[Wodgy]

Your design looks great. The nice thing about DIY is that you'll likely end up with a much better sounding speaker than the Gallos (an underwhelming speaker, despite the price).

 

[MiChael.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Correct me if i'm wrong but dipoles have the bass drivers surrounding the tweeters not the tweeter on top so that everything appears to come from a co-herent point? Mind you I think that definition changes depending on how the theory of it is applied. How is your design dipole?

You sure you didn't mean d'appolito ?

 

[dcheming]

Selah Audio has a lot of nice kits: http://www.selahaudio.com/

 

[dcheming]

There's also the high performance "Ariel" from: http://www.nutshellhifi.com/Ariel.html

 

[ezkcdude]

For a first project, I do not recommend building anything other than a conventional 2-way box design. As for dimensions, use the "golden ratio" (with the width being the smallest dimension). Keep the crossover simple. I had mine designed by Madisound (using the LEAP software). Make sure to use bracing and remember, the heavier the box, the better. My speakers were made of 3/4" MDF and 1/4" plywood veneer. They are dense, and sound great. I'm still using them after 8 years. Unfortunately, some of the drivers I used are not readily available anymore, like the Focal inverted titanium dome tweeter and Audax aerogel woofers. You can still get Scan-Speak drivers, which I highly recommend. Stick with a simple design, use high-quality drivers, build a beastly box, and you will get great sound.

 

[Blooze]

May I suggest Pi Speakers for kits. They sell all the electronics for each speaker and then you build the cabinets. Wayne will email you the plans anytime to look at, just ask.
http://audioroundtable.com/PiSpeakers/

I have heard many of his designs through both SS amps, high power PP tube amps, and low power SET's. I personally run a 0.9W 12B4 SET into a pair of Pi Two Towers. It's plenty loud. If I put my NAD Bee amp into them it will knock things off the wall and the amp starts to turn on it's soft clip feature before the speakers distort.
http://www.pedalforroses.homestead.com/Speakers.html

Another thing, several on Wayne's forum are working on a low cost, entry level line array that is supposedly sounding very good. These will be able to be built for about $350/pr. I plan on trying them out.
http://audioroundtable.com/GroupBuild/

As mentioned above, Selah makes some fantastic designs. I've heard Jim Griffon's Array's through a digital xover and they are the best speakers I've ever encountered.
http://www.lonestaraudiofest.com/photos2.html
http://audioroundtable.com/ArraySpeakers/

 

[digitalmind]

Sorry for not responding earlier, kind of busy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcheming /img/forum/go_quote.gif Selah Audio has a lot of nice kits: http://www.selahaudio.com/

Nice! Especially the Tanzanite and Peridot have my attention. Thanks for the link.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcheming /img/forum/go_quote.gif There's also the high performance "Ariel" from: http://www.nutshellhifi.com/Ariel.html

Again, thanks for the link. I'll read through this one tonight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif For a first project, I do not recommend building anything other than a conventional 2-way box design. As for dimensions, use the "golden ratio" (with the width being the smallest dimension). Keep the crossover simple. I had mine designed by Madisound (using the LEAP software). Make sure to use bracing and remember, the heavier the box, the better. My speakers were made of 3/4" MDF and 1/4" plywood veneer. They are dense, and sound great. I'm still using them after 8 years. Unfortunately, some of the drivers I used are not readily available anymore, like the Focal inverted titanium dome tweeter and Audax aerogel woofers. You can still get Scan-Speak drivers, which I highly recommend. Stick with a simple design, use high-quality drivers, build a beastly box, and you will get great sound.

To be honest I'm thinking this is the best option aswell. Build a great proven design with some nice veneer, then spend enough time researching and building something more exotic. This way I'll have more experience when I start the big project, aswell as more information and knowledge about speaker building in general.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blooze /img/forum/go_quote.gif May I suggest Pi Speakers for kits. They sell all the electronics for each speaker and then you build the cabinets. Wayne will email you the plans anytime to look at, just ask. http://audioroundtable.com/PiSpeakers/ I have heard many of his designs through both SS amps, high power PP tube amps, and low power SET's. I personally run a 0.9W 12B4 SET into a pair of Pi Two Towers. It's plenty loud. If I put my NAD Bee amp into them it will knock things off the wall and the amp starts to turn on it's soft clip feature before the speakers distort. http://www.pedalforroses.homestead.com/Speakers.html Another thing, several on Wayne's forum are working on a low cost, entry level line array that is supposedly sounding very good. These will be able to be built for about $350/pr. I plan on trying them out. http://audioroundtable.com/GroupBuild/ As mentioned above, Selah makes some fantastic designs. I've heard Jim Griffon's Array's through a digital xover and they are the best speakers I've ever encountered. http://www.lonestaraudiofest.com/photos2.html http://audioroundtable.com/ArraySpeakers/

I'm posting this to remind myself to take a better look at your post tonight. Too much information at the moment, great links! Those line arrays look awesome for the cost!

 

[Chops]

Here was my very first, full-out stereo pair of loudspeakers. I was about 17 or 18 years old at the time.

They were built with .75" MDF, then .75" Birch plywood all the way around that. So ALL the sides are 1.50" thick! There are a total of three .75" thick MDF single piece crossbraces that attach all four sides to eachother with two "D" shaped holes cut in them to allow airflow throughout the cabinet. The midrange driver at the top is in its own sealed airspace, blocked off with another piece of .75" MDF. Each speaker weighs roughly 90lbs due to all the wood and braces.

The enclosure is almost 3cu.ft. and tuned to about 22Hz via a 3" x 11" heavy PVC port which I molded into the MDF (you can barely see the 1.50" thickness of the baffle inside the port). The insterior is lined with 1" fiberglass on all sides, top to bottom. The speakers are 40"H x 10"W x 16"D. The 8" driver is a Vifa, the 5.25" midrange and 2.5" cone tweeter are that 4-letter "B" word. Shortly after this picture was taken, I replaced the midrange driver with a Dynaudio unit. After a couple of months I pulled the Dynaudio drivers back out and reinstalled the originals because they actually sounded better. The crossover is a Dayton 3-way passive unit. I installed a mini-toggle DPDT switch on the rear to give me the ability to reverse to polarity of the tweeter if I want. What this does is bring the vocals a little forward. It works very well to be honest with you!

Believe it or not, these towers sound amazingly good sounding; punchy and deep, tight and controlled bass, full and natural midrange, smooth and crisp treble, excellent imaging and soundstage, and just an all-around fun speaker to listen to.

I need to pull these things back out of the closet and fire them up again!

 

[Chiliman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel Check out this site, I was recently interested in DIYing some speakers as well but certain circumstances (aka girlfriend's 3" heels hovering way too close to my balls) have persuaded me to hold off for a little bit.

Wow, The Dayton Home Theater Project looks great. Given the simplicity of the build and the low price point, I may have to give that a try sometime.