Im looking to build the best speakers I can on a budget, a small budget, of $100.
Some Background: I gave my old (sounded fantastic) stereo to my brother, and was about to spend $200-250 on some Polk r150's and PSW10 sub and an amp to go along with it, when I started reading some forums and discovered it would make sense to build my own amp, and decided on a stereo 68w gainclone. I then discovered it would make EVEN more sense to build a pair of speakers and probably get much more for my money than r150's would give me, and the sub ill figure out afterwards (buy/build, we'll see how these ventures go first).
So as somebody new to the DIY audio community, but with moderate experience tinkering with electrons and soldering and whatnot, I ask: How can i go about building the best speakers I can on a $100 budget?
Any feedback is welcomed!
Some Background: I gave my old (sounded fantastic) stereo to my brother, and was about to spend $200-250 on some Polk r150's and PSW10 sub and an amp to go along with it, when I started reading some forums and discovered it would make sense to build my own amp, and decided on a stereo 68w gainclone. I then discovered it would make EVEN more sense to build a pair of speakers and probably get much more for my money than r150's would give me, and the sub ill figure out afterwards (buy/build, we'll see how these ventures go first).
So as somebody new to the DIY audio community, but with moderate experience tinkering with electrons and soldering and whatnot, I ask: How can i go about building the best speakers I can on a $100 budget?
Any feedback is welcomed!
You are probably better off going second hand with such a small budget.
By the time you've bought the wood, glue, any tools you need, damping material, paint or veneer, cables, screws, ports etc. It wont leave much, if anything for drivers.
By the time you've bought the wood, glue, any tools you need, damping material, paint or veneer, cables, screws, ports etc. It wont leave much, if anything for drivers.
phirius, this is what I would do...get yourself nice mid-tweeter, I personally like 4fe35 FaitalPRO ($25 each), give it nice deep well damped box, cross it at ~150 to ~200Hz to woofers, whatever you can get at about ~91dB sensitivity (some 8-10" clearance woofers).
You can start passive, later biamp it. You may not get under $100, but you can certainly get decent sound FAST way.
You can start passive, later biamp it. You may not get under $100, but you can certainly get decent sound FAST way.
There are some seriously good bargains out there if you look around. Through yard sales and second hand stores I have found many good deals. The gasoline I've used driving around might factor into it but I try and do it while I'm on the road already.
Dynaco 25
Large Advents
Mission 761
Mission 760
Paisley Ref. II
Zenith Allegro 3000
and assorted others have come my way for less than your budget.
Dynaco 25
Large Advents
Mission 761
Mission 760
Paisley Ref. II
Zenith Allegro 3000
and assorted others have come my way for less than your budget.
I just built a small cabinet.
Driver £67
Wood £37
Cabinet furniture £30
Cabinet covering £12.
Paint £6
It quickly mounts up so it quite often is cheaper and easier to just a buy a ready made speaker cabinet.
Driver £67
Wood £37
Cabinet furniture £30
Cabinet covering £12.
Paint £6
It quickly mounts up so it quite often is cheaper and easier to just a buy a ready made speaker cabinet.
What do
Will buying a pair of premade speakers really sound better than anything I can build? Where is the cutoff line ($ value)?
madisonaudio has a section filled with full range drivers fr pretty cheap. Are any of these any good? https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-4-fullrange/
Where can I find speaker cabinets? Parts-express doesn't seem to have any cabinets that fit a single 4" driver like you suggested adason
I have seen those used. I'd question whether you could call them decent. They need enuff work that it is almost easier to start from scratch. The curved cabinets are much better. But shipping from USA>UK is likely to cost as much or more than the boxes.
If the box needs to fit into your budget, you may be better to repurpose something (clay plant pots for instance), or grab a free or dirt-cheap set of used boxes just for the boxes.
dave
With a small budget yes. Building your own at this price point will not give bang for the buck.
Hi
I would look into Parts Express out of Dayton Ohio.
They have speaker kits that I have never seen at very good prices.
