Best $1000 DIY

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I'm looking to replace my Magnepan MGIIIa speakers. My goal is to build the best design for my type of listening. Rock, Blues and female vocals, somtimes Flamingo.
My room 14 wide by 20 long 9' high
Amps i have are - Tube 3 watt SET or 35 watt PP or 200watt SS

I want impact, I want what I've been missing from the maggies, when they hit the drums I want the speed and kick of in your face, but then I still want imaging and a non fatigue sound. (If this is at all possible)

Thanks
Bob
 
If you want to build something that will take you to an entirely new realm of listening consider building a pair of JBL L200s, but be sure to add a slot tweet to each.

After listening to such a setup you'll kick yourself for wasting all those years listening to Magnepans.

You can pick up the drivers on ebay and build or buy the x-overs. The LE85 drivers and horns will break your budget, but you could substitute something for the mid-range, or spend a few extra hundred dollars. You would not regret it. It will take some serious bargan shopping to meet your budget. Don
 
For $1000, I'd be looking at a pair of OB or dipole bass bins to add that impact to your maggies, plus a simple active crossover and an amp to go with it.

Not sure what pricings are locally to you, but you might start with a Behringer CX2310 2-way x-over, plus an A500 amp from the same manuf. Then 4x15" drivers in an OB or dipole arrangement (try Linkwitz - also for the transform). Even without the transform, you'll find they add "oomph" (technical term) that you didn't get with the maggies, and the dipole arrangement will mean that the sound doesn't change drastically as you pass through the crossover - as it would with a standard sub.

You could probably use the 200w SS in place of the A500 (money saved for your speakers).

No recommendations for the drivers, as I'm not really an OB person - maybe someone else could help here.
 
I can get these JBL woofers through work

I'm not usre if I can build a speaker around these woofers.
JBL GTO1220 12"
Here are the specs I can get these for $130 each

SPECIFICATIONS
DIAMETER: 12" (304.8 MM)
SENSITIVITY (2.83 V @ 1 M): 91 dB
POWER HANDLING: 300 WRMS (1,200 WPEAK)
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20 ~ 450 HZ
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE: 2 OHMS (Dual Voice coil wired to 4ohms)
VOICE-COIL DIAMETER: 3.0" (76.2 MM)
DIMENSIONS:
THIELE-SMALL PARAMETERS
VOICE COIL DC RESISTANCE: REVC (OHMS) . . . . . . 2.04
VOICE COIL INDUCTANCE @ 1 KHZ: LEVC (MH) . . . . . . . 0.70
DRIVER RADIATING AREA: SD (IN2) . . . . . . . . 74.71
SD (CM2) . . . . . . 482.00
MOTOR FORCE FACTOR: BL (TM) . . . . . . . . 12.33
COMPLIANCE VOLUME: VAS (FT3) . . . . . . . . 1.73
VAS (LITERS) . . . . . 49.03
SUSPENSION COMPLIANCE: CMS (ìM/N) . . . . 148.61
MOVING MASS, AIR LOAD: MMS (GRAMS). . . . 220.77
MOVING MASS, DIAPHRAGM: MMD (GRAMS) . . . 214.68
FREE-AIR RESONANCE: FS (HZ) . . . . . . . . 27.79
MECHANICAL Q: QMS . . . . . . . . . . . 6.18
ELECTRICAL Q: QES . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.52
TOTAL Q: QTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.48
MAGNETIC-GAP HEIGHT: HAG (IN) . . . . . . . . . 0.47
HAG (MM) . . . . . . . 12.00
VOICE-COIL HEIGHT: HVC (IN) . . . . . . . . . 1.28
HVC (MM) . . . . . . . 32.50
MAXIMUM EXCURSION: XMAX (IN) . . . . . . . . 0.40
XMAX (MM) . . . . . . 10.25
 
fin1bxn said:
I'm looking to replace my Magnepan MGIIIa speakers. My goal is to build the best design for my type of listening. Rock, Blues and female vocals, somtimes Flamingo.
My room 14 wide by 20 long 9' high
Amps i have are - Tube 3 watt SET or 35 watt PP or 200watt SS

I want impact, I want what I've been missing from the maggies, when they hit the drums I want the speed and kick of in your face, but then I still want imaging and a non fatigue sound. (If this is at all possible)

Thanks
Bob

There is no such thing as a "best" $1000 DIY, or everyone looking for the same thing with your taste in music would own one ;).
That said, I think I know what you are looking for.
The openess and transparency of the maggie is the realm of boxless speakers. The kick, power,dynamics and immediacy you desire is outside the realm of a planar. That's dynamic driver territory.
You can have both.
It's called a dynamic driver open baffle.
For your price range, I can think of two serious, well engineered contenders.

http://www.musicanddesign.com/NaOMini.html

http://www.adireaudio.com/Home/KITDDR.htm

Since you own maggies and have 200w, I would lean towards the Adire. I would still recommend a sub for below 40-50hz.
Something like this would put you slightly over budget, but is a superb product, well worth it IMHO. http://www.rythmikaudio.com/servo_product.htm
For your size room, this system should certainly be sufficient dynamically.

cheers,

AJ

edit- oops, see you have JBL sub already, that should work just fine, rather than the Rythmik.
 
