The unspoken question is: What do you mean by DIY?
If you mean you want to choose drivers, design crossovers, determine needed cabinet volumes, and go from there, you may need to go through five or maybe 20 iterations before you end up with enough knowledge to make something better than you can buy at the equivalent parts cost. You will have spent many times what you initially wanted to, but you will have "bought" a bunch of poor-to-fair-to-good speakers, learned a log and have a good sense of accomplishment.
But if you want to make a kit (a "pre-designed" speaker, you order the drivers, crossover parts, and either order pre-cut cabinet parts or you make cabinets to stated dimensions) then absolutely yes, there are good kits out there using the driver brands you mentioned. Look on Parts Express and Madisound for speaker kits you can order, as well as other designs on dedicated speaker designers' sites such as Linkwitz Lab - Loudspeaker Design.
One of the many Canadian speaker companies spawned by the government anechoic facility in Ottawa. Same place Floyd Toole started out at.
I think the local hifi shop sells or used to sell them but i have never heard any of them.
dave
It doesn't make any sense for me to buy a pre-designed kit at Part Express or any other place. If I do it, it is the same that buying some B&W or Kef speakers I have owned or own now. I have owned many entry level speakers to be named here. I want something better than those without spending $3000 or $4000 for them. The only way is to built them by myself or if someone knows what design I should build that sound better than the average entry levels costing less than $1000, I am open to hear advice.
Frankly speaking, I agree with benb, it's going to be a long way for you to reach your destination, and in the middle, you'll spend a lot of time and money.
If you don't want to spend a few grands & don't have much time, why don't you ask planet10?
He is an expert and probably has his own store, so he can help you to choose a good pair without spending too much money. Shipping should be cheap as well as he is near you.
On the other hand, if you want to diy, depends on what kind of music you are listening to, you can cut your journey short by going the easy way first: buy a good pair of full range speakers and make a good enclosure. Full range is easier than multi-way systems, and your result may blow your mind. If I am not mistaken, Bernie's speakers that planet10 posted is full range.
If you don't want to spend a few grands & don't have much time, why don't you ask planet10?
He is an expert and probably has his own store, so he can help you to choose a good pair without spending too much money. Shipping should be cheap as well as he is near you.
On the other hand, if you want to diy, depends on what kind of music you are listening to, you can cut your journey short by going the easy way first: buy a good pair of full range speakers and make a good enclosure. Full range is easier than multi-way systems, and your result may blow your mind. If I am not mistaken, Bernie's speakers that planet10 posted is full range.
From my experiences, if you really want super quality sound, there is really no other ways other than buying high quality drivers such as from ScanSpeak top of the line stuffs. If you want to build, for example, a high quality ScanSpeak illuminator system, it will be $3K (including high quality xover components).
Long before i would have agreed with you but after having built using various high quality drivers and xover components, now I disagree with you.
Maybe if you made it clear what your design goal is then people could give more helpful comments. What are you priorities? Bookshelf speaker? Big planar speaker? Horn speaker? There are a lot of options and any one of them can be worthy if it meets your objectives. What have you heard that you really liked?
I don't think that what I am looking for is too complicated if I get help from this community. I want to build a DIY design that rival "hi-end speakers" but I have some requirements. It has to be a SEALED two way bookshelf (as small as possible) the bass driver must be 8" and the speaker impedance 8 ohms. The tweeter must be a 1" metal dome, preferably aluminum. I am open to accept 3/4" dome if recommended. I will respect the crossover the designer has tested and selected. The wood work will be done according to instructions by me or by a professional carpenter. I don't think my aspiration is unreachable. Since my $$$ is limited, I have been looking to the cheapest Peerless, Scanspeak, and Seas drivers. I am open to suggestions.! Let me explain it better, not to rival the most expensive hi-end speakers but be better than most of the entry level you find under $1000. Hope this give a better idea. By the way, I have been looking to some suggestion since I began to post but all of them use soft dome tweeters and I don't want them. Thanks for all.!
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A smaller diameter woofer might be more agile and deliver more detailed midrange.
Also the 8" inch will start earlier in the freq range to beam due to diameter and probably needs to be crossed over at a relatively low frequency.
This means the tweeter will have to play relatively low which will add distortion.
But this is all in theory.
YMMV.
As for me I would just put 2 Fane Sovereign 12-250TC into dense stuffed closed boxes (+ phase plugs when using no eq, preferably a rectangular baffle for a wide soundstage) and maybe add 2 woofers (in separate enclosures) if more low end is desired.
Also the 8" inch will start earlier in the freq range to beam due to diameter and probably needs to be crossed over at a relatively low frequency.
This means the tweeter will have to play relatively low which will add distortion.
But this is all in theory.
YMMV.
As for me I would just put 2 Fane Sovereign 12-250TC into dense stuffed closed boxes (+ phase plugs when using no eq, preferably a rectangular baffle for a wide soundstage) and maybe add 2 woofers (in separate enclosures) if more low end is desired.
