Best Budget Louspeaker for SE Amps

[MIKET]

This thread is to see how far the DIY fanatics can steatch a buck.

Design Goals:
Minimum 90 dB efficency.
1. Total build cost under $300 for a stereo pair.
2. Excellent Imaging.
3. Must look good enough to have the wife accept it into the house,
the garage doesn't have very good acoustics.
4. Design should use easily obtainable drivers so we all can participate, no specials or 1 time deals.

[Timn8ter]

It's hard to beat a pair of Fostex FE166E or FE167E in your choice of enclosure. US$63+shipping. A sheet of high quality plywood and the usual parts and you can easily come in below $300.

[joe carrow]

Well, if you've got some spare wood to build your own boxes, the Adire HE10.1 kit would almost meet your needs... except shipping will get you.

There's also the Fostex FE167E or FE207E in a mass loaded transmission line- those should be over 90 db even after BSC and stuffing is taken into account.- yeah, Timn8ter beat me to it.

BUT- this is to see how far we can stretch a buck. Here's an idea-

8 to 16 of those Parts Express $0.49 speakers (you say no deals or one-time specials, but those things have been under a buck for HOW long?) per side in a line array, with a horn tweeter in the center. With grilles, this could be skinny and small enough looking to have good WAF.

Seperate bass units would be required, but so far you've spent $16-$32 on mids, and $20-$40 on tweets. Find some reasonably efficient 8s or 10s that can do 40-200hz for under $100/set (one or two per speaker), and you could be in good shape. Just an idea.

I'm excited to see what else people can come up with!

[Luke]

HI Mike,

I think these are sposed to be good value. Only need to buy the plans for 30 dollars I think.
It uses the Fostex driver FE167E.

good luck

[Ken L]

I suggest you go to www.madisound.com and peruse the Fostex page.

Whatever Fostex setup turns you on -

Without a doubt.

Regards

Ken L

[planet10]

A set of BD-Pipes, Tim's bipolar ML-TQWT (or ML-TLs), or a set of Buschorn IIs would be high on my list. Most of these (with RS 40-1197s*) would be $100-$150, with FE103 a bit more. The FE108eSigma sounds even better (although in any of these boxes is bass-shy compared to the others)

* you'll need a buddy in Canada to get those.

dave

[Saurav]

I built these for about $300 in drivers, probably closer to $400 if you include MDF and veneer. I had many of the crossover parts left over from earlier projects. I'm still playing with the crossover, but I think they should be 95 - 96 dB overall.



I have an active XO to the woofers, but you could build a passive one and run the whole thing off a single amp if you wanted to. The 'woofer' is the Eminence Beta 12CX from my HE12.1 kit, and the drivers on top are an Audax PR170M0 and a Fostex FT17H.

It probably fails your 'looks good' requirement miserably, but I'm sure someone with better woodworking skills than me could take the same basic concept and do a much better job implementing it

[rcavictim]

Sauray,

What do you think of the Fostex FT-17H? I am looking for an excellent sounding, high efficiency tweeter for the speakers pictured in my avatar.

[Timn8ter]

Originally posted by planet10
A set of BD-Pipes, Tim's bipolar ML-TQWT (or ML-TLs), or a set of Buschorn IIs would be high on my list. Most of these (with RS 40-1197s*) would be $100-$150, with FE103 a bit more. The FE108eSigma sounds even better (although in any of these boxes is bass-shy compared to the others)

* you'll need a buddy in Canada to get those.

dave

...or these (where does this stuff come from?)

[Saurav]

What do you think of the Fostex FT-17H?

I'm still playing with it. I have it crossed at about 5500Hz, and I think that's stretching it a little, it would probably be happier crossed over higher. I'm not entirely thrilled with it, and I'll probably be trying other tweeters. But the speaker I built is still a hack/work-in-progress, I haven't made any real measurements yet, so take my words with a huge pinch of salt.