I have to say there are some commercial designs that are really compelling. The Grimm caught my eye and it shows how DSP can take a system to the next level (and I love the HUGE roundovers). I think we already knew this but it serves as an example of what can be done. What did Atkinson say? Something like "best I have measured". I give that some weight, more than best I have heard. I also lust after the Orangutan, which shows how showcasing the cabinet as a beautiful object appeals to our eyes and ears. It is more than I would like to spend but seems doable for the DIYer and despite how I hate the hassles of gluing up a cabinet I always enjoy the process.
@Rogster - I am a big fan of wide baffle speakers. That and the heavy use of DSP and excellent off-axis measurements really do appeal to me. Not for $30K, but they do appeal. 🙂
Just a pricing comment in general. The prices of commercial components of all types have risen to the stratosphere over the last decade or so. While prices of speakers, in particular, seem to have risen in to orbit.
More for inspiration than as an excuse to DIY. Let's face it, it's fun and when you are done, even if it turns out to be a dog you still learn from it. If it works out well you have a win, win! Every "clone" I have built has been embellished in one way or another so I see them as a clones in concept but not copies.
Rob 🙂
Rob 🙂
No, and I'm starting to think that the price range (around € 1000,- per pair) where my builds have been, you can buy a comparable commercial system. Compare Wharfedale Linton vs. Visaton Nimrod.
wow! A Visaton B100 costs 123€ !
PS. Found a pair of Mordaunt Short MS 10...I guess they're from the nineties. Under the grille I found an inverted surround woofer and that surround is attached to the baffle...a seamless transition. Nothing I could do or want but...it's there! Much better than the Diamond series ( I guess...)
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I don't consider it a hobby unless it makes no sense financially.
Here is another twist for the thread. I had conceived of the Grim style of speakers ages ago. Of course I did nothing with my design, my wife wanted something narrower, but I think their solution is very logical and pretty easy to 'copy' for those of us into DIY. Mine had the tweeter on top and the cabinet was full to the floor
So, what do you do when someone else brings a similar idea to yours to market? I figure it wouldn't be any fun if I had customers.
I think the Reference WAW would be great with big rounded corners and DSP. It would be dead sexy in bubinga!
Well, I think many of us have thought about a fully active 3 way with full phase correction, but credit is due to Grimm for using negative space so effectively to make the speaker visually much smaller and yet wide baffle. I think that makes them very good performing "lifestyle" speakers. I'm doing my own 3-way active, and they will probably look like the monolith in the beginning of 2001 a Space Odyssey.
I am thinking about getting some used Mofi sourcepoint 10's just so I can compare them to my diy coaxial speakers.
I had that idea before you did🤣 Sorry. I actually wanted to make one using the dimensions or proportions given in the book, 1^2, 2^2, 3^2 or in feet 1 foot by 4 feet by 9 feet. If you reduce it down to living room size the depth becomes really shallow. So I gave up. Now there are many thin drivers that would make the monolith possible.
Edit: Also, my wife doesn't like wide speakers. 🙁
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I've used expensive speakers to partially justify a purchase of "commercial" items before. But then there's always that value question. I have tried many 2nd hand speakers as well as tinkered with DIY or retrofitting etc. I usually try to do something different with DIY
No, it does not happen to me. $5k for the parts you have in mind, already includes profits and everything for manufacturers and
state.
The whole point of being a DIYer is twofold, firstly receive satisfaction by producing something that works to your expectation and
secondly, save money on what you would normally have to pay if you chose someone else to do that for you, as with commercial
products.
Thirdly - to produce a loudspeaker (or whatever else) that you can't buy in terms of performance. That's what I've done, and I'm basically satisfied to move on to other areas,, such as the music itself.
One of the areas that I feel is dramatically under-examined is the low status of training one's hearing system. The loudspeakers that I most often see discussed on this subforum are direct radiating (low efficiency, high modulation distortion) types that most people have accommodated to their sound quality. To accept this sort of sound quality says that the "hobbyists" mentioned in this thread really don't care a lot about sound quality--rather it's something else that they are doing.
For me, loudspeakers should first be able to produce the sound qualities that can reproduce the input signal most realistically in-room. This is difficult, but I see many do not demand this sort of performance in order to justify what they typically do/build.
Chris
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Kind of, there's no way I could have afforded a 5 way horn system without DIY..
Wouldn't have had the fun or comeradery of this place otherwise.
My latest projects MEH / synergy horns are more reasonably priced but I would still want to customise and use the drivers I like, so...
Wouldn't have had the fun or comeradery of this place otherwise.
My latest projects MEH / synergy horns are more reasonably priced but I would still want to customise and use the drivers I like, so...
The new Klipsch LaScala AL-6 with active DSP Crossovers is $19K. My DIY 3-way horns were built for $3500, including amps and a DSP for $3500 and blow the AL-6 away in terms of frequency and phase response. While I didn't necessarily use the price of the new speakers to justify my build before hand, I did do an after the fact comparison in cost, if only to pat myself on the back.
@ArthurJackson I wish I had a dollar for every idea I had that someone else develops. Siri, are you listening? I bet if you build that in bubinga your wife may soften to the idea of a wide speaker, especially with HUGE round overs! I used some bubinga veneer to make my Sub/MTM and it is a beautiful wood.
No matter though, I enjoy the creativity of designing and building and commercial designs do stimulate my imagination.
@mordikai, a MoFi sourcepoint in an MLTL, that would be cool. Unfortunately the Satori Coax is almost $300 each. Yes, the hobby thing can get expensive. Sorry Porsche, you will have to wait.😢
No matter though, I enjoy the creativity of designing and building and commercial designs do stimulate my imagination.
@mordikai, a MoFi sourcepoint in an MLTL, that would be cool. Unfortunately the Satori Coax is almost $300 each. Yes, the hobby thing can get expensive. Sorry Porsche, you will have to wait.😢