They also sell some very good low priced powered subs from 8" to 15".
The Dayton Audio bookshelf with real cross-over and not a simple cap inline between the woofer and tweeter make these the best low cost speakers that I have seen get rave review.
They have some nice prebuilt speakers and a ton of kits.
part#300-706 $138 a pair (Kit)
part#300-653 $118.50 a pair on sale at partsexpress.com duel 6 1/2" woofers with a 1" dome tweeter front ported full size towers.
Also a new bookshelf with a ribbon tweeter and a nice 6 1/2" woofer but the price is about $75 for the pair. Get rave reviews on CNET.
Impossible to beat these in price/perform for a pair of full sized real solid build speakers. Front ports are great as it helps you place the speakers anywhere you want, unlike rear ported speakers that need to be 6 to 8" from a back wall.
Check out partsexpress for all your speaker and other needs it's a great store. None like it around anymore.
I have bought L-Pads to tone down my Definitive Studio Monitor 450's that are nice bookshelf speakers but the 1" aluminum dome tweeter can be too bright for some. Have them mounted on the steel stands that are designed for them with a bottom plate that actually screws into each speaker, with four 1/4" 2"x2" rubber squares for anti vibration.
Bought speaker gasket foam in a 50' roll for $9 and 2-10" 4Ohm replacement woofers for a pair of Cerwin Vega RE24's that I found in the garbage.
Speakers are heavy but you can get some good ones on Ebay if you want bookshelf speakers. Example: I bought a pair of Definitive BP-1 Bi-Poles with one front 4 1/2" woofer, one 1" aluminum dome tweeter in the front and a second set facing the rear that are front ported and sound incredible for there size. $60 including shipping on Ebay and these are my rear surround sound speakers but they can beat out much larger speakers with the Bi-Pole design they use.
Check out partsexpress.com Take care hope this helped, Steve
I would look into Parts Express out of Dayton Ohio.
They have speaker kits that I have never seen at very good prices.
They also sell some very good low priced powered subs from 8" to 15".
The Dayton Audio bookshelf with real cross-over and not a simple cap inline between the woofer and tweeter make these the best low cost speakers that I have seen get rave review.
They have some nice prebuilt speakers and a ton of kits.
part#300-706 $138 a pair (Kit)
part#300-653 $118.50 a pair on sale at partsexpress.com duel 6 1/2" woofers with a 1" dome tweeter front ported full size towers.
Also a new bookshelf with a ribbon tweeter and a nice 6 1/2" woofer but the price is about $75 for the pair. Get rave reviews on CNET.
Impossible to beat these in price/perform for a pair of full sized real solid build speakers. Front ports are great as it helps you place the speakers anywhere you want, unlike rear ported speakers that need to be 6 to 8" from a back wall.
Check out partsexpress for all your speaker and other needs it's a great store. None like it around anymore.
I have bought L-Pads to tone down my Definitive Studio Monitor 450's that are nice bookshelf speakers but the 1" aluminum dome tweeter can be too bright for some. Have them mounted on the steel stands that are designed for them with a bottom plate that actually screws into each speaker, with four 1/4" 2"x2" rubber squares for anti vibration.
Bought speaker gasket foam in a 50' roll for $9 and 2-10" 4Ohm replacement woofers for a pair of Cerwin Vega RE24's that I found in the garbage.
Speakers are heavy but you can get some good ones on Ebay if you want bookshelf speakers. Example: I bought a pair of Definitive BP-1 Bi-Poles with one front 4 1/2" woofer, one 1" aluminum dome tweeter in the front and a second set facing the rear that are front ported and sound incredible for there size. $60 including shipping on Ebay and these are my rear surround sound speakers but they can beat out much larger speakers with the Bi-Pole design they use.
