AK Design Collaborative - Insignia-Class Economy Speakers (a.k.a Indignia)

I've just discovered the Karma Indignia thread. I was looking at the speaker kits at PE and did an AK search on them which brought me here.

I'm in the process of reading the entire thread but have not made it through yet. What I have decided is that if possible, I'd like to build (at least) one set of Indignias rather than go with the PE kit. I would buy the PE cabinets though as my wood working skills are certainly not up to those standards.

I'd like to give a pair to each of my kids as they are urbanites and live in very small quarters. These are a size that they could accomodate and by all of the comments I've seen in the thread so far, they sound very good.

Since I haven't gotten all the way through I'd like to ask a couple of questions -

Is the parts list for the project that's posted at PE correct or have any changes been made?

Does PE have any pre-built crossovers that are close enough to the spec for the Indignia that I could use? (my woodworking skills are only rivaled by my soldering skills:thumbsdn:)

Also if Dave would still consider routing the baffles I'd offer up whatever compensation asked.

What this all adds up to is that I'd like to build these as a tribute to AK and The Great Zilch but I personally haven't the skills to do much more than just assemble them. Which is the reason I was looking at the PE kits to begin with.

I'll read on in the thread and watch for any reply to this. Thanks in advance for any info.

Keith
 
No, you can't use a pre-built crossover. I don't understand the rest of the question, as I'm not aware of any PE kit, just a parts list, which you seem to want to buy anyway.
 
Thanks for the reply about a pre-built crossover. I'll see if I can find someone who can put it together for me.

As for the "kit" I was referring to, PE has their own u-build it kits that they've spec'ed. I was searching for any reviews/opinions AK'ers had posted about them and found several references to the Indignia as an alternative.
 
If you go to the PE project showcase there is a single button to push to get all the parts (drivers and XO parts) in one fell swoop. That's about as close to a kit as I can think.

There have been no changes to the design documented on the PE site.

Don't know if Newman is still doing baffles or not. I've done a few more but I'm not sure where my templates are anymore.
 
Thank you Ray, I may try to PM him about the baffles. If I can get this all arranged, I'm excited to give the Indignia's a try and add a few more S/N's to the list.
 
Madisound would probably be willing to make you a crossover from equivalent parts on one of their boards if you ask, since they offer that with their xover design service. Of course, the value of DIY speakers drops pretty darn fast once you've farmed out the cabinets and the crossovers, maybe even below retail speakers.
 
That's very true dumptruck. I'm willing to pay more or less the equivalent of retail to build these just because I appreciate the work the people in the forum put into the design. I see that the original intent was a lower cost DIY project with high quality result.

I guess that the curse of not being too handy is you've got to pay them that are for their skills. As I mentioned, if this works out I'd like to give them as gifts to my 2 kids. Not entirely made by me to be sure but closer to a personal sort of gift than a new set of commercial speakers.

Looking at PE's complete kits, they are asking roughly $210.00 each for their smaller (.25 cu.ft.) 2-ways. Current price for the .38 cu. ft. cabinets (curved) and the needed parts for the Indignia spec is $251.00 each. Looks like binding posts and screws are not included in that parts list so I'd have a few additional bucks for that. So, all in all I'm pretty close. The big IF is going to be the cost of farming out the baffle cut-outs and crossover assembly.
 
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I still don't understand what you're talking about with the kits here... oh wait, are you talking about a kit for a different speaker design?
 
Soldering up the crossovers isn't very difficult. Start with a good photo or drawing showing a neat layout and go from there. You will be pretty good at it by the time you get # 4 done. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon-evening if you have nothing better to do.

Good luck!
 
I was continuing to make my way through this thread today (up to page 96!) and followed a link in one of the posts to Parts Express. Damned if the "Deal of the Day" wasn't the curved sided cherry .38 speaker speaker cabinets. Ordered a pair at $20 each off regular price.

Could my interest in this project, although a quite a bit after its heyday, be directed by karma? :headscrat

Spooky!
 
I was continuing to make my way through this thread today (up to page 96!) and followed a link in one of the posts to Parts Express. Damned if the "Deal of the Day" wasn't the curved sided cherry .38 speaker speaker cabinets. Ordered a pair at $20 each off regular price.

Could my interest in this project, although a quite a bit after its heyday, be directed by karma? :headscrat

Spooky!

This sort of thing happens with me all the time here...
Yeah - the name seems to fit :thmbsp:
 
My version

I know this is an old thread but I just recently finished a version on these speakers. The cabinet is constructed of 3/4" Baltic birch the back/sides were bent over a mold in a vacuum bag out of 6 sheets of 1/8" Baltic birch to achieve the 3/4". the back/sides were finished with cherry veneer and the baffle top and bottom were sprayed with white lacquer. best part is they sound great!
 

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Great workmanship on those! Very nice looking!

I'm on my phone right now but I will update the builders list and get serial numbers when I be home to the computer.
 
I know this is an old thread but I just recently finished a version on these speakers. The cabinet is constructed of 3/4" Baltic birch the back/sides were bent over a mold in a vacuum bag out of 6 sheets of 1/8" Baltic birch to achieve the 3/4". the back/sides were finished with cherry veneer and the baffle top and bottom were sprayed with white lacquer. best part is they sound great!

Those look awesome!!! Definitely different than most versions I've seen. The white/birch combo really stands out. In the picture it's hard to tell, how close to high-gloss piano-white is that?
 
Thanks for the compliments guys.

Those look awesome!!! Definitely different than most versions I've seen. The white/birch combo really stands out. In the picture it's hard to tell, how close to high-gloss piano-white is that?

Vulture, the birch is veneered on the back/sides with cherry wood, and the finish is a satin. I considered going gloss and polishing them but I knew my wife would object less to them if they were satin.

Sorry for the crappy cell pick, I was waiting to take better pictures but that day was not coming.
 
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