DIY speakers you've drooled over but have yet to build!

Spiral horns are also on my short list.

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What!!!! No Paragon's?
I would imagine that to be my dream speaker(s). And of course once built it would last a long time. Also it may be worth something after time, even if diy built.
Forget the perfect oak laminate finish. Just the boxes would be enough for me. I could imagine cannibalizing my L-100's for drivers and adjust accordingly.
 
Call me old fashioned, but I love a simple two with a 12" or 15" pro driver in a ported cabinet paired with a compression driver and modern waveguide. High efficiency, honest bass to 40 hz, good directional coverage (if done right), and a straightforward box with bracing is all you need.

I'm going to ask Wayne Parham if he ever considered working with Madisound to offer kit versions of his speaker line. I think a Four Pi in the hands of those without cabinet-making skills would be pretty revolutionary. Maybe a current production driver like AE TD15M could be used instead of JBL 2226H...
 
I've built or modified many loudspeakers over the years. The initial principle was to take a pair of speakers that I liked and then work out why the good bits are good and why the bad bits are bad. Then I would modify them by such things as changing drivers and remaking crossovers until I got them to be the best I could make them. This wasn't just done at random as the important thing to me was to know why they sound the way they do. Over time I went down the road of designing and building systems from scratch. I've lived and breathed calculations from Thiel-Small, reflex porting, box resonance and transmission lines. The designs from Troels Gravesen are fabulous, as are those from John "Zaph" Krutke and it's interesting to me how those designs were developed.
I'm now into fully active systems with a transmission line bass cabinet topped off with a separate pressure vented mid/tweeter cabinet, all very heavily built. I've had a lot of positive comments regarding the sound that these units can produce. The trouble is that people just see the speakers and don't realise that they are just one element of an active system where everything has to be tuned to form the complete system.

I agree that it's difficult to put a value to things that are home built and that invariably the important thing is that it doesn't really matter. This is a hobby after all. If I were to try to quantify the cost of materials plus probably hundreds of hours of my time then these speakers would cost many thousands of pounds. The thing is that I can't compare them to commercial units anyway because they are unique.
 
I've built or modified many loudspeakers over the years. The initial principle was to take a pair of speakers that I liked and then work out why the good bits are good and why the bad bits are bad. Then I would modify them by such things as changing drivers and remaking crossovers until I got them to be the best I could make them. This wasn't just done at random as the important thing to me was to know why they sound the way they do. Over time I went down the road of designing and building systems from scratch. I've lived and breathed calculations from Thiel-Small, reflex porting, box resonance and transmission lines. The designs from Troels Gravesen are fabulous, as are those from John "Zaph" Krutke and it's interesting to me how those designs were developed.
I'm now into fully active systems with a transmission line bass cabinet topped off with a separate pressure vented mid/tweeter cabinet, all very heavily built. I've had a lot of positive comments regarding the sound that these units can produce. The trouble is that people just see the speakers and don't realise that they are just one element of an active system where everything has to be tuned to form the complete system.

I agree that it's difficult to put a value to things that are home built and that invariably the important thing is that it doesn't really matter. This is a hobby after all. If I were to try to quantify the cost of materials plus probably hundreds of hours of my time then these speakers would cost many thousands of pounds. The thing is that I can't compare them to commercial units anyway because they are unique.


Just curious-
Any pictures of this “transmission line bass cabinet topped off with a separate pressure vented mid/tweeter cabinet, all very heavily built” speaker?
 
I've been in touch with a guy in Augusta who says he can supply the parts for the C Horn. I have the drivers but I'm not sure this build would pass WAF.

