beginner DIY speakers & sub (1 Viewer)

[Stephen_Rob]

I am sure this question has been asked before but I am new.
What is a good DIY speaker set for beginners I also want a a DIY sub and was thinking of a tempest. Is this a good choice?

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

Answer these two questions, and you will get lots of help.

What are your design goals? WHat is the budget?

 

[Stephen_Rob]

I am a student so I am on a low budget around $1000 for both. I am not sure what you mean by design goals but I will be listening to music more then anything. if that helps also I would like the speakers as small as possible.
I am also looking at paradigm atoms but I thought that If I go the DIY route I could get better quality.

 

[Dustin B]

Hehe, $1000 should finish you a pair of GR Research AV1+ speakers ($300 for the kit) and a sealed Shiva or Tempest based sub (say $125-$150 for the driver and $300 for a HS200 plate amp, this amp has a nice 4th order crossover built in). Enclosure construction for both is relatively simple (this leaves you $250 for the enclosures, little tight, you can always leave pretty finish till you get more money). The only tricky part will be assembling the crossovers for the AV1+ speakers.

For reference to quality of this setup in comparison to the Paradigm Atom. Matrice on this forum replaced PSB Stratus Goldi towers with AV1+ bookshelves and a Tempest based sub and he's glad he did.

 

[John Parris]

If you're new to crossovers or circuit design in general, you might want to aim for a kit that comes with a pre-assembled kit or at least a semblance... like a printed circuit board that comes with the parts.
I would DEFINATELY recommend going the kit route on your first pair of speakers... or at least getting some plans for some existing set... designing your own is a world of difference from assembling a kit. As far as the sub, that might be a little easier, but Adire Audio provides you with free plans for lots of different enclosures if you don't feel brave enough to tackle your own design... there's also a vast bounty of plans from users on this site.
Hope everything works out for ya.

 

[Stephen_Rob]

Ok so what would be a good sit to find speaker Kits with pre-made crossovers. As for the sub I was going to do the same thing that Dustin B recomended.

 

[Brian Bunge]

And don't forget Hank's DIY kits of the millenium, Sound Clearing House. You could have a truly excellent 5 speaker system for under $500 in kits. The bookshelf and center channel kits are currently out of stock, but the towers aren't.
The bookshelf and center channel speakers easily have parts similar to $500+ retail products and the towers could probably retail for $800-$1000 with no problem. I have a pair of modified towers built and ready to veneer. I'm also modifying the bookshelf speakers and will have them finished within a few weeks. The center channel will follow shortly after that.
Brian

 

[Stephen_Rob]

Brian Bunge would speakers built from Sound Clearing House be better than paradigm atoms?

 

[Michael R Price]

I'll have to suggest you add the Adire Kit281 and HE10.1 to your list, Stephen. I'll try to comment on them based on my limited knowledge. I am a very satisfied Kit281 owner and came from the same direction as you did (was looking for

 

[Dan Wesnor]

Here is probably the best list of kits on the internet...
http://www.snippets.org/ldsg/sect-16.php3

The 281 is a big, inefficient tower speaker

Why do you think the 281 is inefficient? It should be about 89dB/W/m. Most comercial 2-ways come in at around 84-87dB/W/m (despite the efficiency in the manufacturers' specs - there isn't very good regulation for speaker specs).

 

[Stephen_Rob]

thanxs for all the help I'll look at the adire 281 but i was looking for something a little smaller

 

[Dustin B]

The 10" in the HE10.1 doesn't have much for excursion. It's a little less than half the Vd capability of the pair of 8 inchers in the 281. Don't know how long it will be before we see it, but Adire has plans for an XBL^2 enabled HE10.1 that will be able to out displace the 8" drivers in the 281.

Reguardless, crossed over to a sub up around 80hz I don't think you'll notice a difference until you start pushing close to reference level on movies, then the HE10.1 and AV1+ will start to fall behind the 281.

And Rob, don't take my crossover comment to seriously. If you have wood working skills, won't take long to learn enough to do a good job soldering the crossover components together. GR-Research kits come with all the crossover parts and plans. I think Adire ships their crossovers assembled though (281 anyways, which don't have to be towers, can be smaller sealed bookshelves).

 

[Michael R Price]

The Audioxpress review measured the Kit281's sensitivity at 89.7 db/2.83v/1m, or about 86.7 db/1w/1m. To me, that's pretty inefficient. My cheap amp just can't handle it, though I have a solution to that problem in the works.

Beware running any of these speakers off a receiver. Buy a good 2-channel amp.

(I'd think the AV1+ wouldn't be much more efficient though. I don't know if the stated 91.5db figure is an exaggeration, but it seems so given the tiny size.)

If you're thinking of the HE10.1 definitely wait for the XBL2 upgrade as Dustin said.

IIRC James Johnson said the 281s are OK up to 110db peak or so with an 80Hz highpass; I can imagine the AV1's would start to lose it a little sooner. Stephen, if you think you'll ever listen at such volumes (over 95db continuous), you may want to shift your decision towards the 281 and the XBL2 enabled HE10.1.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Michael,

Keep in mind that he is looking for small speakers. I would not describe the KIT281s or the A/V-1+'s as small.

Stephen,

I'm 99.9999% sure that the Sound Clearing House shielded monitors would have higher quality components than the Atoms.

Brian

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

Small would be like my EGO's. ...but they aren't cheap (about $230 each) and routing the focals are a B!tch!!!

..but the sound quality is absolutely 1st rate.

click below for info.

 

[Michael R Price]

Oops, small speakers? Didn't catch that. Sorry... how small were you thinking?

 

[Michael Hartwig]

The Ed Frias ARdiy speakers are a very, very nice speaker.
http://www.audioreview.com/Learncrx.aspx
For the sub I would go with a sealed Tempest.
Have a look at my build.
Link Removed

 

[Stephen_Rob]

I can go as big as a paradigm monitor 5 and what is a sonosub i have heard a lot about them

 

[Danny Richie]

Just to clear up a few things about our products...

IIRC James Johnson said the 281s are OK up to 110db peak or so with an 80Hz highpass; I can imagine the AV1's would start to lose it a little sooner. Stephen, if you think you'll ever listen at such volumes (over 95db continuous), you may want to shift your decision towards the 281 and the XBL2 enabled HE10.1.

The A/V-1+'s will hit 100db peaks with an 8 watt amp.

Peaks above 110db playing full range is no problem.

I have even played the earlier A/V-1+ models on some Melos, 400 watt, tube, mono-block amps at continuos levels that will drive you out of the room. Full range too. Peaks may have been in excess of 120db easy. No problems were noticed at all. All was clean sounding and the woofers did not over extend.

 

[jeff lam]

For mostly music, I would say the AV1+ and sealed Tempest would be tough to beat for the price.
Having the AV1's myself, I have full confidence in their sound quality and the +'s would be even better.