Anyone know of any designs of a large DIY tower that competes (sonically) with flagship commercial speakers like Focal grand utopia, Wilson XVX, Kharma Exquisite grand, Tidal La Assoluta etc?
I am not implying more expensive = better but I do enjoy large speakers and my rationale is that maybe I can build a speaker that can compete with exceptional large flagship speakers without paying 100s of thousands of dollars.
Thanks.
I am not implying more expensive = better but I do enjoy large speakers and my rationale is that maybe I can build a speaker that can compete with exceptional large flagship speakers without paying 100s of thousands of dollars.
Thanks.
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Yes you can. If you focus on kits or well established designs, you will need good cabinet making skills and will need to be generally competent with hand tools, craft work, electrical work.
To get started, take a look at the OSMC and OSMC tower (do a search on this site) https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/open-source-monkey-tower.349736/#post-6086426
Heissmann DXT Wave https://heissmann-acoustics.de/en/dxt-wave/
Troels Gravesen Illuminator 5 http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Illuminator-5.htm
What do you mean by compete? Most of the speakers you list are primarily luxury prestige speakers which is an area in which DIY speakers cannot even begin to compete. A reasonably knowledge DIYer should be able to design and build a speaker as good and likely better in terms of technical performance but people that highly value ultra-fi speakers are rather unlikely to highly value such a speaker.
Sorry I meant sonically. And I am talking about posting existing designs not what is theoretically possible for a DIYer.
Galactica, Mezzo-Galactica...
I don't Remember the designer...he's very well known among here. I think It was him that made the famous capacitor review & ranking
I don't Remember the designer...he's very well known among here. I think It was him that made the famous capacitor review & ranking
Oh yes, it was Tony Gee !
And those are not that big...I mean...I think I know how tall can be a floorstander...and large...
And those are not that big...I mean...I think I know how tall can be a floorstander...and large...
The very idea of building a flagship like loudspeaker able to mimic commercial product sonic qualities, possibly a better one, is truly exciting, a goal worth pursuing.
Sonically? This likely needs clarification given that most expensive home audio loudspeakers are not designed to be neutral/accurate/... in the manner of professional studio speakers but to sound "good" (there are exceptions). There is nothing wrong with this as an objective but it does lead to confusion if it isn't made clear what one is after. It is why some here will not be rating some of the speakers in your list highly but will be rating highly some technically well designed speakers with ordinary looking cabinets and costing a small fraction of the prices in your list. Doesn't make them right or wrong just that they value things differently.
Theoretical? There are plenty of existing DIY designs. I mentioned design and build because I had assumed, perhaps wrongly, that was what you wanting to do.
^^^
I agree.
Would the OP please define sonically?
As deep bass?
As large and dynamic sounding?
What is the listening distance?
What is the size of your room?
Able to fill a large dedicated theatre room?
And having access to subassemblies like transducers and crossovers of a high level of excellence is one thing, but do you have access to enclosure fabrication of a high level of excellence?
Can a person build his own house to a high standard, competitive with a house built by a commercial builder?
How much resources does one have dedicated to doing this; and do you have ability to verify your build was done the design specifications of the designer? eg. Mark’s OSMC or Alexander’s DXT Wave XL
I agree.
Would the OP please define sonically?
As deep bass?
As large and dynamic sounding?
What is the listening distance?
What is the size of your room?
Able to fill a large dedicated theatre room?
And having access to subassemblies like transducers and crossovers of a high level of excellence is one thing, but do you have access to enclosure fabrication of a high level of excellence?
Can a person build his own house to a high standard, competitive with a house built by a commercial builder?
How much resources does one have dedicated to doing this; and do you have ability to verify your build was done the design specifications of the designer? eg. Mark’s OSMC or Alexander’s DXT Wave XL
You need to figure out what your wants and needs are to help decide your direction. Some questions to answer to yourself would be...
How much spl capability do you want?
How low do you need?
Subs or no with the towers?
Sensitivity...higher or low...depending on whether you are using low powered tube amps, or monster class d power?
What type and voicing of speakers are the sound that you want?
Passive only, or dsp active?
What have you listened to that you love?
What is your max budget, all in?
Big horns are different from electrostatic, planar, ribbons, domes, etc. One person's dream is anothers nightmare. There are quite a few available designs out there, but you need to figure out the priorities for you...dynamics, transparency, dispersion characteristics, soundstage vs. Imaging. If you can share some of those thoughts, you will get more potential recommendations. Lots to consider.
How much spl capability do you want?
How low do you need?
Subs or no with the towers?
Sensitivity...higher or low...depending on whether you are using low powered tube amps, or monster class d power?
What type and voicing of speakers are the sound that you want?
Passive only, or dsp active?
What have you listened to that you love?