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I might add - for a bit of detail- that the side view was quite early in construction and there are a lot of extra fillets that were added after this pic was taken. Also the outer cabinet layers are missing in this pic. Cabinets are between 30mm and 48mm thick. The 2 cutouts in the back are now covered by 3mm thick damped steel plates to give access to the line to alter the stuffing for tuning purposes. I might add that the TL line calculations and CAD design took weeks to get right. The upper units have 2 40mm rear ports. These are not tuned as reflex ports though. There is a divider in the cabinet and the ports are there purely to release pressure/vacuum when the drivers are working. This allows the mids to operate almost like open baffle drivers with the rear energy absorbed, but with no pressurisation as you would have with true infinite baffle speakers. I am also contemplating reworking them to give a stepped baffle. The Vifa H26TG-35-06 Tweeters have been replaced with SEAS 27TBFC/G H1212 Alloy domes. The mid and Bass units are Peerless Nomes 164 and 205 units. The bass extends to 26Hz (-3dB) and will quite happily shake the floor. There are no crossovers as the system is fully active. I had to redesign the support feet as the original cross bars were starting to collapse with the weight. I weighed them once at 38kg each which is quite solid, bearing in mind that they are only 11" wide. The second pair of speakers were a previous incarnation using the same drivers, but in a reflex loaded cabinet. They sounded pretty good too, but they were a bit bass heavy.
 
I have (for years) contemplated one of the CornScala builds from Crites--the only problem is that I can find used Cornwalls or LaScalas (in good shape) for the cost of the build--and that doesn't even count my labor or any finish work. If I really tried and searched hard, it is likely that I could find a pair of each (both Cornwalls and LaScalas) for the price of a single CornScala build.

I am a contractor, so the build wouldn't be all that difficult (but not cheap, either). Admittedly, finish cabinetry is not my "specialty", but I can hold my own, and I employ a number of finish cabinet-makers/builders that would give me a hand, and their work is exceptional. I have heard a couple different iterations of the CornScalas, and they do sound great, but they are still "home brew" (w/o a Klipsch logo on them), so it is hard to justify a $1500-$2K build--lots of great speakers (new and used) out there, in that price range.

The Overnight Sensations get great reviews, and it appears to be a fairly easy and inexpensive build--contemplated those as well for a small bedroom system or just to build and give away.

I am certainly no speaker designer/engineer, so I leave that to the "pros". I'll tweak/modify/update existing designs, but I'm not running out and designing my own from scratch--even with all of the software and variety of drivers out there--again, I'll leave that to the "pros".
 
I might add - for a bit of detail- that the side view was quite early in construction and there are a lot of extra fillets that were added after this pic was taken. Also the outer cabinet layers are missing in this pic. Cabinets are between 30mm and 48mm thick. The 2 cutouts in the back are now covered by 3mm thick damped steel plates to give access to the line to alter the stuffing for tuning purposes. I might add that the TL line calculations and CAD design took weeks to get right. The upper units have 2 40mm rear ports. These are not tuned as reflex ports though. There is a divider in the cabinet and the ports are there purely to release pressure/vacuum when the drivers are working. This allows the mids to operate almost like open baffle drivers with the rear energy absorbed, but with no pressurisation as you would have with true infinite baffle speakers. I am also contemplating reworking them to give a stepped baffle. The Vifa H26TG-35-06 Tweeters have been replaced with SEAS 27TBFC/G H1212 Alloy domes. The mid and Bass units are Peerless Nomes 164 and 205 units. The bass extends to 26Hz (-3dB) and will quite happily shake the floor. There are no crossovers as the system is fully active. I had to redesign the support feet as the original cross bars were starting to collapse with the weight. I weighed them once at 38kg each which is quite solid, bearing in mind that they are only 11" wide. The second pair of speakers were a previous incarnation using the same drivers, but in a reflex loaded cabinet. They sounded pretty good too, but they were a bit bass heavy.

Nice. A lot of work there. 1st 3-way DIY TL speaker that I’ve seen, tri-amped, and comes in 2 boxes too no less.
 
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People usually underestimate the time and effort involved in speaker building. And it isn't cheap either. Because they are not that much bigger then the last pair, the WAF was O.K. as well. You notice that nothing gets placed on top of them - that is house rules.
 
Great Thread! Thanks to all for all the input, makes a great read to come back to! It reminds me of the original 'single driver website' but including multiple drivers.
I'm posting this link.. and have no 'pinterest' affiliation. Though I'm a member, I rarely frequent it but has some of the pics designs from same. ((I should have copied every page and link and sub sites pages from SDW ! ))
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/463307880387122436/
 
People usually underestimate the time and effort involved in speaker building. And it isn't cheap either.

