Selling DIY speakers

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I hope that this is not perceived by the Mods as advertising - I have been deliberately sketchy with the details, as I am looking for advice, rather than specifically a sale.

I have got to the stage where I have a very nice pair of speakers (a Troels Gravesen design) sitting in my living room, my next DIY speaker project steadily gathering parts, and my previous design taking up valuable space in the garage. Before I start cutting wood for the new project, I need to get the old pair out of the house. I would prefer them to go somewhere they are appreciated, and am certainly not looking to make a profit - something around what I paid for the drivers would satisfy me. I did put an ad in the Swap Meet section here, but that cycles through so quickly the post got lost within a day.

Although there isn't much material value in the speakers, I put a lot of investment in time and energy into the cabinets (and I am at least a little proud of my handiwork), so I would prefer the speakers to go intact to a good home, where they might form the basis of a new DIY project. At a pinch, I could break them up and put the drivers on Ebay or a DIY classifieds site, but I don't have the original packaging for the drivers.

Does anyone (most relevantly in this case in the UK) have experience selling their own designs? I think if I tried to sell my Troels speakers they would go very quickly, since he is a well-known designer, but these of course are an unknown quantity. I do have a couple of webpages documenting the build, with measurements.

Any suggestions welcome!

Alex
 
I'm curious to see what people have to say about this too since I intend to do similar diy sales sometime in the future. The best ideas I've had are listing the full build on platforms like ebay or Craigslist, and also on enthusiast communities like the swap meet forum here. Curious to see what other brilliant suggestions people here have though!
 
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Hi Alex,


All you need is a bigger garage :). My solution is more systems. So my old monitors became the kitchen system. As and when the main speakers get upgraded I will put my Apogees to use as the surround channel.



Just looked at the Ad and those are very nice looking speakers. Sadly selling DIY cabinets is hard although you might be lucky on ebay.
 
Hi Alex,
My solution is more systems. So my old monitors became the kitchen system. As and when the main speakers get upgraded I will put my Apogees to use as the surround channel.
.

Hi Bill,

There is already a system in the garage :) I didn't mention it because it consists of an old Marantz CDP and integrated from a charity shop with some cheap little Jamo shelf-mounted speakers - good enough for background listening when I am soldering, but not much more.

We had a guy in to fit a new bathroom at the beginning of this year, and he did ask my wife "why does your husband own so many speakers?". She didn't have the correct answer...

Alex
 
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Don't sell your existing speakers until the new ones are finished and you decide they sound better. Gotta have music while you build!

Troels speakers are well regarded and popular so it will sell if the price is right. His DTQWT-12 is the only speaker I ever sold to recover all my cash. I gave away two and trashed 20+.

Unfortunately, your craftsmanship has little value on resale, so consider that a donation. Set the price equal to the lowest current price available for all the materials. Then add 10% for negotiation. Just aim to get your cash back. I think that's the best you can do with any DIY project, and only the most popular fad projects will allow that.
 
Don't sell your existing speakers until the new ones are finished and you decide they sound better. Gotta have music while you build!

Troels speakers are well regarded and popular so it will sell if the price is right. His DTQWT-12 is the only speaker I ever sold to recover all my cash. I gave away two and trashed 20+.

Unfortunately, your craftsmanship has little value on resale, so consider that a donation. Set the price equal to the lowest current price available for all the materials. Then add 10% for negotiation. Just aim to get your cash back. I think that's the best you can do with any DIY project, and only the most popular fad projects will allow that.

The thing is that I own two good pairs of speakers, and the ones I want to move out are the ones I designed myself, not the Troels design.

No, I'm not looking for any reward for my craftsmanship - I'm not even bothered about recouping my investment. I just can't bring myself to get the sledgehammer out yet...

Alex
 
Recently I sold 5 pairs of my DIY speakers in 2-3 weeks by listing them in the free Classified Ads forum on Parts Express. I determined my asking prices as the cost of the drivers plus $100 to $200 more to cover some of the costs of everything else. My asking prices for these 5 pairs ranged from $400 to $750. I had no problem selling these, but I credit that to being realistic.
Paul

I'm curious to see what people have to say about this too since I intend to do similar diy sales sometime in the future. The best ideas I've had are listing the full build on platforms like ebay or Craigslist, and also on enthusiast communities like the swap meet forum here. Curious to see what other brilliant suggestions people here have though!
 
Ebay ...

or equivalent might be a good place to start. List them there and see what the bidding tells you. Don't forget shipping cost, you will need a rate estimate based on weight and size with distance to destination a variable.
WHG


I hope that this is not perceived by the Mods as advertising - I have been deliberately sketchy with the details, as I am looking for advice, rather than specifically a sale.

