Hi all,
Thanks for accepting me.
I have been into music all my life (no doubt ever since my mum discovered that placing me in a moses basket and plonking me on top of the 70's sideboard stereo with music playing stopped me crying without fail).
Now in my early 50's I have recently gone on a bit of an audiophile journey and started to build a relatively decent quality hi-fi. Coming to the realisation that a lot of retail speakers are massively over priced (with relatively poor crossovers and drivers in some cases) due to cabinetry costs and middle men etc. I have started looking into building my own speakers - I do a lot of joinery for work, have trade discounts on materials required and will really enjoy that aspect. I won't be going down the route of designing my own speakers, certainly not initially, but looking for advice on well respected designs with build plans that I can replicate which will suit my system and tastes. I have some experience with electronics and happy soldering but it doesn't go much further than that.
Ultimately I want to be able to build some speakers that sound as good as or better than anything I could ever afford, and no doubt experiment in modifying the external appearance or the cabinets without altering the internal measurements.
Thanks for accepting me.
I have been into music all my life (no doubt ever since my mum discovered that placing me in a moses basket and plonking me on top of the 70's sideboard stereo with music playing stopped me crying without fail).
Now in my early 50's I have recently gone on a bit of an audiophile journey and started to build a relatively decent quality hi-fi. Coming to the realisation that a lot of retail speakers are massively over priced (with relatively poor crossovers and drivers in some cases) due to cabinetry costs and middle men etc. I have started looking into building my own speakers - I do a lot of joinery for work, have trade discounts on materials required and will really enjoy that aspect. I won't be going down the route of designing my own speakers, certainly not initially, but looking for advice on well respected designs with build plans that I can replicate which will suit my system and tastes. I have some experience with electronics and happy soldering but it doesn't go much further than that.
Ultimately I want to be able to build some speakers that sound as good as or better than anything I could ever afford, and no doubt experiment in modifying the external appearance or the cabinets without altering the internal measurements.
Welcome from North Devon - Uz be plaised to zee E!
Yes, commercial speakers can be outrageously priced, the drivers in the box usually representing about 10% of the final selling price...
You can imagine the quality of drive units one can buy when we can make the DIY boxes cheaply!
Anything SEAS is going to be good, if not the cheapest; what kind of budget do you have in mind? Enclosure building has some basic rules and a bit of black magic, so I would suggest a known design as a first step into speaker building.
These few should whet your appetite - The first two I originally used in the '70s for my first builds!
Falcon acoustics
Wilmslow
German supplier
Yes, commercial speakers can be outrageously priced, the drivers in the box usually representing about 10% of the final selling price...
You can imagine the quality of drive units one can buy when we can make the DIY boxes cheaply!
Anything SEAS is going to be good, if not the cheapest; what kind of budget do you have in mind? Enclosure building has some basic rules and a bit of black magic, so I would suggest a known design as a first step into speaker building.
These few should whet your appetite - The first two I originally used in the '70s for my first builds!
Falcon acoustics
Wilmslow
German supplier
Some, but the realities of getting a speaker into a high street store has lots of costs a diyer does not have to deal with. Wages, rent, books, boxes, other business expenses. Then the go to a distributor more business expenses and hopefully a profit, and then on to the retailer (also a business). In most cases (except the high end) the price is not outrageous, just the reality of retail.
One of our best designers is in Yorkshire.
dave
Poor wording on my part. I was trying to make a comparison of driver cost to overall cost for DIYers' creations compared with those in commercial manufacturing, and which puts us in an enviable situation where time and overheads rarely have to be taken into account.
Thank you all, and @MrKlinky - thank you for those suggestions; I am familiar with Falcon and Wilmslow Audio already, but wasn't aware of SEAS and their kits look just like what I'm looking for - high quality drivers and basic plans to build the cabinet. The details on the crossover and identifying the parts are a little thin for my knowledge so will no doubt need help with that aspect.
I am already interested in the Acuity, Delling and Thor kits. The drivers for one speaker for the Delling are circa £1k so they're end game speakers for me and the kind of thing I'm looking to build.
Has anyone on here built any of the SEAS kits? Will have to start a separate thread.
I am already interested in the Acuity, Delling and Thor kits. The drivers for one speaker for the Delling are circa £1k so they're end game speakers for me and the kind of thing I'm looking to build.
Has anyone on here built any of the SEAS kits? Will have to start a separate thread.
I built the SEAS Odin which are very, very good, and remain the best-sounding hifi speakers I have built to date. They remind me a little of the BBC LS3/5A monitors, but possess better bass and are a little brighter in the HF. I suspect the Thor is much like the Odin on steroids. I still prefer the sound of my 'hifi' 25kW PA for sheer adrenalin though...
Please feel free to PM me if you think I can help with anything. (I cut my electroacoustics teeth in places like Westminster Abbey, Earl's Court, and The Royal Festival Hall). Carl.
Please feel free to PM me if you think I can help with anything. (I cut my electroacoustics teeth in places like Westminster Abbey, Earl's Court, and The Royal Festival Hall). Carl.
I really don't know - I bought the component kit and followed the circuit diagrams. Be aware that the SEAS magnesium cone drivers require a couple of components to be soldered directly across the driver terminals to help tame the significant cone breakup outside their passband.
Yes, the Odins have high WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) and have better - and very clean - bass extension than you would expect from the size. Hide a sub somewhere and they're really cooking!
I found that they do like quite high stands though unless your listening 'chair' is a beanbag...
Passive crossovers are a finicky and complex beast to get right - leave this critical design work to the experts. There is no 'One size fits all'!
Yes, the Odins have high WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) and have better - and very clean - bass extension than you would expect from the size. Hide a sub somewhere and they're really cooking!
I found that they do like quite high stands though unless your listening 'chair' is a beanbag...
Passive crossovers are a finicky and complex beast to get right - leave this critical design work to the experts. There is no 'One size fits all'!
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Sorry I don't; I bought the drivers wholesale for about £400 and I'm sure the crossover fits came from Falcon. I understand that the Odin has been updated from my model for which I have the circuit diagrams, however the components should be simple enough to source, and just wire them up point-to-point on breadboard with tinned copper wire.
Prototyping breadboard
Prototyping breadboard
If you look at the Thor, note that Joe blew the cabinet design, and they don’t go very low. A long thread here with some revisions.
dave
Given your music tastes stated in your new post, much of what I recommended is useless...