Really.. Build your own speakers?

[admin_exported]

Hey,

Given that you had the time, wuold you rather build your own speakers or just buy a pair..

You know, would you like to make your very OWN with your own design right from wood (or at least from a kit), or just buy a pair of, say, KEFs that you know has all those years of expertise in-built.

IMHO, some of you see good brands, but think hey I dun want 2 Mids, I want 3, and 2 tweeters and a super-tweeter, not just one tweeter, get me? Self-builds give you the freedom to do what you want, but is it worth it!?

If you've built your own pair, why not share some photos with us!?

Cheers

AJ

 

[toyota man]

I built a pair of richard allen speakers I think they were called sardanas or some thing like that they had a 12inch 30cm bass 8inch 20cm mid range and a 5cm tweeter they went very load and didn't sound to bad to a young lad of 17 wired up to my trio ka 3300a amp which had darlington power blocks whatever they are I have some 35mm photos I will post when / if I can find them the tt was a pioneer pl12d with shure m75ed cables bell wire and free bees I used 20mm chip board and I used some old blankets to add extra damping to the fibreglass that came with the kit it may not of been fibre glass it was white and looked like fibre glass that was some years ago making the removable tygan grills was fun I could only get red which was nearly as loud as the speakers

 

[Anonymous]

Awesome man, yeh you'll have to post your photos for sure, I'd love to see them!

Nothing more satisfying eh,

 

[Frank Harvey]

I can imagine the pride in building your own, but I'd rather save the time and just buy some that I like. At least I'll know they've been made to sound as good as possible. Building your own, you'll never know how they measure unless you own the right equipment.

 

[Crossie]

Built my own. I would recommend it as the best bang per buck route. Pictures here : http://www.whathifi.com/forum/your-system/diy-speakers-bass-extenders

Cheers :cheers:

 

[steve_1979]

Given that you had the time, wuold you rather build your own speakers or just buy a pair..

I designed and built a pair of 500 watt 15" car subwoofers with my dad when I was a kid. It was both fun and educational. They were just simple sealed enclosures with a bit of internal bracing so nothing special. I used the golden ratio and the manufacturers recommended volume to calculate the dimensions of the enclosure. They sounded pretty good too although nothing exceptional.

So as a bit of fun in my spare time then yes I already have built my own speakers and might even consider having another go one day if I had some spare time.

However. As far as sound quality goes if I wanted a pair of hifi speakers to use every day at home I'd rather let someone who's qualified and experienced at speaker design do the hard work as I'm sure they'd be able to do a better job than me.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Yup - back in the 70s I build some 12" woofers (given to me) added some tweeters and crossover and loads of chipboard. Covered in Formica they certainly went low and sounded pretty good. 3' tall and 2' wide they were decent beasts. Then Goodmans Mezzo Twin kit. More accurate but smaller and neater they never quite gave the same kick. Sadly no pix but I would love to get them back to hear how they sound in comparrison to my modern kit. My original Leak amp gave way to a Rotel. I also made the plynth for a garrad 86SB turntable which I still use (occasionally). Good fun but not for the feinht hearted.

Cheers

 

[matthewpiano]

I would love to be able to build my own speakers but I don't have the wood working skills to do a nice job, and off-the-shelf speakers are so good that I'm not sure it would be worthwhile. Would be a fascinating project though.

 

[hammill]

Yup - back in the 70s I build some 12" woofers (given to me) added some tweeters and crossover and loads of chipboard. Covered in Formica they certainly went low and sounded pretty good. 3' tall and 2' wide they were decent beasts. Then Goodmans Mezzo Twin kit. More accurate but smaller and neater they never quite gave the same kick. Sadly no pix but I would love to get them back to hear how they sound in comparrison to my modern kit. My original Leak amp gave way to a Rotel. I also made the plynth for a garrad 86SB turntable which I still use (occasionally). Good fun but not for the feinht hearted.

Cheers

Goodmans Mezzo Twins were my first speakers and lasted me from when I was 16 until I got my first job after uni and could afford to buy something a bit posher. They were covered in fablon, so did not look special, but they sounded pretty good and the cabinets were over engineered so could easily be used as a step stool when required.

 

[cs2011]

Hey,

Given that you had the time, would you rather build your own speakers......

AJ

I am about to embark on just that !

I have built my own speakers in the past, with varying degrees of success. You do need to have sufficient knowledge of accoustics, electronics, and driver characteristics, as well as reasonably good woodworking skills, if the end result is to be acceptable. In the past, getting the acoustic design right has always been a bit hit and miss. Without the test and measurement facilities which the commercial speaker manufacturers have, you are really up against it. However, there is now (at last) very accurate speaker simulation software available which eliminates most of the guesswork, so you can be confident that what you design will work as expected.

 

[bluedroog]

As it is I’d rather just buy a pair made by people who know what they are doing. That is because I only have room for one system, can’t afford to go wrong with DIY, don’t have the space of equipment to build and neither the time or expertise.

That said I’d love to give it a bash one day, perhaps when I’ve the space for a second system and a bit more money to throw at them and a little workshop….

 

[Anonymous]

That's great man please upload your speaker pictures 😉

 

[shooter]

http://www.pvconsultants.com/audio/frdgroup.htm

http://www.speakerbuilding.com/software/

http://timberworx.net/

 

[Anonymous]

I built a pair of Cyburgs Needles:

http://www.jrbham.btinternet.co.uk/needle/index.html

A lot of shortcomings but they had the best imaging I have ever heard, you could walk around the instruments if you wanted. Shame SWMBO didn't like the rough and ready MDF finish that I never got around to veneering...

Considering the drivers cost €12 each it was astonishing!

edit: actually the speakers I made were ther version with the Tangband drivers (which look mega cool thanks to their aluminium phase plug).

 

[CnoEvil]

My first speakers were homemade....built in 1977 during design class and used RS drivers (8" woofers + tweeters) and crossovers. I stuffed them full of acoustic foam and fiberglass on the inside, and sticky backed vinyl stuff with a wood pattern, on the outside......They did the job for a while.

 

[Overdose]

A lot of shortcomings but they had the best imaging I have ever heard, you could walk around the instruments if you wanted. Shame SWMBO didn't like the rough and ready MDF finish that I never got around to veneering...

Having just seen the 'finished' article in that link, I'm not suprised. :O

 

[hoopsontoast]

It really depends on what you want really. I have built a few pairs of speakers, mainly based on full-range-drivers that are not really avaliable in the wider commercial speaker market.

Full Range Driver based stuff (all own design rather than a kit)

Veravox 5S Bipole (Two per box)

Veravox 5S 'B.I.B' Horn/Pipe Hybrid

Bandor 50mm / Veravox 5S / Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris 10"

Bandor 50mm Sealed Ikea Sphere (The original)

Omnes Audio BB3.AL (same cab as above)

CSS FR125 Sealed Box (my first DIY effort)

Open Baffle 'Kit' from Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris 10" Coaxial

 

[omnibeard]

Proper mental!