What is your max budget, all in?
Big horns are different from electrostatic, planar, ribbons, domes, etc. One person's dream is anothers nightmare. There are quite a few available designs out there, but you need to figure out the priorities for you...dynamics, transparency, dispersion characteristics, soundstage vs. Imaging. If you can share some of those thoughts, you will get more potential recommendations. Lots to consider.
You are hopeful. In my humble opinion... it's a little unlikely that a DIYer with the ability to build speakers better than these flagships would also be familiar with kits. How likely is it also that someone who can afford to go through several of these flagships has made comparisons to commonly available kits.
It is also difficult to interpret subjective ratings because you don't know what the reviewer knows is possible.
When I say sonically I refer to many of the chacteristics that are used to describe sonic performance such as: Dynamic slam, soundstage size, image placement and focus, PRaT, timbre and air.
I am not making a request specifically to cater to myself but instead asking if there are any DIY designs for very large speakers that perform in the qualities as described above at a level similar to other top tier speakers. Maybe something above 5-6 feet tall and weighing over 300-400 lbs.
I don't think there should be an effort to try to find the most ideal kit for me specifically but merely discuss very large speaker kit / designs.
Not trying to make this about me specifically but instead just a discussion of very large diy speaker plans.
Maybe another way to ask this question...
What is the largest and heaviest DIY speaker plan you have ever come across?
You could have an optic at the "Elsinore" speakers on this Forum, or Curt Campbell's "Uluwatu" speakers on his Speaker Design Works website; both those projects use five or six woofers per side.
Geoff
Geoff
Another thing.. not everyone who makes a speaker that's worth copying turns it into a plan as such. You might be limiting yourself by sticking with available plans.
"Maybe something above 5-6 feet tall and weighing over 300-400 lbs"
That's a very large piece of furniture which would be very difficult to make, impossible to move around and need to be finished to a very high standard indeed. If it's the sound that's important I'm sure you can find something smaller which still sounds great, like the designs in post #16
Geoff
That's a very large piece of furniture which would be very difficult to make, impossible to move around and need to be finished to a very high standard indeed. If it's the sound that's important I'm sure you can find something smaller which still sounds great, like the designs in post #16
Geoff
This is useful in indicating that you are coming from the "subjective"/audiophile end of the spectrum rather than the technical/engineering/studio end. Speaker DIYers tend to lean more the other way because of the need to accept a certain amount of technical information in order to design and make speakers. Nonetheless there are one or two with at least one foot firmly in the "subjective"/audiophile camp. One example is Troels Gravesen who has large speaker plans linked to earlier. Another is Tony Gee of Humble Homemade HiFi also mentioned earlier showing some pics of very large speakers. There are also large PA and HT speaker plans but I am assuming that is not sort of thing you are after. There are a few threads here on the subject of DIYing very large home speakers, for example Dunlavy/Duntech clones, but they are unlikely to contain detailed construction plans that can be followed.
Sonically the speakers you list would not be considered top tier by many active speaker DIYers. Nor would they by professionals in studios many of which do spend the sort of money involved in your list but most of it goes into controlling the room response because it matters a lot more when it comes to achieving high (technical) sound quality. This isn't to say "subjective"/audiophile values are in any way wrong but it may help explain why speaker DIY folk have less interest in ultra-fi speakers than might be expected by more passive audiophiles.
There sure are DIY projects that turned out big... The thread from Stig Erik comes to mind...
It may compete with large commercial speakers, but it may not have the 'refined look'... it's all business...
Then there's Legis's "Shadow of The Colossus" that can impress with size and sound...
Legis went after the "big sound" obviously...
But I don't think that's the kind of thing you are looking for. I bet they both could sound pretty impressive though...
I 'only' have the height part right, but not the weight...
Sure I'll tell you it sounds like a million bucks 😀...
Then there was a guy with a full horn 5 way system, I forgot the name...
Something with "Steve" in it?
When thinking of people selling kits, that did do large speakers at some point, Bert comes to mind...
I bet none of these are what you're looking for... 🙄 but DIY-ers do "big" at times...
It may compete with large commercial speakers, but it may not have the 'refined look'... it's all business...
Then there's Legis's "Shadow of The Colossus" that can impress with size and sound...
Legis went after the "big sound" obviously...
But I don't think that's the kind of thing you are looking for. I bet they both could sound pretty impressive though...
I 'only' have the height part right, but not the weight...
Sure I'll tell you it sounds like a million bucks 😀...
Then there was a guy with a full horn 5 way system, I forgot the name...
Something with "Steve" in it?
When thinking of people selling kits, that did do large speakers at some point, Bert comes to mind...
I bet none of these are what you're looking for... 🙄 but DIY-ers do "big" at times...