Can someone help me design tower speakers?

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shortyg83

Member
2011-05-19 5:53 pm
  • #1
    I currently have a set of focal chorus 714v tower speakers.
    They worked fine in my apartment but after buying a house they seemed to have lost my attention. For starters I think they are too small for my room which is 25 feet long by 16 feet wide. I am looking for an upgrade and was curious if building would be the way to go. I previously built bookshelf speakers using hivi woofer and planer . They sound great but I really want something bigger and better. I am looking for a 3way design likely with 8 inch woofers. I really don't want to build my own crossover but I will if absolutely necessary. I would prefer a prefab one if possible.
    I have a budget of approx 1k for drivers and crossovers.
    Can anyone help and will they be an improvement over my focals?
    I can push up to 400wrms per channel if need be.
     
    eriksquires

    eriksquires

    Member
    2013-05-10 4:11 pm
  • #6
    shortyg83 said:
    I currently have a set of focal chorus 714v tower speakers.
    They worked fine in my apartment but after buying a house they seemed to have lost my attention. For starters I think they are too small for my room which is 25 feet long by 16 feet wide. I am looking for an upgrade and was curious if building would be the way to go. I previously built bookshelf speakers using hivi woofer and planer . They sound great but I really want something bigger and better. I am looking for a 3way design likely with 8 inch woofers. I really don't want to build my own crossover but I will if absolutely necessary. I would prefer a prefab one if possible.
    I have a budget of approx 1k for drivers and crossovers.
    Can anyone help and will they be an improvement over my focals?
    I can push up to 400wrms per channel if need be.
    Click to expand...

    Hi Shorty,

    Having just parted out my Focal Profile 918's I think I can help you. :) Go for quality, not quanitity!

    In your budget, you can just about fit the Madisound Rediscovery kit AND have really nice cabinets. Well, maybe a little more. In a ported cabinet it will blow away your old Focal's bass in amplitude AND quality, so please don't scoff at it for being a single 6.5" woofer.

    If you are willing to cut your own holes, you can fit the Rediscovery in a Dayton Cabinet (double check the width of the face plate!) or better, have Lee Taylor build you a custom enclosure for it. He can put this driver into a floor stander or large bookshelf.

    The Rediscovery kit will blow away anything from Focal besides the Utopia's. A single Revelator has so much more and better bass.

    The Zaph 2.5 is also very nice, but more expensive due to the really nice tweeter and extra woofer.

    If you want more or deeper bass, you really should start with your room acoustics. Getting deeper in a room isn't just about the surface area of a driver. And this comes to you from a guy with a 15" Hsu sub he only uses for movies. :) My point is, if your total budget is really $1k, you can get lots of crappy bass, or the right amount of good bass. :) If you absolutely insist in a 3-way due to an inch fetish, set aside some money for room acoustics like the GIK Acoustics Bass traps. That eats into your speaker budget .... and you are back to the 6.5". :) Now, if money were no object, then do it all. :)

    Best,


    Erik
     
    Last edited:
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    Hikari1

    Member
    2012-06-25 12:01 am
    Seattle
  • #7
    I had the 714v in a bigger room than that (open floor plan house, about 1500 sq feet with cathedral ceilings). It is what it is, basically a small monitor with a .5 way woofer to keep the sensitivity up. Bass was not its strong suit but I thought it was a good speaker, imaged real well. My biggest complaint was it did not like to get loud. It got harsh and shouty as the volume got cranked up.

    I now have KEF r700s (3 way, two 6" and a 5" mid) and the sound is much richer, deeper and more full. Definitely a better fit for the room.

    For diy kits have you looked at the meniscus audio web store? The finalist looks nice. Parts express used to have a Jeff bagby designed Morel tower kit for around a grand. It is called the solstice I think. And the Zaph zrt looks nice. Or monitors plus subs. Bagbys adelphos/kairos look like a great speaker to me.
     
    G

    guangui

    Member
    2013-02-12 12:21 pm
  • #8
    Shorty, are you looking for a kit to put together, looking for a proven design, or want to go thru the design, select, build, and enjoy your work process?

    1. Kit: Many Kits out there that are really good, just check Madisound, Meniscus, DIY Sound Group, among others.

    2. Plans/Proven Design: Also, a lot to choose from. Parts Express Speaker Project Gallery, Troels Gravesen, Homebuilt Hi-Fi, Lampizator (built his P-21 and probably the best floorstanding speaker I have heard yet), Open Baffle threads and others.

    3. Complete DIY Process: Lots of reading, lots of researching, lots of trials and errors, takes patience, but very rewarding. Also, you need to take into consideration if you need aesthetics, what's your max. footprint, and what is your power source.
     
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