DIY speaker recommendation: high WAF, full range, under $1.5K

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Lots of two way speakers would do really well for you, I think. And you'd still have room to place some soffit traps int he corners. :) Win-win.

For instance, you could have the Klang-Tong 2-way done as a floor stander by Lee Taylor. Outrageously good bass! Ask him, or ask me. :) I did a Revelator version of the same case for an AMT. As he explained, there is more than enough bass there for music. I would imagine the Illuminator is better, but haven't heard it. One thing, these pictures don't do the size of the cabinets justice. They're pretty big so I'd suggest you consider them as floor-standers instead of bookshelves, but up to you. Take a look through his page on kits, he lots of very nice looking examples there. Super nice and knowledgeable.

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Fabulously beautiful casework, and top-of-the-line kit. I had him do speakers with black fronts instead of sides. This is a terrible picture of his work, below.

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Looked at this Website: can't fully understand the frequency response plots. First many of them starts at 100Hz or so, what about lower frequences? Second, if plots do go below 100 Hz, the bass response quickly goes down below 50 or so Hz.

I saw some TriTrix (?) kits at PArtsexpress and some user complained about boomy bass.

That's because the FR plots are trying to show you things of interest (what the crossover does and driver integration) rather than something arbitrary like the bass extension.

This is an RS225 8" bass unit in a decent sized ported enclosure. You're going to get bass down into the mid 30s.
 
...Found Paul Carmody's Sunflower redux design that should fit in the price range and cabinets looks great. Do you think Sunflowers produce bass that is deep enough? What other DIY designs should I consider?...

Just to answer your question about the Sunflowers; I just built a pair. I haven't done anything with veneer or finish yet. I'm very satisfied with the bass. No need for a sub. They turned out to be great sounding speakers (no surprise, Paul's a great designer!). The build wasn't exactly simple, but if you can find someone to build them for you, you won't be disappointed.
Too bad you're not closer. You could audition them and we could talk about building a pair for you.
Mike
 

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Nice job Mike. I am impressed: a speaker builder who actually does what he says he will do. The OB bass a whole new world isn't it? Have you tried the Jolida on them?

Dave in Ft. Collins

Hi Dave. Thanks! I built them, but now I need to decide on a finish and actually do it.
I am running them with my Jolida. My Marantz didn't have enough ooomph. It would go into protection when the bass got a little heavy. Definitely not like the older Marantz equipment. The Jolida paired with these guys really sing. The open baffle definitely adds another aspect to them. If you're in town again, you should stop by so you can hear them.
Mike
 
exactly how would a newbie veneer this ?

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Veneer the wood portion of top panel, perhaps and a new grille "sock" and top insert .


5th: no doubt any of Curt's, Paul Cormody's, Madisounds, or Troel's designs could hit the sonic target, but he needs to find a local builder, which would at least double many budgets


Take them out of that frame and veneer the boxes the drivers are in.
 
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Too bad, I really can't move speakers more that 2 feet into the room.

Regarding low WAF of the OB speakers: my wife liked them. She probably didn't look at their backs but I don't expected them to be seen. OTOH if one moves Sunflowers 3-4' into the room, the open back is seen well and WAF suffers.

Kotofei I just read the org. post. If you have only 2' behind the speakers OB perhaps is not for you. 3-4' is more like it.

Very few people consider OB is have a high spouse factor.
 
If one sawed off all the extraneous bits there to hang the socks you'd have a much smaller speaker. Veneer or finish the bottom trapezoid, and put a sock over the rest.

dave

That thing came to my mind a couple of times especially after looking at a a picture of Vandys with socks off. Indeed, speaker components are significantly smaller than a sock-covered frame...

HOWEVER, it was probably a reason why Richard Vandersteen designed a decorative frame with the sock four inches or so bigger than the speaker components. And I'm afraid if I'll veneer the bottom part and especially put a sock over the top part with the new frame that holds it I'll change some speaker parameters and sound to the worst.

(Re: Vandersteen speakers): Take them out of that frame and veneer the boxes the drivers are in.

The above concern applies here. But even if I'll do this the tweeter and driver will be open as well as that shiny metal part at the front. To cover it I'll need to design a grille or grilles and find a way to attach it somehow to the boxes.

Overall, since I have no experience in speaker design, I don't want to mess with Vandersteens.
 
I always figured it was because it is a dirt-cheap way to make a speaker look finished.

dave

It is that, and the actual cabinets can then be relatively ugly. It's also a way to solve the issue of how to hide the drivers without placing hard, diffractive grille mounting hardware close to the HF drivers. Vandersteen's approach moves the mounting rods far enough away that they are arguably less of an issue.

Bill
 
I've designed many speakers and really dislike large cabinets in my living space.

Consider a small high power sub or even two and a pair of small sealed two ways with natural roll off ~ 60 Hz. You'll be able to get outrageously good bass, tons of SPL, great sound and a very inconspicuous footprint.

The bagby speakers get recommended over and over because people are familiar with them but there are many excellent DIY designs out there, don't restrict your options. Look for something specifically designed for close wall mounting. If you choose something that's designed for out in the room and place it against the wall, it may have bloated 100 to 200 Hz response.

OTOH, if you can run an equalizer (eg if all your music is on a PC and use a PC player eq), you can largely get around this issue.
 
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