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thinking about Building my own speakers,,,

post #1 of 22
3/13/05 at 9:16pm
Thread Starter 
I am just not happy with any store bought stuff, so how fun and fun is it to build your own?

anyone try this before?
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post #2 of 22
3/13/05 at 9:21pm
Building cabinets suck. It takes a special kind of person to build a good cabinet. But if you'll settle for a crappy cabinet, go for it. The results in sound are worth it.
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post #3 of 22
3/13/05 at 9:25pm
Thread Starter 
basicly I have what I want in my head...

I want a small floorstander about the height of my hip, has to be front firing port!
maybe two 5-6' drivers and a tweeter...

I dont care about the looks really, besides if they sound good then I can redo the cab for them later.

My worry is the cross over and how to build the rite size cab and port for them...
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post #4 of 22
3/13/05 at 9:30pm
You may consider looking into North Creek; they have an excellent reputation (i.e. I haven't heard them, I'm relying on the reputation at this point) and they offer detailed plans for building their speakers. You can buy the drivers and crossovers from them as well - rather than trying to build your own xover. Of course, if you are a better electrician than a woodworker, you may consider doing it the other way around (but I dunno who sells cabinets without components). Anyway, I'm sure there are other DIY companies around.... just a suggestion.
http://www.northcreekmusic.com/
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post #5 of 22
3/13/05 at 9:54pm
This what you're thinking about? Rear firing port though. However, I think you'll find that most diy speakers have rear firing ports for sonic reasons.

http://gr-research.com/performer/av3.htm

Northcreek has a special right now on a mtm tower but it's also rear ported.

Here's another tower design from a xover designer of great acclaim: http://murphyblaster.com/content.php...ifa_Tower.html
It's also rear ported.

If you're thinking about designing your own, fuggedabout it Well, you could, but it would take A LOT of studying and measurement equipment and software that would cost many times more than the speakers.
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post #6 of 22
3/13/05 at 11:44pm
I built the vifa tower that ooheadsoo posted. I love them. Great full range speakers. They are very neutral and work with all types of music. I don't enjoy my hd580 as much now. Cabinets could be a pain, but if you have good tools it's pretty easy.

If you are building the cabinets yourself, you could put the port where ever you want. There's nothing that you have to change in the original design.

Here's a link to why you might want rear ported (it's by david ellis who makes the 1801b, xover designed by dennis murphy):
http://www.ellisaudio.com/porthole.htm

The vifa towers will be taller than you specified. I'm not sure if there's something at the height you want. Towers are typically at least a foot taller and the biggest bookshelf if about a foot shorter than that. However, as long as you keep the same volume as the design you might be okay (you might have to worry about diffraction and standing wave problems with different dimensions).

I second all the ones that have been mentioned and I would add the kits at www.gr-research.com (they sell the cabinets too if you don't want to or can't build them yourself) and the eros II over at speakerbuilder.net
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post #7 of 22
3/14/05 at 12:00am
The eros II is pretty expensive. Perhaps a budget should be specified.

The phase of the air moving in and out of the port needs to be considered, at least a little, no? The Ellis article is good.
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post #8 of 22
3/14/05 at 12:39am
You may check here or here for some good kits...
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post #9 of 22
3/14/05 at 3:49am
I built my own speakers around an expensive full-range driver. As people have stated, the cabinet is the hard part.
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post #10 of 22
3/14/05 at 4:12am
Now, in your case, that is an understatement!
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post #11 of 22
3/14/05 at 4:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ooheadsoo
Now, in your case, that is an understatement!


explain?
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post #12 of 22
3/14/05 at 4:45am
speakers with just one full range driver have no crossover for you to solder. You just build the cabinet and plop the driver in.
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post #13 of 22
3/14/05 at 1:23pm
Actually some people put notch filters and bsc, but very simple compared to the cabs which some could be extreeemly complicated like tl's and horn designs. Look at these (http://www.passdiy.com/images/projects/kleinhorn.jpg) by Nelson Pass, of Pass Labs.
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post #14 of 22
3/14/05 at 1:43pm
The cabinet is the toughest part to make, it's true..

But the heart of the speaker is the crossover. This is what separates the boys from men and goodness from greatness. It's an art form that just takes time.

If I were to build new speakers right now, I would pick a cabine design I could make, then dump the internal crossover. Pick up a good 2 or 3 way active crossover (depending on whether speaker is 2-way or 3-way) and go completely active. There are quite a few reasonably-priced, good active crossovers out there these days...
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post #15 of 22
3/14/05 at 11:00pm
Any suggestions for active crossovers? I took a look, tried to find reviews, but it was a no go and I have no idea what I should be looking for, no less what constitutes a high quality active crossover.
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