[Eisenhower]

For the past few days Ive been captivated with the world of speaker building, mainly by the fact that I can build a pair of bitchin' speakers for really cheap.

Anyways, after looking at different retail speakers, kits, and diy projects, I decided to go the diy route. I couldnt really find any perfect kits anywhere, and retail speakers like the epos els-3's and the x-ls's caught my eye, but I felt I would end up wanting to go higher up in the product line later.

The design that Ive finally decided on is the modula MT: http://htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=13154
.. which features the dayton rs180 driver, which is apparently above and beyond their meager cost of $35.
Instead of using either the seas 27tdfc or the more expensive and less appealing dayton rs28 tweeter, I was going to use the seas 27tbfc/g, which is only $32, is said to be one of the best out there, and can be used with the same crossover for the 27tdfc.

I think the total price will come out to under $250 for the drivers and crossovers. I will attempt to build the enclosure, as I posess all the tools needed. I have built sub boxes and guitar speaker cabs, both didnt require the type of detail that goes into a pair of high-end bookshelves.
If that doesnt work out, and I hope it does, I can just buy 2 of the partsexpress prefab cabinets which would add another $200 to the cost.

So, my question is to anyone who has expirience with this type of stuff. Is this a pretty good taste of audiophile class sound? Will I be overwhelmed with construction details? Is veneering difficult and worth it? I may just give the finished product a high-gloss paint job.

Finally, with so many nice choices for retail speakers, would something like the av123 x-ls's, primus 150's, axiom m3ti's, energy c-3's, or anything along those lines compare? From what Ive read, this project should blow the doors off of anything under $1000....

 

[ooheadsoo]

Although I have never veneered, if you have access to the necessary tools to make the cuts and have steady hands, it is my guess that it's a heck of a lot easier than a high gloss paint job, which I tried on my first pair of diys and promptly gave up after 18 hours of labor.

The modula should be really good. There have also been waveguide variants of it, I think JoshK at htguide/audiocircle built one. You could ask him about it. The waveguide would further reduce distortion in the critical 1khz-3khz range and limit and control dispersion to reduce room interaction. And effectively eliminate edge diffraction.

For an alternative that is based upon similar principles of low distortion, even power response, flat frequency response etc, check out zaphaudio.com. Most of his projects would fit your budget.

IMO, which may not be worth much, something like this should blow the doors off of most sub $2000 speakers. Not all, but most commercial offerings. I'd shoot for a tmm or mtm if you can afford it to lower distortion some more - if you can sport a floorstander or very large stand mount.

 

[Wodgy]

Veneering is quite easy, assuming you use pre-joined or paper-backed veneer. A good glossy paint finish is extremely difficult. Also, the prefab Parts Express cabinets are a very good deal. Once you add up all the costs to do it yourself (finishing supplies, etc., even assuming no costs for your labor), the PE cabinets pay for themselves. You get a lot of great experience building your own cabinets though. In general, speaker building is very satisfying and addictive, but you have to be willing to put in the effort, and it always takes a lot longer than you thought it would. Get into it because you want to build something yourself, because you want creative control or want to learn something. Don't get into it to save money. I haven't heard the Modula MT's, but either of the Seas tweeters is a safer bet than the Dayton tweeter IMHO. Good luck! It'll be a fun project.

 

[Eisenhower]

Im really excited, Its the feeling of listening to, and enjoying, something that you built that gets me interested.

Also, are there any good sites about the physical aspects of building hifi speakers? Right now I know of many different design/measurement oriented stuff, but Im looking a down to earth tutorial on assembly.

Im going to atleast attempt to build them myself, since Im not entirely concerned about saving money, I just don't want to mess things up.

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eisenhower Also, are there any good sites about the physical aspects of building hifi speakers? Right now I know of many different design/measurement oriented stuff, but Im looking a down to earth tutorial on assembly.

This isn't really a tutorial, but it lays out virtually every relevant issue on one page in a way that's pretty easy to understand:
http://zaphaudio.com/mantras.html

As far as actually building the boxes goes, it's not that hard. For bookshelf speakers especially you can just glue them together using butt joints (one piece of MDF butted against another). Some people use biscuits, and I would recommend those for floorstanders just to make glue-up easier, but for bookshelves there's no need for any fancy assembly techniques.

If any more specific questions come up, you can always ask on any of the various forums. The Madisound forum used to be the biggest speaker building forum but they were down for two and a half months and a lot of people migrated to other sites. I'd still try there first. The Parts Express forum is also good, though it's a slightly less experienced set of builders. DIYaudio looks good but the people there tend to have wonky ideas and I find they're not really that helpful.

 

[happyangryhappy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eisenhower Im really excited, Its the feeling of listening to, and enjoying, something that you built that gets me interested.

I have a pair of Natalie P towers (same as the Modula MT, but a MTM) I built about six months ago and I think they sound incredibly good. It started when I went and auditioned speakers and realized I had $2000+ tastes and since that was financialy out of the question I looked into DIY and after debating between the Modula MT's and the Natalie P's I decided on the Natalie P's. The HTGuide forums support and detailed instructions made the project really easy, and after I had them for a while I went out and re-auditioned the speakers I initially had listened to and felt very vindicated.

As far as the Modula MT's go, I think they should sound very very good. Like I said the Natalie P is a really similar speaker, and also - last month - I built a pair of Cryolites for my office which like the Modula MT use a single Dayton RS180 and again sound fantastic. I am amazed at the depth of bass, soundstage, realism and clarity from such a small speaker. My only complaint is the Cryolites' Neoplanar tweeter seems a touch bright for my tastes - which makes me think that the Modula MT may have been the perfect choice - but oh well as they still sound really good and perform way beyond their build price.

I think DIY is definately the way to go if you have the means to do it - it is fun, you learn alot and the sound is what it is all about.