advertisement


Diy Speakers

calum swanson

calum swanson

Active Member
I've just finished reading the building Tannoys thread and realised that i know nothing, as most of it went over my head.
I would like to have a go at building a pair of floorstanders for a 4 x 6 x 2.4m sized room in which i'm presently using Q Acoustic 3050's which i really like, and i'm pretty handy wih the hammer and nails as well as a soldeing iron.
So how realistic is it to think that £300/400 could be outlayed on a kit or components that would get me floorstanders superior to what i'm using, and any suggestions on where to buy the kit or parts would be appreciated or should forget it.
 
Thanks Andy. Have you built any of the sites offerings particularly the transmission line models which look interesting.
 
300-400 is probably the minimum you will need. The crossover components will be at least half the costs of the drivers.

I suggest you look at the following sites:

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Loudspeaker_Projects.htm#PAGE_INDEX

A massive choice ranging from tiny to huge.

A lots of Troels older designs have all the information about the crossover part values. People started copying his designs and selling them commercially so he changed to not publishing the crossover component values.

Similarly Tony Gee has a diy build website.
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/

If you look in the project archive you can find lots of interesting projects. I bought the pair of "tempo two" speakers he built from him last year and they really are very good.

Choose a kit where the designer has had lots of experience. Designing crossovers is probably 50% using computer simulation to get you started and 50% optimisation based on experience. If you read the Stirling Audio LS3/5a posts you will realise that people like Derek Hughes are very talented.
 
I built a pair of IPL transmission line speakers a while back.

Ivan was very helpful, the kit was excellent, the result very satisfying. Not cheap but good value.
 
I have built IPL transmission lines, S2tlk, and like them greatly.
I have only seen positive feedback for IPL products.
There are a few PFM members with Ivan’s speakers so if you ask I’m sure somebody not too far from you will let you listen to some.
The only comment I would make is to build the crossover separately and wire it as near to the amplifier as you can: it will sound better.
Cheers Andy.
 
I have a pair of ipl stl5 speakers best value for your hard earned cash m8 ? Transmission mission line speakers you cant beat um m8 ? If you live near wigan you are welcome to come to my house to listen to them
 
Fantastic response people and great advice there to digest. Many thanks, and James i'm also handy with the powersaw which should surely be useful.:eek:
 
The 3050 is a well-received speaker so I'd think you'd have a tough time building something better for the sort of money your talking about. Besides, it's more than likely that whatever you build is going to sound very different than what you are currently enjoying listening to, so there's no guarantee you'll like the sound of it even if it does offer superior technical performance (and that's a big 'if' IMO!).
 
+1.
And you won't know what it sounds like until you've finished it.
I've had both good and bad experiences with home built speakers in the (distant) past.
If you don't like it, or when you come to upgrade, your home made speakers will be worth peanuts!
 
Very good points ToTo Man and peterm. I was thinking maybe a visit to their premises would be a good idea if they were in the North of England, but Devon is just too much of a trek from the Outer Hebrides.
 
Having re-read my post above I didn't mean to be such a kill-joy, I just wanted to bring attention to the potential pitfalls so that if you do go down the DIY route you do so with both eyes open. DIY builds can be very enriching, serving as a learning curve and providing a rewarding sense of accomplishment upon completion. Just don't set your initial expectations too high otherwise the sense of accomplishment may become a feeling of disappointment, which is exactly what my first DIY-speaker build ended up being despite seemingly following the build instructions to the letter. A few years later I was in a much better position to undertake a such a project, not least because I now had basic measurement equipment I could use to diagnose problems effectively instead of having to rely solely on my ears to tell me where I may have gone wrong!...
 
Hi,
I am surprised that no one has mentioned Wilmslow Audio :
https://www.wilmslowaudio.co.uk/floor-standing-loudspeakers-8-c.asp

I think too many hifi enthusiasts are fussy - each speaker will have its own sound based on its design, but in general, every kit will sound excellent. Ported design will be different to a sealed enclosure, and will be different to a transmission line.

What DIY shows you is that vast amounts of money can be saved by yourself from otherwise purchasing commercial speakers. A few months ago, someone wrote that they were annoyed that their expensive speaker used a £25 tweeter.

