Or designs that are DIY friendly? I just built some nifty bookshelf speakers but I am interested in some planer or ESL as a future project.
I'm not aware of any magnetic planar speaker kits but there are ESL kits available.
ER Audio in Australia sells highly regarded premium ESL kits.
Just Real Audio (I believe in Michigan) sells components, kits and complete ESL's at bargain prices. The owner, Russ Knotts, is an honest guy providing reliable gear but his is a small family business, often backed up with more work than he can do in a short time, so you may want to inquire about lead times before placing an order.
you can take a peek at my youtube channel for some planar designs. its what i mostly did lately. there is a complete start to finish of one panel as well.
YouTube
A complete kit i did not find either as of yet. might be a cool idea if i got a panel that is easy to make and works flawless
they sound rather decent, really happy, ESL sounds a little better, but well that's rather more complicated and expensive to. so i think good bang for the buck and effort.
Cool. Do they need much space behind them? I am wondering how they may work wall mounted (but perhaps spaced out.)
Several years ago the now defunct Speaker Builder magazine published an article about a DIY planar speaker. I built a pair without taking into consideration the required space BEHIND the speakers. You'll need about 3 ft. , maybe more, for them to sound their best.
Here is an excellent article on how to go about building something like the Apogee's,
La Folia DIY Planar Magnetic Speakers | Ribbon Magnetostatic Loudspeakers Projects
jer 🙂
La Folia DIY Planar Magnetic Speakers | Ribbon Magnetostatic Loudspeakers Projects
jer 🙂
This is another non-kit answer to your kit question (sorry about that) but I thought it might demonstrate that even a from-scratch project need not be overly daunting or complicated.
I just installed, ten minutes ago in fact, these DIY planar magnetic desktop speakers. I wanted to see how much I could simplify the construction I used in my previous DIY planar magnetic project. The result was quite a simplification! Of course, these speakers are about 2 feet tall instead of 7 feet, made to show their guts, and use a single element for all frequencies above about 200 Hz. A powered sub under the desk fills in the bottom octaves.
I'm a brand new user of the Equalizer APO app but it's great for this application. I have a little 20 watt/channel (into 8 ohms, 40 watts into 4 ohms) amp/DAC that has a usb input (you can see it to the left of the left speaker in the photo). So the speakers are built to play just the computer's output. Using Room Eq Wizard I measured the speakers' outputs, and then imported the compensating filter settings into Equalizer APO. If you look closely you can see the configuration editor on the computer monitor. Works great! I worried about directivity issues but in practice I move my head so little when I'm at the computer that it's really not a problem at all. And the imaging is quite remarkable, with the uber-nearfield listening.
I was inspired by the little desktop Maggies but uninspired by their cost. The most expensive parts of my speakers are the NdFeB magnets. I needed 252 of them. In case you want to price things out, I bought N42 magnets, 1" x 1/4" x 1/8", poled through the thin dimension, from Magnets For Less.
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I just installed, ten minutes ago in fact, these DIY planar magnetic desktop speakers. I wanted to see how much I could simplify the construction I used in my previous DIY planar magnetic project. The result was quite a simplification! Of course, these speakers are about 2 feet tall instead of 7 feet, made to show their guts, and use a single element for all frequencies above about 200 Hz. A powered sub under the desk fills in the bottom octaves.
I'm a brand new user of the Equalizer APO app but it's great for this application. I have a little 20 watt/channel (into 8 ohms, 40 watts into 4 ohms) amp/DAC that has a usb input (you can see it to the left of the left speaker in the photo). So the speakers are built to play just the computer's output. Using Room Eq Wizard I measured the speakers' outputs, and then imported the compensating filter settings into Equalizer APO. If you look closely you can see the configuration editor on the computer monitor. Works great! I worried about directivity issues but in practice I move my head so little when I'm at the computer that it's really not a problem at all. And the imaging is quite remarkable, with the uber-nearfield listening.
I was inspired by the little desktop Maggies but uninspired by their cost. The most expensive parts of my speakers are the NdFeB magnets. I needed 252 of them. In case you want to price things out, I bought N42 magnets, 1" x 1/4" x 1/8", poled through the thin dimension, from Magnets For Less.
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You’re welcome. Give a holler if some aspect of my planar magnetic adventures would be useful in your own quest.
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I have been trying to find a schematic of the BG Radia Z-92 crossover( no longer made ) as the Neo 10 would make a nice start on any planar diy project... probably would go with a ribbon tweeter instead of the Neo 3 as a tweeter and 2 Dayton rs180 as the woofers.
I have never felt remotely limited as far as loudness goes. I haven't tested to see how much juice I generally use. The speakers are closer to 4 ohms than 8, so they take advantage of the extra current that's available. Still, I don't recall a single time I found I was pushing the limits of the available power. I'd be surprised if 9 watts (depending on how the amp handles current) wouldn't work.
If the amp you have would be better off with 8 ohms, you can just adjust the traces on the planar magnetic so they have more turns in the magnetic field, but have more resistance. Double the turns and you double the BL product. Double the trace resistance and you draw half the current, so you should end up where you started.
If the amp you have would be better off with 8 ohms, you can just adjust the traces on the planar magnetic so they have more turns in the magnetic field, but have more resistance. Double the turns and you double the BL product. Double the trace resistance and you draw half the current, so you should end up where you started.
Pick up a pair of old Magnpans and restore them! all the required magnets, mylar, frame are all there!
Just finished restoring two pairs of MG2.5R and started a Tympani T-ID...
With some Jazz playing in background and a pint of Guinness while rebuilding, very therapeutic!
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partsexpress.com has recently started selling several planar tweeters and mid-tweeters at reasonable prices under the GRS brand. some of these might be able to play low enough with some equalization and a crossover to mate with a subwoofer, like desktop PC systems typically do. They also sell small class D amps with built in DSP.
There aren't any kits yet but I am thinking about using one myself with an 8" or 10" woofer in a two way speaker crossed over around 800-1Khz.
There aren't any kits yet but I am thinking about using one myself with an 8" or 10" woofer in a two way speaker crossed over around 800-1Khz.