comparing diy vs. hifi brands

[guitar012345678]

can anybody point me in the direction of an article comparing a brand name loudspeaker to a diy clone? ive looked on this forum and others but i cant seem to find any, i must not be using the right keywords. thanks for help

[Tenson]

If it was a clone it would sound the same I suppose! If it is a 'near' clone then it would sound different but it would just depend on what design you were looking at. Got anything in mind?

I'd love to read a comparison of Tony's Soup and the Avalon!

[guitar012345678]

yes, it should sound the same! im also looking for examples of frequency responses and stuff showing that a computer thinks they sound the same. im writing a paper proving that diy can be much cheaper and offer the same sound and i need some resouces

[nunayafb]

im also looking for examples of frequency responses and stuff showing that a computer thinks they sound the same.

Whewww! good luck buddy. I dont know this for a fact but I would imagine that the number of people who buy speakers and build their exact clone is pretty close to zero. And getting one of them on here that actually saw your post and responds....
Also, very few people can do extensive testing, so without distortion tests and box resonance tests(with the accelerometers), youre basically going to be comparing FR and impedance curves.
Of course, youve sparked my curiosity and now I have to search
I'll let you know if I find anything.

Like Tenson said a true clone sounds like the original, plus or minus tolerances.

Here's the "if I were you" part... Ammend your thesis stating the assumption that any brand name speaker cloned using identical drivers, crossover components, crossover topology and enclosure will sound identical. Then compare the cost difference and the conclusion of the builder vs. the "marketing Hype" of the manufacturer.

[Shaun]

Hi, nunayafb

I'm not sure what you mean to prove by comparing original to clone. A properly cloned speaker should sound no different from the original. Only when compromises have been introduced (mainly materials) will there be a degradation. The opposite is true also: the DIYer could introduce improvements that might improve sound quality.

You may want to check the following link for help on what makes speakers sound different:

http://www.harman.com/wp/pdf/Loudspeakers&RoomsPt2.pdf

While speakers may measure similarly on-axis, they could sound totally different as a result of off-axis differences. Also, what is not shown up on FR plots is speaker distortion at higher input power levels. The latter can seriously degrade sound quality.

[mgoedeke]

With entry level stuff that is a possibility, but try and copy a mid-high end Dynaudio for instance that uses a polymer that you'd need a chemist to reverse-enineer (meaning buying and breaking at least one speaker) for damping to get the same performance and you're looking at a hurdle most DIYers couldn't quite match, cause there are some things that R&D can make a big difference on and cab damping is one case in point. To me that is the enjoyment of DIY in matching that kind of performance though.

When you're talking about the cheap and (imho) not great B&W 600 and similar type cabs then MDF and good old over-engineering will do the trick, but when things get to a price-pont where a decent speaker designer better employ advanced techniques most DIYers reach a limit. Brands such as JBL, Bose, Kef and the like that rinse their brand-name are not part of this equation.

[Shaun]

nunayafb

can anybody point me in the direction of an article comparing a brand name loudspeaker to a diy clone?

I realise that the original question has not been answered. Perhaps you could do a search for the following:

"Proac 2.5 Clone "
"Clonus Faber"

The Proac seems to be the most commonly cloned speaker. Sorry that I don't have more info on clones: I wasn't really paying much attention to them.

Regards

[guitar012345678]

thanks guys for all the responses. i guess ill write out the computer analysis part of my thesis unless i find something supporting it. ive found alot about the Proac 2.5 clones! thanks again guys

[sdclc126]

I don't know if this would be a helpful site or address your questions in any way, but it has a lot of useful info and a lot of interesting clone projects that you might want to consider if that's the way you want to go.

http://www.klone-audio.com/

[Tenson]

I think for any meaningful results you will need to buy an number of speakers and then clone them yourself.

If I were you I would do a thesis on 'near' clones. For example you could clone a Dynaudio BM15 using the Hi-Vi D8.8+ woofer and a similar tweeter. The PMC GB1 using the same drivers in fact I think. The crossovers could of course be copied and then altered to work best with the slightly different drivers if used.

Do this with three or four pretty good speakers then do a double-blind listening test or at least some well controlled listening test to get un-biased subjective opinions. That is easier than really good measurements in an anechoic chamber if you don’t have one!

It does seem to me that many of the best sounding speakers use custom drivers though. I guess this is not because they are so much better, but just that they match the requirements better.