Check out partsexpress.com Take care hope this helped, Steve
Cost out what you'd spend on something like this:
CA18RLY/22TAF-G,
building your own isn't necessarily cheaper, but you do get better bang/buck...if you know what you're doing
CA18RLY/22TAF-G,
building your own isn't necessarily cheaper, but you do get better bang/buck...if you know what you're doing
There are far too many variables to answer this question accurately. There are some quite expensive commercial speakers that use cheap drivers. Living Voice, WLM La Scala and Audio Note all use cheap drivers but the finished speakers are far from cheap.
SB Acoustics drivers offer very good value for money and top notch performance - couple that with an excellent speaker designer (Jeff Bagby) and you wont go far wrong. These are over budget and may be too small for you - Sopranos
Not sure how you'll feel about this, but...
Why not use the entirely decent (but ugly) Pioneer 4" 2 ways designed by Andrew Jones?
Pioneer 4" Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) Black SP-BS22-LR - Best Buy
I've heard them, and they really are pretty damn good, especially for $130 at your local mall. They won't play very loud before dynamic compression sets in, and they do need some power to light up. But your chip amp should be up to the task for use in a smallish listening room.
And the Overnight Sensations speaker is supposed to be pretty good too:
http://www.parts-express.com/overnight-sensations-mt-speaker-kit-pair--300-706
--
Why not use the entirely decent (but ugly) Pioneer 4" 2 ways designed by Andrew Jones?
Pioneer 4" Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) Black SP-BS22-LR - Best Buy
I've heard them, and they really are pretty damn good, especially for $130 at your local mall. They won't play very loud before dynamic compression sets in, and they do need some power to light up. But your chip amp should be up to the task for use in a smallish listening room.
And the Overnight Sensations speaker is supposed to be pretty good too:
http://www.parts-express.com/overnight-sensations-mt-speaker-kit-pair--300-706
--
Last edited:
For 100 to 200$ one can buy a decent pair Of Dynaco A25's.
More than enough speaker for a diy Gainclone variant .
Plus you shouldn't need a Sub... unless a Big 'Arnold' movie fan
More than enough speaker for a diy Gainclone variant .
Plus you shouldn't need a Sub... unless a Big 'Arnold' movie fan
What about the new line ELAC from Andrew Jones that's much, much, better then the small Pioneers that get such rave reviews on amazon.
I mean rongon is right about going over $100 and that not being your defining set amount.
Look around and see what you think of some speakers that are used. I'm not a Bose fan but the old 301 bookshelf sound very good.
They have good imaging that you wont get from a super small mid-bass driver. They have a 8" woofer and 2 - 3" cone tweeters both opposite the other.
Sort of the first version of bi-pole speakers at least with the tweeters.
I would not buy any other Bose product as they have really gone down hill over the last 10 years.
I mean rongon is right about going over $100 and that not being your defining set amount.
Look around and see what you think of some speakers that are used. I'm not a Bose fan but the old 301 bookshelf sound very good.
They have good imaging that you wont get from a super small mid-bass driver. They have a 8" woofer and 2 - 3" cone tweeters both opposite the other.
Sort of the first version of bi-pole speakers at least with the tweeters.
I would not buy any other Bose product as they have really gone down hill over the last 10 years.
I have a couple different versions of Sony's once lowest end speaker a ~5" 2-way
SS-MB100H and SS-MB150H, and a matching center. At the time they were ~$40/pair. No way I could design something at that price point. I have added some damping and swapped out the 'lytic for a film cap for a noticeable $2 + 15 minutes mod.
I listened to all of the speakers at Best Buy that day and the little sony's actually had the best tonal balance, but they distort some at very high levels.
My advice, listen to premade speakers in your price range and see what you think. You can always add a sub later to take some of the strain off the small speakers.
SS-MB100H and SS-MB150H, and a matching center. At the time they were ~$40/pair. No way I could design something at that price point. I have added some damping and swapped out the 'lytic for a film cap for a noticeable $2 + 15 minutes mod.
I listened to all of the speakers at Best Buy that day and the little sony's actually had the best tonal balance, but they distort some at very high levels.
My advice, listen to premade speakers in your price range and see what you think. You can always add a sub later to take some of the strain off the small speakers.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.