Don't get me wrong--I am not "anti-DIY" in any way, but time and cost are huge considerations in ANY DIY project--speakers, amps, preamps, etc. You gotta figure a commercial manufacturer is already tooled up to build hundreds (if not thousands) of a given product. They buy everything "in bulk" from their suppliers at HUGE discounts.

I am a contractor. If you want an "all custom" kitchen or bath, we can build you anything you want to your specifications (for a price), but if you can work with "off the rack" merchandise, my cost goes down and so does yours. If you are building/renovating an entire apartment or condo complex, and I can order 100 of the same sinks, faucets, bathtubs, countertops, appliances and pallets of tile and flooring, the price per unit goes down even further.

Order a single or <10 pieces of any electronic component from Mouser (let's just say @ $4 each) and add in $8 shipping, a pair of capacitors for your speaker crossover is now $16. Order a quantity of 1000 and the price per unit is now $0.50 each and the shipping is still $8.
 
Yes I kind of agree. Before starting any kind of DIY project a number of things need to be considered.
Why do I want to do this?
1. Is it to save money? (then you are probably going to regret it).
2. Am I building something I could buy?
3. Am I building something that nobody makes?
4. Am I doing this purely because I am interested and it is my hobby?
5. Do I have the knowledge and resources to do this?
6. Do I have the time to do this?
7. Am I modifying something, adapting something or designing from scratch?

In my case, points 3 and 4 are the main drivers with 5 & 6 being of additional benefit. Points 1 & 2 are of little interest to me in this context, although I do keep an interest on how manufacturers design things - no point in redesigning the wheel.
 
Because I'm sometimes childishly stupid, I have a hankering for something like this.

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If I had a really large space I would be serious about building real bass horns. In my basement mancave I have 30 cu. ft. backloaded horns, but would ramp that up big time in the right location. Something I don't understand in that photo though: why wouldn't you add to the hornloading by slanting the piece under the drivers to hit the floor? And are the drivers also backloaded? it takes >3 meters to load down below 40 hz.
 
Yes I kind of agree. Before starting any kind of DIY project a number of things need to be considered.
Why do I want to do this?
1. Is it to save money? (then you are probably going to regret it).
2. Am I building something I could buy?
3. Am I building something that nobody makes?
4. Am I doing this purely because I am interested and it is my hobby?
5. Do I have the knowledge and resources to do this?
6. Do I have the time to do this?
7. Am I modifying something, adapting something or designing from scratch?

In my case, points 3 and 4 are the main drivers with 5 & 6 being of additional benefit. Points 1 & 2 are of little interest to me in this context, although I do keep an interest on how manufacturers design things - no point in redesigning the wheel.

You don't sound like a speaker builder either. :)
 
I haven't built many speaker cabinets, but I have put together speakers using JBL cabinets, someone else's homebrew cabinets, and by putting a compression driver and waveguide on top of an existing cabinet to replace the function of drivers in the cabinet. I think my case shows how the 7 points are kind of ... off point for me.

1) In doing so I saved money,
2) built something I couldn't buy,
3) built something nobody makes,
4) did it because I'm interested in learning and it's my hobby.
5) I barely had the knowledge when I started, but nobody was hurt and I came out a little smarter. I used resources I owned or borrowed or could swap for.
6) Duh. See 4.
7) typically I was modifying or adapting something. In a sense I designed something by modifying or adapting some other design. :)

I have had a lot of fun, learned a bit, and have made some speaker systems I really really like with great return on investment of time and money. Example: bought a pair of 1952 Jensen design cabinets built for a recording studio. Tried lots of drivers, found combo that worked for me, built crossovers, still enjoying it. Total investment was under $1500, but was offset by selling parts that came in the cabinet originally. Net was under $1,000. Another example: was given JBL cabs, 8 cu. ft., for 2 15" drivers. Bought AE TD15Ms in package deal, put compression driver and waveguide from another project on top, copied Lynn Olson's crossover for a similar design, have 101db full range system that is great for workshop/clubhouse.

Key here is that I'm using these in mancave spots where functional counts and looks don't matter.
 
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