Decware

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, here goes:

I built a pair of Decware High Definition Towers (HDT) and, after a year of listening, continue to be amazed. They provide exquisite detail. Female vocals are phenomenal. Bass is excellent: fast, full, and precise. When I listen to, say, the upright bass on Norah Jones' "Come away with me" these speakers convey the texture of metal string being plucked and along with that the pleasing, mellow, deep note produced. They handle the dynamic range of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (performed by Itzhak Perlman, et. al.) with aplomb. Ditto for piano pieces (Garrick Ohlsson playing Tchaikovsky, Artur Rubenstein playing Rachmaninoff, etc.); everything from the most delicate passages to the fortissimo climaxes is performed with breathtaking clarity and power. Drum kits, congas, bongos etc. are so real that I can't help but smile and stare. Classical guitar is simply delightful. Punk Rock showcases the HDTs frequency balance and attack, all the while allowing you to discern the vocals and individual instruments. Even non-audiophiles for whom I've demo'd them can instantly recognize the quality of these speakers. They comment on how it sounds like a live performance.

The original poster wanted impact. These deliver. My listening room is about the same size, except I have a vaulted ceiling that is about 12 ft high at it's highest point. I'm driving them with a DIYParadise Charlize amp. Your 3 watt SET will likely drive them even better; Nelson Pass tested various full range high efficiency speakers (including the Fostex FE206) and commented that tube amps tend to do a better job of critically damping the light-weight drivers.

The original poster also wanted to avoid fatigue. I can listen to these for hours without fatigue, and I am easily fatigued by other systems.

I read the forums on Decware's website, and most of the people who posted there use the HDTs without a subwoofer. I completely agree. A couple people have tried adding a ribbon tweeter. I'm considering a different tweak (next paragraph).

My drivers are the Fostex FE206E modified by Steve Deckert, who designed the HDT. He added a gel wax coating to the cone, damped the frame with felt, and installed a custom-made phase plug. Recently, Steve came up with one more tweak: a polyether foam surround. He claims it improves the frequency response. I plan to try out Steve's latest creation in my next pair of HDTs. (Yes, I love them so much, I had my carpenter/father-in-law cut a fresh set of MDF panels for me to build more HDTs!)

If I recall correctly, the plans only cost $20. It is a challenging build, but the Decware HDT forum is very helpful. Drivers, MDF, passive radiators, ports and such should cost under your $1000 budget. The website is www.decware.com and I posted pics of my (very poorly painted) HDTs at http://peterspeakers.googlepages.com

-Peter
 
fin1bxn said:
Amps i have are - Tube 3 watt SET or 35 watt PP or 200watt SS
[/B]

why not triamp.

Use the 200W SS for a woofer, the 35W PP for a midrange and the SE for the tweeter.

Is $1000 you budget for the drivers or for the entire speaker incl. cabinet and XO.

An active version of Madisound's Eton 11.2 might be one option or maybe even John Krutke's ZD5 mated to a sub using Adire or Peerless HDS woofers. Budget (per channel) $200 for the woofers and $300 for the midbass and tweeter.
 
I'm getting good info here thanks

I realy like the Dipole idea. In the last post someone mentioned Triamp - I happen to be one of the lucky ones that has more than one audio room. I have the SET FI x 2a3 amp hooked up to fostex 166 FLH in the bedroom , I have the Dynaco ST35 hoocked up to some bozak Concertos in the dining room and I have the magnepans hooked up to a pr of Oddesey Mono amps in the Living room.

I'm contemplating selling the maggies because I cant stand the monoliths in my living room. I also have been keping the blinds down to keep the sunlight off of them for the last 8 months since they were rebuilt at the factory. I also miss that midrange bass punch..With maggies you hear it but dont feel it.
 
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fin1bxn said:
I'm looking to replace my Magnepan MGIIIa speakers. My goal is to build the best design for my type of listening. Rock, Blues and female vocals, somtimes Flamingo.
My room 14 wide by 20 long 9' high
Amps i have are - Tube 3 watt SET or 35 watt PP or 200watt SS

I want impact, I want what I've been missing from the maggies, when they hit the drums I want the speed and kick of in your face, but then I still want imaging and a non fatigue sound. (If this is at all possible)

Thanks
Bob

If you want articulate bass, imaging, and a soundstage that will astonish you. Then you'll appreciate why line arrays have such a strong following. I purchased and completed one of Selah Audio's line array kits and I couldn't be happier.

Regards,
Dan :)
 
Most of what you "feel" is between 50 and 150 hz. You could keep the maggies, and add a pair of high quality stereo subs with a 200 hz crossover. Sealed, ported, dipole- any could be made to work, and they've all been done with the maggies.

Sorry if we're all suggesting that you keep the magnepans- they just happen to be some fairly high quality speakers.

A line array could do what you're looking for- somewhat slimmer cabinets, tons of headroom, and potentially very nice sound. The main problem is that they use a lot of drivers, so they aren't cheap.
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
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joe carrow said:
we're all suggesting that you keep the magnepans- they just happen to be some fairly high quality speakers.

It is... except for its lack of efficiency pushing you towards big amps, which tend to cost more & sound less.

Whenever i look at a maggie, i think, "a hell of a price to pay to be able to swipe the ribbons"

dave
 
planet10 said:


It is... except for its lack of efficiency pushing you towards big amps, which tend to cost more & sound less.

Whenever i look at a maggie, i think, "a hell of a price to pay to be able to swipe the ribbons"

dave


Neither is it particularly difficult to DIY FR bipole operation for much less than $1000 driver and materials cost.
 
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