken for this phase: Weeks
2-way, 3-way, 4-way, etc doesn't really change how long things take for me. Maybe it shaves a little work from designing and assembling the crossovers, and cutting a few less holes in the enclosures.
What dictates how long it takes to complete a set of speakers is if I experiment with a complex construction technique such as oddly shaped enclosure, or custom fitting/designing a waveguide to a tweeter.
Selecting high performing drivers and designing the crossover to hide as many of the performance limitations of the drivers makes for a good sounding speaker. More of my time is dedicated to researching drivers than actually doing a specific speaker project. A lot of the time I research a bunch of drivers and never end up building anything. A lot of the time people fail in making a good sounding speaker is that they have selected a set of drivers where there is a frequency range over which none of the drivers behave well. Selecting drivers which provide wide overlapping usable ranges (e.g. woofer good to 1khz, midrange good from 300Hz to 5khz, tweeter good from 2kHz up) gives you a much better chance of coming up with a crossover design that sounds good.
I think I could select, design, build an excellent sounding speaker in 1 month, however it would probably look like trash and I don't get much satisfaction from doing that.
Phase 1:
Researching which drivers will complement each other in terms of frequency response, nonlinear distortion vs frequency, physical arrangement on a baffle. This involves analysing data from manufacturers datasheets, third party databases of measurement data such as Zaph Audio, and my own data obtained by purchasing drivers and measuring them on my own test baffle. Time taken for this phase: weeks, months
Phase 2:
Calculating the size of the enclosure(s), drawing up a design of the enclosure. Often this happens over a long period of time but it doesn't involve much actual work. When I get inspired by designs I see, I often ballpark if a certain combination of drivers I had previously investigated could fit a certain form factor so I have a fair idea in my head of what the speaker is going to physically look like before I draw anything. Time taken for this phase: days
Phase 3:
Building the cabinet for the selected drivers, finishing the cabinets to a professional level. Time taken for this phase: months, years depending on motivation
Phase 4:
Mounting the drivers in finished cabinet. Measuring each driver individually without crossovers. Time taken for this phase: 1 day.
Phase 5:
Designing a crossover using CAD software based on the collected measurements. Designing and manufacturing printed circuit boards, obtaining crossover components. Time taken for this phase: days, weeks
Phase 6:
Assembling the crossovers, mounting them in the cabinets. Hooking up the drivers, measuring the finished speakers, checking the it matches expected simulations, troubleshooting if it doesn't. Time taken for this phase: days
Phase 7:
Listening to the speakers, subjectively deciding if the crossovers need any minor tweaks. Time taken for this phase: Weeks
2-way, 3-way, 4-way, etc doesn't really change how long things take for me. Maybe it shaves a little work from designing and assembling the crossovers, and cutting a few less holes in the enclosures.
What dictates how long it takes to complete a set of speakers is if I experiment with a complex construction technique such as oddly shaped enclosure, or custom fitting/designing a waveguide to a tweeter.
Selecting high performing drivers and designing the crossover to hide as many of the performance limitations of the drivers makes for a good sounding speaker. More of my time is dedicated to researching drivers than actually doing a specific speaker project. A lot of the time I research a bunch of drivers and never end up building anything. A lot of the time people fail in making a good sounding speaker is that they have selected a set of drivers where there is a frequency range over which none of the drivers behave well. Selecting drivers which provide wide overlapping usable ranges (e.g. woofer good to 1khz, midrange good from 300Hz to 5khz, tweeter good from 2kHz up) gives you a much better chance of coming up with a crossover design that sounds good.
I think I could select, design, build an excellent sounding speaker in 1 month, however it would probably look like trash and I don't get much satisfaction from doing that.
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It's the "you are there"/"they are here" distinction I think. It is a personal preference. I like a bit of both, since it is easier to accomplish
, no, I do prefer it. Also, as I said earlier, who really knows what it (should/did/maybe never) sounded like in the first place regards, in this instance, spatial cues?
Hi Kimmo,
As for DIY that i listed, i listened none of those. If i ever go to England, Netherland, Finland, USA or anywhere that i find someone who made something that intrigues me - i'll ask for a couple of hours of their time. I love meeting new people and listening great hifi systems
Wellcome to central Finland, Zvu! Kimmo lives in Kuopio, only 150km from my and Legis's home town Jyväskylä! Amphion factories are in Kuopio and Genelec 100km north from there in Iisalmi!
Google Maps
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