High Budget

[bjackson1]

I have been thinking about when I have money for my eventual reference system and listening room (whenever I get the *@#@ out of college... haha)

If you had 15,000 dollars to spend on a pair of speakers, would you still DIY? Are there any designs in that category (besides the e-speakers ones, I don't really like them)?

[Nappylady]

The Andromeda is pretty high-dollar, though I don't know if it could suck down a 15k budget.

Now, if you built the Andromeda for *active* use, that could probably use up your whole budget.

And that could be really yummy. :-)

http://home.hetnet.nl/~geenius/Andromeda.html

[soongsc]

With that kind of $, I would consider DIY if it's the sound quality that I'm after. But I would not settle on an existing design, but try to do something unique.

[morbo]

Ummm.... is that 15k really burning a hole in your pocket? I mean if you could DIY a reference level speaker for say, 5k, would you still feel the need to spend 15k? Because a setup like the Orions plus a huge IB sub would probably come in well below there, but it wouldnt let you tell your friends 'This is my $15k audio system'.

[BobEllis]

a 6.1 channel Orion HT with the above mentioned IB sub array would come close to your budget.

Some diamond tweeters would help use up the budget pretty quickly, too. As would the new large ribbons by the guy who designed the Ravens. Add some accuton mids and woofers, and go nuts on the subwoofer end and you're there, especially if you use the most expensive caps and coils in your XO. At this level (or almost any level), I'd go active, though.

If I was spending that kind of money, some of it would go to accurate measuring equipment and room treatments - still part of "the system"

[leadbelly]

It would be EASY to spend $15K on DIY....a line array with decent drivers would gobble that up pretty quick.

[johninCR]

DIY something incredible for $5k-$10k and give the rest to those less fortunate.

[Audiophilenoob]

email thylantar

[agent.5]

definitely all active, with real-time room correction and analysis. Use cocobolo or African ebony hard wood for the speaker frame. I think you can even go over your budget.

[ShinOBIWAN]

I've virtually finished an active speaker project that has cost me $6k so far. Everything from the amps to the cabinets was DIY.

My thoughts behind the whole thing is that to beat them convincingly would take more than $12k DIY and probably more likely double or treble that for commercial stuff.

Better to do as others have suggested and really get your design sorted and use respected parts. Then make the most of it with tri-amping, digital XO's and room correction. Its what I did and the results are some of the best sounds I've heard.