home made speakers

[admin_exported]

hello,

has anyone on here made their own speakers? i dont mean kits but from scratch, im a student and as such have a very limited budget and wondered if i made some could they be better than entry level speakers bought from shops?

tia

 

[Anonymous]

The level of skill and tools req would put me off this route. trawl e bay and you should find something nice...no matter what your budget is !

 

[Anonymous]

I built my own speakers on a budget in my younger days. I came out of it with a feeling of immense pride and self being. It was just unfortunate they were comparatively... rubbish. You need to spend quite a bit to build good quality speakers, at which point bargains can be had.

As Andy said, look on ebay for your best bet.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

If you use local bargain finder you have a great chance because speakers are usually not posted so use your post code to find the bargain. Alter the cost range to suit your budget too !

 

[Anonymous]

Ive made a few. Most recently a transmission line set, but that design was somewhat erm.. aquired. Transmission lines are not an exact science so i somewhat followed in the footsteps of others. There these http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cmelhuish/speakers.htm but i fitted the morel mdt30s tweeters instead. I moved the terminal plate to the bottom so the box is not weaked at the back of the throat, and there is full access to the line although stuffing was never needed except behind the driver. Honestly, my speaker cables are fine, im not trying to hide anything.

I got the cones off ebay for about £50 the pair. I had the tweeters, there about £35 each. crossovers were a few pound. just 2nd order, nothing fussy needed with good parts. You can add a zobel to sweeten this cone/tweeter combination a little, but its more choice than necesity. sheet of wood is £30 and the main difficulty in the whole process. You need a cutting list that allows the wood bloke to be close, not exact. any inaccuracy needs to cause sandable overhangs only. If you look at the link, many of the pannels have a common dimension. 155mm. You would start your cutting list buy having him chop lots of 155mm planks to make all the 155mm parts from. thus if he messes up it does not matter. This electronics bundle appears in speakers costing in excess of £1000 but its a £300 project all finished nicely.

I recently picked up a pair of mission tweeters for under £20 that appear in there currant flagship models. something like that would make a great upgrade to some cheaper commercial speakers. Tweeters are 10 a penny as most will physically fit. its the woofers that are in shorter supply if you want replacements.

ebay has a 'speaker components' section. Ofton drivers that appear in reviews pop up.

 

[plastic penguin]

I totally agree - Many moons ago I made my own speakers and they sounded great. Alas, after a few months I tried a pair of Solavox speakers from a friend.

What I discovered was if you're prepared for a lot of hard work and not worried about sound quality too much, then go for it. Otherwise, check e-bay or similar sites.

Good luck

 

[Anonymous]

plastic penguin: not worried about sound quality too much, then go for it.

Pistols at dawn sir lol

I have to agree though. I spent 6 years evolving my first propper set. crossovers constantly hanging out, Asking every visitor if 'this' sounds better than 'thiss' Adding braces in little bits like lego through the speaker holes. It went from a classic tower to a two chamber design gaining a 3rd cone 🙂 they made way for my tdls, and eventually on to ebay where the chap got about £250 for them. buyer was happy too. I got them right, but it really was 'in the end'

I have the TDL T-line 3's. £700 around 98 but gathering dust since making the little morels. The quality of parts is just that much better. its hard to go that wrong. There highly reviewed parts. the woofer is so good its actually licenced off dynaudio. its a 15-75

buying some 2nd hand, then toying with them is time consuming aswell. Its perhaps worth looking at something containing good parts but a less than substancial box. perhaps the cheaper stand version of something you know comes as a floorstander aswell. That gives scope for a well braced mdf box with a chipboard wrap. That will clean up a lot of noise and tighten things up. The box is half the job. At least. Thats if you want a project, not a speaker lol

 

[Anonymous]

Hey folks, look at the original post....he's a student ! Anything more time consuming than beans on toast is a no-no and he'll betoo drunk and prob solder his watch to the kettle !!

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Ebay it is then. If he wants a total bargain, find some Eltax Symphony 6's - they go for peanuts (virtually - most go for around £30!), and if he finds some local then there is no shipping to worry about either.

They aren't the last word in detail, but give a nice weighty balanced sound...

 

[Anonymous]

I built some mini monitor ls3/5a replicas for our recording studio and they sound absolutly superb because they have the clean midrange of the originals with an improved frequency range.

 

[plastic penguin]

andyb190:Hey folks, look at the original post....he's a student ! Anything more time consuming than beans on toast is a no-no and he'll betoo drunk and prob solder his watch to the kettle !!

You are obviously a man speaking from experience.