In my books yes, even if you assemble a kit, it's DIY. 🙂
And that is probably an easy way to get into this hobby.
And that is probably an easy way to get into this hobby.
True, as a kid I used to buy loads of kits that were available from advertisers in Practical Electronics and Practical Wireless magazine, you had to wait for ever for them to arrive. 🙂
For those of us who have built single driver speakers with wide-band drivers - should we all call ourselves DIY carpenters? 😀
You've been in the game for a long time!
Alas, now people want more instant gratification...🙄
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Absolutely it is. DIY stands for Do It Yourself, which means building it. It does not mean Design It Yourself. Some people are capable of doing the design as well as the build, but that's not a necessary requirement to be a DIYer.
And some people go through a progression from building someone else's designs to eventually being able to do their own.
We are fortunate to have some expert speaker designers who are wiling to share their creations with others. Sometimes they receive a modest fee for their contribution, and sometime they offer it for free. Either way the DIYer benefits from being able to build a speaker with performance characteristics that match and often exceed those of commercial products costing many time more than the price of the basic components.
Carpentry and woodworking are two entirely different things. I consider myself a reasonably well accomplished woodworker, but not a carpenter at all. I can build a pretty nice cabinet, or table, or speaker enclosure. But wouldn't even know where to start with a room addition.
OT personal bickering deleted. If if continues you will find yourselves in mute mode for a few days.This thread started out in the first post talking about some of Danny Ritchie and Siegfried Linkwitz designs that are Open Baffle. Like most discussions here there have been many detours from the original subject and consequently a lot of discussion about box speakers instead of OBs.
So in the interest of returning to the original topic and still maintaining a DIY aspect I want to point out a popular OB design that can made at a very affordable cost. Typically under $400. I’m referring to the Manzanita design by John Busch which has consistently earned great reviews by those who have built it. An extensive thread on it can be found here on this forum.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/110583-fast-fun-inexpensive-ob-project-250.html#post6507949
I suggest that anyone interested in knowing how OB will work for them consider this rather inexpensive build to find out. That’s my plan.
So in the interest of returning to the original topic and still maintaining a DIY aspect I want to point out a popular OB design that can made at a very affordable cost. Typically under $400. I’m referring to the Manzanita design by John Busch which has consistently earned great reviews by those who have built it. An extensive thread on it can be found here on this forum.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/110583-fast-fun-inexpensive-ob-project-250.html#post6507949
I suggest that anyone interested in knowing how OB will work for them consider this rather inexpensive build to find out. That’s my plan.
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not to repeat in re: to my experience with OB design:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/110583-fast-fun-inexpensive-ob-project-255.html#post6565433
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/110583-fast-fun-inexpensive-ob-project-255.html#post6565433
The definition of DIY seems quite arbitrary. Some might consider going to a shop and buying a pair of speakers and bring them home and wiring and setting them up all on your own DIY as opposed to having someone else doing all that for you. What I'm saying is in my view it's perfectly valid for someone to suggest ready made speakers on a DIY forum, in fact, it happens all the time.
-particularly because with commercial designs you can/(should) be able to actually listen to them first. That's rather critical for someone like Edgar77, who really hasn't seemed to have formulated any opinion.
To me though the biggest factor (at least generally) is each person's time - and DIY can be a monumental time-sink. (..and likely to many: not a fun pursuit.)
Still, you could pay to have someone else build a DIY design for you - but not to many people that can do that (all of it) competently (or particularly: really well), and value (cost/performance vs commercial designs) can "evaporate" quickly with the costs associated to fully build and finish that diy-design. Still, I've also suggested/recommended that as well.
To me though the biggest factor (at least generally) is each person's time - and DIY can be a monumental time-sink. (..and likely to many: not a fun pursuit.)
Still, you could pay to have someone else build a DIY design for you - but not to many people that can do that (all of it) competently (or particularly: really well), and value (cost/performance vs commercial designs) can "evaporate" quickly with the costs associated to fully build and finish that diy-design. Still, I've also suggested/recommended that as well.
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I have to say +1 on ScottG's emphasis on one's time investment:
Commonly one banks a certain amount of time but there are always unforeseen complications, (unless it is a well documented kit build). I can remember more than one occasion when DIY stopped feeling like fun and felt more like a must do chore (usually to complete something already started, to fix something that did not go right the first time, or to implement an afterthought).
e.g. a simple change in direction like going from wallpaper to veneer finish on my OBs already finished with all driver holes and round-edge cutouts for dispersion and a slightly recessed front between mahogany inserts for profiled edges turned into a major hassle. Or making a magnet support for the 15inch driver and installing it so that the driver fits into the baffle perfectly but does not load it with weight turns into MANY hours of design and labor. So you can imagine how I felt when they eventually ended up relegated to the garage 🙁🙂
Kick@#! winged OBs for pick up in Ontario
Speaker design work with measurements outside in super early morning hours to have light traffic background noise, and then wind rustling leaves, dogs barking or birds making noise on measurements is a colossal waste of time. That is why someone complaining about some trivial fee for plans to a speaker design really gets me going:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/367299-rate-plans-compared-dear-lx-mini-14.html#post6526962
Commonly one banks a certain amount of time but there are always unforeseen complications, (unless it is a well documented kit build). I can remember more than one occasion when DIY stopped feeling like fun and felt more like a must do chore (usually to complete something already started, to fix something that did not go right the first time, or to implement an afterthought).
e.g. a simple change in direction like going from wallpaper to veneer finish on my OBs already finished with all driver holes and round-edge cutouts for dispersion and a slightly recessed front between mahogany inserts for profiled edges turned into a major hassle. Or making a magnet support for the 15inch driver and installing it so that the driver fits into the baffle perfectly but does not load it with weight turns into MANY hours of design and labor. So you can imagine how I felt when they eventually ended up relegated to the garage 🙁🙂
Kick@#! winged OBs for pick up in Ontario
Speaker design work with measurements outside in super early morning hours to have light traffic background noise, and then wind rustling leaves, dogs barking or birds making noise on measurements is a colossal waste of time. That is why someone complaining about some trivial fee for plans to a speaker design really gets me going:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/367299-rate-plans-compared-dear-lx-mini-14.html#post6526962
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I couldn't disagree with you more. There is nothing arbitrary about the definition of DIY on this forum. It simply means building the speakers yourself, regardless of who did the design. I don't think there is any ambiguity whatsoever.
You are right that ready made speakers are discussed here on occasion. Whether that is appropriate or not is somewhat debatable. But when a member redirects a newbie who wants to try DIY into buying a commercial product instead, I think it is wrong and contrary to the purpose of this forum.
Yeah. When you can glue and screw something together yourself and thereby eliminate the labor cost, overhead costs, and profit margins of the manufacturer, plus the transportation costs and profits for the wholesaler and retailer, while getting performance equal to or greater than a comparable commercial product - it IS a Big Deal. By about a 10 to 1 price ratio.
And then doing soldering, clamping, stuffing, mounting, filling, sanding, painting, measuring etc...
Sounds like DIY!
Sounds like DIY!
My advise to anybody starting with DIY speakers is to bring in some way of EQ. Either using a PC or by using DSP (based) solutions. This way, the chance that the system will become well listenable with a wide range of music becomes larger. Though I understand not everybody will agree with this standpoint and not everything can be fixed with EQ. And achieving flat response (or the preferred target curve) by proper system matching and acoustical design is preferred. But being able to remove nuisances (big dips and especially peaks) and improve balance between low, mid and high sections is a huge plus...