Starting From Scratch... Would love some pointers

[Spadge]

Hi there,

I've been feeling rather ambitious lately and have decided that I'd love to be able to build my own speakers. I'm an avid music lover but don't (and probably never will) have the sort of money to spend thousands on a set of speakers.

I have no experience with anything like this and haven't built anything in my life (apart from woodwork at school which I enjoyed). I have a very basic knowledge of electronics.

What I need at the moment is information. Can anyone point me in the right direction where I can read up on EVERYTHING to do with speakers? At the moment I'm especially interested in the different types of speaker setups and how they each affect the sound that is produced so that I can work out what exactly I need to learn to be able to build them.

Any information about ANYTHING to do with speaker and their design would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks very much
Spadge.

[FrankDIY]

First, you should buy and read "The Loudspeaker design cookbook" by Vance Dickason. This is a must!!

You could also browse the loudspeaker forum for any subject you need to understand (e.g. crossover).

You can search for diy loudspeaker in google and you will find a lot of interesting links.

A lot and a lot of reading.
good luck

[Equilibrium]

JPO

Melhuish

AudioNova

t-linespeakers

Good Luck and Happy Trails

[Brian Donaldson]

Also try madisound.com 's forum. They sell good drivers at reasonable prices. (also parts express). I promise I have no ties other than being customers of both. Not to sell this site short. I've been reading mostly about the Aleph clones here. Oops.

Help

I can't get my foot out of my mouth

But seriously, you can't read too much about the sudject.

[JordanG]

I'm brand new to the DIY audio scene too.. I decided to go with the Tangband W3-871s drivers.. The're small, pretty cheap (about $12 dollars), and they're full range (so no crossover if you're doing single driver enclosures).

I'm also making some dual driver enclosures based on the Elf 1.5.

And with small drivers/enclosures, its possible to experiment with different wood types without breaking the bank..

Now if you do a bit of research, you'll find that full range drivers have a bit of trouble with bass. If you get a 12" subwoofer from Shiva, then there's a pdf that explains how to make the enclosure for it.

Hope that helps

--Jordan

[planet10]

Originally posted by François
you should buy and read "The Loudspeaker design cookbook" by Vance Dickason.

This is required reading. But take it with a grain of salt, Dickason has his own set of biases...

The place i recommend people to start is to pass thru Bob Stout's excellent LDSG. The introductory sections are an excellent grounding in the ways of approaching the task of DIYing your own speaker. You will leave with many more questions in your head than answers... but right now you probably have little idea of what questions should be asked. Large parts of the site are dedicated to surveying drivers that others have found to be good (or good value).

Many of the choices you have to make are which compromises you can live with. For a 1st speaker i would recommend following a trail someone else has already blazed -- the chances of getting something you are really pleased with are much higher and will give you confidence to tackle a more challenging one. There are literally hundreds & hundreds of designs out on the web, and many differing philosopies when it comes to approaching the problem of designing and building your own speakers (and all are valid within the set of compromises each philosopy is willing to make).

So the 1st thing you want to do is visit the sites mentioned in this thread, those should lead you to more... wallow in the huge diversity that is DIY speaker design, get a feel for the direction you want to go, and come back loaded with questions.

And for a 1st project don't go overboard spending the cash... you would be amazed at what can be achieved with very little. A good example is the ELF 1.5s mentioned. If i started out with the same drivers i wouldn't end up with that design, but it is an excellent example of decent performance for low bucks -- a stereo system with a sub could be had for under $300. (i'm working thru the design of 2 augmented TB systems right now).

dave

[hurdy_gurdyman]

>Now if you do a bit of research, you'll find that full range drivers have a bit of trouble with bass. If you get a 12" subwoofer from Shiva, then there's a pdf that explains how to make the enclosure for it.<

An alternitive for fullrange drivers would be to buy an eight inch or larger fullrange driver, as they get good bass. They have trouble getting the upper treble, though, and need a tweeter added up around 10 kHz or so. Each method has it's good and bad points, and both are viable. In my opinion, fullrange driver speakers are the easiest and most cost effective ways to build a speaker. They are all I use these days.
Dave

[Equilibrium]

Originally posted by planet10
many differing philosophies when it comes to approaching the problem of designing and building your own speakers

!!! Yea Verily !!!

and that reminds me of something I forgot to remember
but knew that I wanted not to forget to remember to recommend

HOW TO DESIGN A SPEAKER by Steve Deckert --- an article in which Mr. Deckert describes his personal philosophy of speaker design

and

A Zen Speaker Project --- a DIY speaker project presented by Mr. Deckert and manifesting its self as a result of Mr. Deckert’s implementation of Mr. Deckert’s personal philosophy of speaker design

funny how that works , eh?

Originally posted by hurdy_gurdyman
An alternative for fullrange drivers would be to buy an eight inch or larger fullrange driver, as they get good bass. They have trouble getting the upper treble, though, and need a tweeter added up around 10 kHz or so.

again !!! Yea Verily !!!

and in that very vein

The Afterburner Files --- An inexpensive High Sensitivity Loudspeaker by Thorsten Loesch (aka our own Kuei Yang Wang).

and

one man’s vision of said Afterburner

I am really jazz'd about the Afterburner and I will be building them. I sure hope they get along with the inverted1875gainclone I'm building.

[hurdy_gurdyman]

I personally think Steve Deckert is one of audios modern day genius'. I'd read anything he writes on speaker design and take it seriously.
Dave

[sfdoddsy]

You might also want to check out www.linkwitzlab.com

It is fairly heavy going but from expoerience I can tell you the speakers are worth looking into. Best of all, they are simplicity incarnate to build.

Steve