Well,the two bass drivers are realy that: dedicated bass drivers. The Peerless
is constructed for subwoofer duty in vented enclosures. The Scan Speak also
shows its full potential in vented enclosures. Neither will function well in a
small closed cabinet.
Regarding the tweeters. On paper it looks like you can cross them over around 1,5kHz
but in reality i would not do that,because of rising THD levels.
Back to the original question, it is so broad that the correct answer is "it depends". But for the majority of cases the answer is no. Let me explain why.
A commercial speaker costing 500$/£/€ new has probably a production cost of 150$ including drivers, crossover and other hw, and cabinet. Other costs for the manufacturer are marketing, distribution and R&D. On top there is profit. A DYIer don't has all those costs, and profit is meaningless. So you can think that you could rival a 500$ brand speaker with a 150$ DIY one. Well, no. The main problem is that what a manufacturer pays for the HW is not what you and me will pay for the same exact HW, we will probably pay the double. So expect to compare a 500$ brand speaker to a 250-300$ diy good creation. And if you have to have the cabinets build by a professional, then the gap is even smaller or non-existent at all. The same apply if you have to buy the equipment needed to build and finish the cabinets.
The comparison apply to a competent designed DIY speaker, but in order to achieve that you have to invest some thousands of $ in the learning phase, or to build a speaker that someone more experienced has designed.
Less than 500$ new and the comparison is even more favorable to the brand. If you want to compare to a 1000$ brand speaker, the DIY approach can be slightly better than with the 500$ one, but usually you are also competing with a professional finish (veneer, piano lack).
So in the end, if you want to design your own, be prepared to spend much more than the brand route for an equivalent performance, or spend roughly the same for less performance. If you build a reputable design you can save something only if you have the equipment and build yourself the cabinets. If you really want to save money buy an used brand speakers, shopping carefully you can have them at half the new price. And the best thing is that if you don't like them you can resell them without losing money.
Having said that, with your constraints, the best option is the design someone already pointed to you (Suzie), it looks really a well designed speaker.
Ralf
A commercial speaker costing 500$/£/€ new has probably a production cost of 150$ including drivers, crossover and other hw, and cabinet. Other costs for the manufacturer are marketing, distribution and R&D. On top there is profit. A DYIer don't has all those costs, and profit is meaningless. So you can think that you could rival a 500$ brand speaker with a 150$ DIY one. Well, no. The main problem is that what a manufacturer pays for the HW is not what you and me will pay for the same exact HW, we will probably pay the double. So expect to compare a 500$ brand speaker to a 250-300$ diy good creation. And if you have to have the cabinets build by a professional, then the gap is even smaller or non-existent at all. The same apply if you have to buy the equipment needed to build and finish the cabinets.
The comparison apply to a competent designed DIY speaker, but in order to achieve that you have to invest some thousands of $ in the learning phase, or to build a speaker that someone more experienced has designed.
Less than 500$ new and the comparison is even more favorable to the brand. If you want to compare to a 1000$ brand speaker, the DIY approach can be slightly better than with the 500$ one, but usually you are also competing with a professional finish (veneer, piano lack).
So in the end, if you want to design your own, be prepared to spend much more than the brand route for an equivalent performance, or spend roughly the same for less performance. If you build a reputable design you can save something only if you have the equipment and build yourself the cabinets. If you really want to save money buy an used brand speakers, shopping carefully you can have them at half the new price. And the best thing is that if you don't like them you can resell them without losing money.
Having said that, with your constraints, the best option is the design someone already pointed to you (Suzie), it looks really a well designed speaker.
Ralf
I have seen many two way brand speakers using 8" woofers. I can consider a 7" woofer but honestly, I prefer the 8". I don't like speakers with a "boosted" mid frequency, example, many B&W. I prefer Monitor Audio (good mids to my taste but not dominants) The Suzie probably is a well designed speaker but don't use a metal dome tweeter. (correct me if I am wrong) The metal dome tweeter is something I am not able to change. Thanks for all.
I am open to listen but regarding to the tweeters, I haven't found any soft dome I like yet. I have listened to Sonus Faber, Tannoy, Mission, Dynaudio, etc. I don't like the sound of the soft domes I have listened to. So, I can not take the risk with them. A 7" mid/bass driver, I could accept it. The sealed design is something I want. I have lived with vented speakers all my life. I have listened some sealed designs that I liked a lot. One them was a set of Diatone speakers (Mitsubishi top line)
Ralf, first, I want to thank you for your time answering me and your advice. For me, this is a hobby. There is nothing that I like more than hi-fi audio. I really don't need speakers. I live with 3 sets of decent speakers now and have owned many. Think of 30 years buying and selling audio gear. Tannoy, Altec, PSB, Monitor Audio, B&W, Paradigm, Epos, JBL, Martin Logan, etc are part of those speaker brands I have owned during the years. I want to be involved building some speakers. Buy the parts, assembling them, building the enclosures or assembling these but not necessary designing the speakers myself. I want to find a design that I can say I want to build those. Let see if they show up, if not I quick this idea.
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