[Aman]

As the title says, I am looking to purchase a pair of monitors for 500 bucks at the most. I have an amp to drive them, and it can drive just about anything.

The speaker must have a midrange driver, tweeter, and bass. That is the only actual requirement.

I have some ideas, such as the Axiom M22ti, and the PSB 2b. Any other good recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

Andrew

 

[ooheadsoo]

Is diy in the picture?

 

[Asterix]

If your looking for speakers (a monitor is a speaker right?) then I would recommend used Vandersteen 2ce's. I have used the 1c's for 7+ years and I love them for their warm, rich, natural, musical sound. And I have auditioned the 2ce's and they are way better (with the right amp!)

 

[Asmo]

Another props for the Vandersteen's, but you need to pair them with the right amp i've heard that said many times also.

Also check out Paradigm, you can get monitor serieis version 3's soon cheap, because the new version 4s just came out.

 

[Aman]

I have never done a DIY before, so if I were to get one it has to be easy.

I will have to check out the Vandersteens. I have an Adcom GFA-5400 amp - will that do?

Thanks guys!
Andrew

 

[ampgalore]

NHT SB3

 

[Aman]

Those Vandersteens appear to have really high marks, but they're a bit above my price range.

On audiogon they have one on sale for one hundred above my price range, and they don't have one at all on ebay.

I will check it out though. As most say, you have to be patient when in the used market.

 

[AndrewB]

If you can find them; Vergence A-20 powered monitiors

woooweee, sound good

 

[Aman]

Wow.

Those Vandersteens are way too inefficient for me. The amp isn't THAT good, and they're qutie huge.

I don't need full range sound because I listen to mostly classic rock music. That requires a good strong mid range and good highs, and some good bass if you're talking about Pink Floyd (my favorite band) - if I were a classical fan I think I'd jump on those right away, but Stereophile appears to have LOVED the NHT SB-3 speakers mentioned by ampgalore, so I'm going to give those a test run

Thanks for all of the comments!

Andrew

 

[fyleow]

I thought the NHT SB 3s are $600/pair.

I was looking at the Paradigm Image 20 used for about $500....seems like a good deal?

 

[tennisets]

If you have the requisite woodworking skills, I am confident you could build a pair of speakers. Though soldering a bunch of components together may seem a bit intimidating, it's actually pretty easy. As long as you can read a circuit diagram (or learn) you shouldn't have any trouble. If you make any mistakes, it takes about three seconds to desolder them and you can try again.

Here's a site you might be interested in with some good designs (ooheadsoo reccommended this to me, though I never built any of the speakers):

Dennis Murphy loudspeaker designs

I was intimidatd by the idea of building speakers when I was in the market, and now I wish I wasn't. Although I feel my Mission M71s are some of the best commercial speakers under $600, I can't help but think I might have gotten better for the same amount of money. Having now learned to solder (I shouldn't really say learned; it takes about ten minutes to learn how to get started), I strongly encourage you to go the DIY route. You will get a better speaker than you would have on the commercial market, and you will have the satisfaction of having built it yourself! I say go for it!


As an aside, I'm building a pair of fullrange TQWP (Tapered Quarter Wave Pipe) speakers this weekend using a pair of $10 fullrange drivers from RadioShack and spare wood I have in my basement. It should be fun! These will probably be relegated to TV duty downstairs as I really doubt they will sound as good as my Missions, but I'm really doing it as a fun little project anyway so it doesn't matter.

Btw, why do you want a three way speaker? The more crossover circuitry the harder it is to end up with a good speaker IMO, and I also don't think you really need three drivers to get fullrange sound. You actually don't necessarily need more than one driver to get from around 35 hz or so all the way up to 20 khz. See this design, for instance. I, personally, love the fullrange sound. No crossover = smoother sound (in general)! Fullrangers also have phenomenal imaging and soundstaging abilities.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Woohoo! Welcome to Team DIY Someone Else's Design!