I have got to the stage where I have a very nice pair of speakers (a Troels Gravesen design) sitting in my living room, my next DIY speaker project steadily gathering parts, and my previous design taking up valuable space in the garage. Before I start cutting wood for the new project, I need to get the old pair out of the house. I would prefer them to go somewhere they are appreciated, and am certainly not looking to make a profit - something around what I paid for the drivers would satisfy me. I did put an ad in the Swap Meet section here, but that cycles through so quickly the post got lost within a day.

Although there isn't much material value in the speakers, I put a lot of investment in time and energy into the cabinets (and I am at least a little proud of my handiwork), so I would prefer the speakers to go intact to a good home, where they might form the basis of a new DIY project. At a pinch, I could break them up and put the drivers on Ebay or a DIY classifieds site, but I don't have the original packaging for the drivers.

Does anyone (most relevantly in this case in the UK) have experience selling their own designs? I think if I tried to sell my Troels speakers they would go very quickly, since he is a well-known designer, but these of course are an unknown quantity. I do have a couple of webpages documenting the build, with measurements.

Any suggestions welcome!

Alex
 
Can I jump in there and ask - what will the speakers on which the You-tube video tell you about the sound of the speakers, other than what they sound like on the speakers on which you’re listening to the You-Tube? Facetious, yes, but one of my personal pet peeves.

Was going to say the same thing myself but assumed people would realise that.

Just thought it would be an interesting way for people to view them and get more exposure. I noticed these speakers on pinkfish a while ago and thought they'd be a tough sell.
 
Selling DIY stuff is all about losing money which depends on your whereabouts but in general hardly anyone will be willing to compensate you for the driver and filter expense in full measure unless you provide them with a magnificiently looking enclosures for free or something in that sense. I have an opinion that one will benefit much more by giving away things as a gift to those who might appreciate it rather than asking money in return.
 
I fortunately have 5 kids to deposit my masterpieces, but some of them are just stacked in storages, a pair is at my mother's house, one at my work. Too hard to let them go.

For selling, easiest is to try to sell to friends, workmates, local fleamarket, grocery shop's info table, hifi happenings, national internet forum's market etc. Reasonable price, a brochure and ability to test them, free shipping to the door etc. help too.
 
In my opinion a diy-er should either give their stuff away or sell them at a reasonable cost. Reasonable cost isn't just combined price of parts used. Let me give you an example.

Friend of mine made an amplifier for himself. His friend came to his place and they listened some music. The guy was so excited about the sound that he persuaded my friend to go to his house and compare with his new Yamaha receiver. Amplifier made by my friend was much better than new Yamaha. So eventually guy asked my friend how much for the amplifier and my friend answered with a question - how much did Yamaha cost ? The guy said that it was a 1000 euros. My friend answered - well then the amplifier costs a 1000 euros. The guy was a bit surprised but then my friend explained - why would i sell something that sounds better for less money ?

My friend is a diy-er and doesn't make stuff with intention to sell, but to keep for himself. His work is out of love for diy but isn't free. Now, he makes amplifiers for which you can have a test chassis and just swap the insides to see what you want to keep and what not. So it is cheap.

Since i'm into making loudspeakers i do something similar but a bit more complicated. I always make test cabinets - usually out of recycled chipboard, so very cheap and make them presentable quite cheap (some putty, sanding and paint applied by roller). I buy new drivers at wholesale prices - friend has a firm so i can get them cheaper, luckily. If i don't like the sound of drivers i sell the drivers that are lightly used for slightly higher price than what i paid for them. That way they are about 30% cheaper than new, and i end up getting the cheap cabinets for free - so 0 euros loss. If i like the design that much then i invest in a nice cabinets and listen them at my house. If anyone comes to my home and likes them, he can buy them but not at the price of parts. I try to be realistic and look what is on the market that i consider similar and then i form a price. That being said, i only sold one pair of loudspeakers and gave away three pairs. Everything else i did, i haven't made the expensive cabinets so i sold the drivers and used the cabinets for various testing - some of them i still do. Until now this principle served me well so hifi stayed a hobby and not a bottomless hole for money. I never feel the urge to hype about some design if it isn't good just to sell it so that i wouldn't loose money. If i don't like them or they take too much space, i sell the drivers and i can toss the cabinets - or sell/give them. Kinda win-win situation :)
 
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Selling DIY equipment (without losing much money) is tough, unless you can sell it to people who are both:

1 - Interested in HiFi
2 - Are willing to buy something quite "unknown", but still pre-assembled.

...Which leaves us with a rather small segment of the market.

For instance, most of the "speaker guys" around here aren't likely to be too interested in paying the full price for a set of used drivers, especially when it isn't necessarily their chosen combination.

IMHO, any speakers being sold should come with as much information, and as many photos, as possible. Outdoor measurements on and off-axis, distortion at various drive levels, etc, are the sort of thing I'd look for before considering buying someone else's custom build.

You get the idea.
I check the usual auction site fairly often in search of used drivers - they can often be had for a bargain price, and that can make projects an awful lot cheaper!

Chris
 
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