Yoke wrote
A pretty good idea. There are a lot of truly good 2 way monitor kits available. Adding a pair of subwoofers turns them into (potentially) an excellent full range system. Subwoofers are an easy first-time DIY project. Active crossovers are the way to go for anything less than 250 Hz.
All in all, I like this idea quite a bit.
A pretty good idea. There are a lot of truly good 2 way monitor kits available. Adding a pair of subwoofers turns them into (potentially) an excellent full range system. Subwoofers are an easy first-time DIY project. Active crossovers are the way to go for anything less than 250 Hz.
All in all, I like this idea quite a bit.
"adding a subwoofer" already sounds too complicated to me in terms of tweaking the system. I really don't like subwoofers in HiFi sytems, I find them unnecessary with good speakers and potentialy problem makers. I know this will sound like cheating but if I decide to go diy route, really wanna do a complete kit with cutting list for enclosure included, with no tweaking of enclosure or crossover whatsoever.
It may be cheating but speaker design is a science and I know how much I don't know about it. I can make a very decent enclosure and do some electrical measurements of crossover, that's pretty much it😀
ps, I already made a high power 15" sub made around Faital pro driver. Implementing that one in my HT was a real PIA tho I've been happy with the result after all. That thing is a window breaker but I still turn it off when I listen to the music.
It may be cheating but speaker design is a science and I know how much I don't know about it. I can make a very decent enclosure and do some electrical measurements of crossover, that's pretty much it😀
ps, I already made a high power 15" sub made around Faital pro driver. Implementing that one in my HT was a real PIA tho I've been happy with the result after all. That thing is a window breaker but I still turn it off when I listen to the music.
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Actually... Subwoofers makes everything better. They can be placed better in rooms than normal speakers, when it comes to low frequencies ��
Don't get me wrong, all my last speakers are DIY, from the design to the build.
However there are some inherently problems in the DIY route.
First of all, if you build a kit you won't know in advance if you like the sound, and if not the resale value is pretty null, you can eventually sell only the drivers with a good discount.
Many people also think that you can save money, but this is not necessarily true. Commercial speakers from a big company (like Kef or B&W, just to name a couple) are sold in the thousands if not more. This implies that they obtain all the pieces needed to build the speakers including the drivers at a price waaay lower than what we can achieve (*). Big part of the value of a commercial speaker is in the cabinet, this is where you can save the money, but only because you will value zero the time you spend in building and finishing the speaker. Again, for the material needed this doesn't apply. The last part in which a DIYer saves money is in the development phase, if you design yourself you value zero the time spent, if you build an open kit the development comes for free. And you don't pay for the marketing. All in all, a commercial speaker from a big company probably at 1K$ does cost more than an equivalent DIY one but not too much. Boutique speakers are another thing.
So summing up the real alternative to DIY is second hand market, where you can buy with a big discount with a price/performance ratio equal or even better than the DIY route, and in case you don't like what you bought you can resell it without losing money (or very little).
A real appeal in the DIY route is in the feeling that is built by you.
Either way (commercial or DIY), don't choose a multi woofer speaker (too much for your room), or even with a single woofer bigger that 8". A simple yet well engineered DIY design is the original Classic 3W by TG: SEAS-3-Way-Classic
Ralf
(*) and I'm not even considering the fact that many DIYers in high-end designs tend to use without real reasons boutique caps and coils that cost an arm and a leg.
However there are some inherently problems in the DIY route.
First of all, if you build a kit you won't know in advance if you like the sound, and if not the resale value is pretty null, you can eventually sell only the drivers with a good discount.
Many people also think that you can save money, but this is not necessarily true. Commercial speakers from a big company (like Kef or B&W, just to name a couple) are sold in the thousands if not more. This implies that they obtain all the pieces needed to build the speakers including the drivers at a price waaay lower than what we can achieve (*). Big part of the value of a commercial speaker is in the cabinet, this is where you can save the money, but only because you will value zero the time you spend in building and finishing the speaker. Again, for the material needed this doesn't apply. The last part in which a DIYer saves money is in the development phase, if you design yourself you value zero the time spent, if you build an open kit the development comes for free. And you don't pay for the marketing. All in all, a commercial speaker from a big company probably at 1K$ does cost more than an equivalent DIY one but not too much. Boutique speakers are another thing.
So summing up the real alternative to DIY is second hand market, where you can buy with a big discount with a price/performance ratio equal or even better than the DIY route, and in case you don't like what you bought you can resell it without losing money (or very little).
A real appeal in the DIY route is in the feeling that is built by you.
Either way (commercial or DIY), don't choose a multi woofer speaker (too much for your room), or even with a single woofer bigger that 8". A simple yet well engineered DIY design is the original Classic 3W by TG: SEAS-3-Way-Classic
Ralf
(*) and I'm not even considering the fact that many DIYers in high-end designs tend to use without real reasons boutique caps and coils that cost an arm and a leg.
@Giralfino
Thats why active is cool... No expensive passive components and no matter the woofers, you can easily adjust the level to most room... Especially if there is to much bass. Commercial speakers rarely have any control over the lowest frequencies... Which is very important for percieved sound quality.
Thats why active is cool... No expensive passive components and no matter the woofers, you can easily adjust the level to most room... Especially if there is to much bass. Commercial speakers rarely have any control over the lowest frequencies... Which is very important for percieved sound quality.
@Giralfino That's pretry much how I'm thinking. I live in a rural part of my country so no chance to listen 2nd hand, and I don't wanna get stuck into the buying/selling circle.
So yes, there are good arguments for every option and I have to reconsider everything.
So yes, there are good arguments for every option and I have to reconsider everything.