Purchasing a kit will mean a lot of the hard work has been done for you.

There used to be very low cost floor standing speakers from World Designs - but they seem to only focus on amplifiers (tube), phono stages and preamps.
http://www.world-designs.co.uk/products.htm

They have an archive CD-ROM, so the speaker builds may be on that - you could ask via their forum, or contact them direct.

Regards,
Shadders.
 
No body has mentioned my full range speaker kits over at KJF audio, so I'll give them a shameless plug. They are very popular and because you don't have multiple drivers and crossover parts, the money goes into a really decent driver and birch ply cabinet.

www.kjfaudio.com
 
calum swanson said:
So how realistic is it to think that £300/400 could be outlayed on a kit or components that would get me floorstanders superior to what i'm using, and any suggestions on where to buy the kit or parts would be appreciated or should forget it.
Click to expand...
The answer rests with what you value in a speaker and hence what superior means to you. For example, there are a couple of neighbouring threads on an LS3/5A clone and a Tannoy clone neither of which would be considered superior designs by many but they are by some. Technical performance and engineering quality in a conventional sense are reasonably open to independent objective assessment by those with the relevant knowledge but their importance varies significantly from person to person.

Having said that, if we assume superior in the narrow sense of technical performance for a given cost then the answer is probably no at the budget end. The reason is that regardless of design capabilities a DIYer likely wont be able to buy the parts for the price asked for a mass produced competently designed budget speaker. If you want superior technical performance for the price compared to well designed speakers you will likely have to look at more expensive higher performance speakers that are manufactured in much smaller quantities. The problem then becomes matching the higher design and engineering quality of commercial offerings as a hobbyist designing and building by hand in a garage. It can be done because speakers are low tech products but it tends to require committing significant time and effort to get to a position to do so. First designs and builds are rarely looked back on as highly successful by DIY speaker hobbyists.
 
h.g. said:
The answer rests with what you value in a speaker and hence what superior means to you. For example, there are a couple of neighbouring threads on an LS3/5A clone and a Tannoy clone neither of which would be considered superior designs by many but they are by some. Technical performance and engineering quality in a conventional sense are reasonably open to independent objective assessment by those with the relevant knowledge but their importance varies significantly from person to person.

Having said that, if we assume superior in the narrow sense of technical performance for a given cost then the answer is probably no at the budget end. The reason is that regardless of design capabilities a DIYer likely wont be able to buy the parts for the price asked for a mass produced competently designed budget speaker. If you want superior technical performance for the price compared to well designed speakers you will likely have to look at more expensive higher performance speakers that are manufactured in much smaller quantities. The problem then becomes matching the higher design and engineering quality of commercial offerings as a hobbyist designing and building by hand in a garage. It can be done because speakers are low tech products but it tends to require committing significant time and effort to get to a position to do so. First designs and builds are rarely looked back on as highly successful by DIY speaker hobbyists.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your relpy which makes a lot of sense in my case as you point out coming in from the lower end of the DIY route.
 
I've built some of these - really like them and the drivers have an excellent price/performance ratio.

https://www.sbacoustics.com/index.php/kits/sb-acoustics-kits/arya/

When I set out building DIY kits I often looked for drivers that were used in more then one design so if I wanted to changes things later I could re-use the drivers with a different crossover.

I've built a few Troels designs and they are often at the pricier end of things.

Zaph Audio is worth checking out - Zaph's own ZA14 driver is another driver that offers excellent price/performance ratio.
I've built the ZD5 and the ZA5.2
http://zaphaudio.com/
http://zaphaudio.com/ZA5/

This is also a good site for a browse - I built the Classic Two M5 speakers.
http://www.audioexcite.com/

I've always thought Wilmslow Audio too expensive for drivers/components and I use Falcon Acoustics.
https://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/

Kits from the states can be worth a look too. I bought the ZA14 drivers from Madisound.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/speaker-kits/

I treat it as a hobby and if something doesn't float my boat once it's built then I'll break it down reuse what I can and move on.

I've built a fair few things - I think I may have a problem...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top