Hi All,
So Ive been bitten by the DIY bug. Im in need of new speakers for two rooms in my house. My wife likes a small set of speakers (we really like the mini-onkens) for our living room just to be ran wirelessly from itunes, that are purely for music. Downstairs in the man cave I would like to build a set of frugal horns. I really like the look of them, especially the prism sub enclosure to complement them.
Building the enclosures is no problem for me. That I can handle with ease. But after about 3 weeks now of reading forums about speaker building Im just starting to understand some of the concept of driver selection. Im completely lost when it comes to the crossover stuff, and notch filters. I have no idea here to begin with that stuff.
Ive found some kits online that come with everything, but Id really like to keep my shopping canadian. More specifically to buy everything off of planet10.
So after that rant mb I should give you guys an idea of what I have now. Downstairs I have an old pair of Realistic towers and a Technics reciever (an oldie, model is SA-GX470 Class H+). Upstairs of just have some Logitec Z4's running wirelessly off my airport express. Like I said before Id like to build some mini-onkens to run off the airport express. Downstairs speakers will still run from the Technics receiver.
Am I able to do theses things? Any advice is greatly appreciated. I feel pretty lost on it all at this point, aside from knowing what I want.
Thank You
Jon
So Ive been bitten by the DIY bug. Im in need of new speakers for two rooms in my house. My wife likes a small set of speakers (we really like the mini-onkens) for our living room just to be ran wirelessly from itunes, that are purely for music. Downstairs in the man cave I would like to build a set of frugal horns. I really like the look of them, especially the prism sub enclosure to complement them.
Building the enclosures is no problem for me. That I can handle with ease. But after about 3 weeks now of reading forums about speaker building Im just starting to understand some of the concept of driver selection. Im completely lost when it comes to the crossover stuff, and notch filters. I have no idea here to begin with that stuff.
Ive found some kits online that come with everything, but Id really like to keep my shopping canadian. More specifically to buy everything off of planet10.
So after that rant mb I should give you guys an idea of what I have now. Downstairs I have an old pair of Realistic towers and a Technics reciever (an oldie, model is SA-GX470 Class H+). Upstairs of just have some Logitec Z4's running wirelessly off my airport express. Like I said before Id like to build some mini-onkens to run off the airport express. Downstairs speakers will still run from the Technics receiver.
Am I able to do theses things? Any advice is greatly appreciated. I feel pretty lost on it all at this point, aside from knowing what I want.
Thank You
Jon
Welcome to DIY
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There is a wealth of information on DIY and you can spend hours and hours finding out that you don't know much...I have.
Have fun.
Local:
Q-components
I have bought from them.
There is a wealth of information on DIY and you can spend hours and hours finding out that you don't know much...I have.
Have fun.
Jon - no doubt there'll be more questions and helpful advice from many forum members to follow, but for now one question about the AirPort express setup: are you using the optical digital out to drive an external DAC? If not, then I'd suggest even the cheapest black box (such as PEX 180-997) would be a substantial improvement over the chip built into the AEX.
Personally, for my money the ATV delivers better Airplay performance than the AEX, even if you don't want to subscribe to streaming services such as Netflix, etc.
Of course with Apple, until you graduate to something like a Mini as dedicated headless music server (controlled by screen share ), your choice of external DACs needs to include Toslink connectivity.
Personally, for my money the ATV delivers better Airplay performance than the AEX, even if you don't want to subscribe to streaming services such as Netflix, etc.
Of course with Apple, until you graduate to something like a Mini as dedicated headless music server (controlled by screen share ), your choice of external DACs needs to include Toslink connectivity.
Thanks for the link Dug.
Chris - I'm just using a standard audio cable to go from the airport express to my Z4's. which is a 2.1 system. So the sub amps the two satellite speakers. Which is part of my problem I would think in building what Id like. Cause the air express can't actually amplify the signal. I literally only use my airport for the wireless audio to my speakers as extend wifi for our smartphones. All other Internet is hardwired in my house.
Chris - I'm just using a standard audio cable to go from the airport express to my Z4's. which is a 2.1 system. So the sub amps the two satellite speakers. Which is part of my problem I would think in building what Id like. Cause the air express can't actually amplify the signal. I literally only use my airport for the wireless audio to my speakers as extend wifi for our smartphones. All other Internet is hardwired in my house.
Yes, for the AEX you will need to add an amp to drive the speakers. I have a couple secondary systems that use cable out of the AEX just fine, but as Chris points out, there is decidedly room to grow the system quality with stuff between the iTunes server & the amp.
The Realistic will drive any of the drivers typically used in the Frugel-Horns but they will let you hear what it doesn't do well.
dave
The Realistic will drive any of the drivers typically used in the Frugel-Horns but they will let you hear what it doesn't do well.
dave
For best performance a receiver -- even a pricey one -- likely won't cut it. Not that a receiver won't sound good, but that there is usually a lot more that can be had. I'd start where you are and grow from there if you get the itch.
As to the technics, they range from poor to quite good, whether it would outdo a Relistic depends on who Radio Shack paid to make it.
dave
As to the technics, they range from poor to quite good, whether it would outdo a Relistic depends on who Radio Shack paid to make it.
dave
While today's multchannel surround receivers offer outstanding technical value and simple one box solution for a home theatre system, for a straight 2 channel audio system, unless you listen to a lot of terrestrial broadcast FM radio, you could be much better served with a simple DAC / amp combo.
There are some excellent value products in the under $200 each category that would make a core for a very musical system. I've been very happy with Topping TP30, and looking a bit further at other model in their line, something like the D-20 DAC (USB/Optical and Co-ax for $150), and the TP60 amp at $209 bear some investigation.
As for driver and enclosure selection, well that's a whole other can o worms.
There are some excellent value products in the under $200 each category that would make a core for a very musical system. I've been very happy with Topping TP30, and looking a bit further at other model in their line, something like the D-20 DAC (USB/Optical and Co-ax for $150), and the TP60 amp at $209 bear some investigation.
As for driver and enclosure selection, well that's a whole other can o worms.
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