Need adive on a speaker kit (1 Viewer)

[Brian Bowles]

I would like to build some small speakers to go on top of the cabinets in the kitchen. I have not built speakers before. I would like some links to some inexpensive kits for small speakers that sound good. The speakers will be powered by an onkyo 595. I have it polk speakers and twin SVS subs in the other room. I want something that looks nice. I see all kinds of drivers at parts express but I do not know how to match all of the stuff together. I do not know what size to make the case? Can you help? Thanks!!!

 

[Brian Foley]

I strongly suggest that you buy a kit. This web site has a good overview of most of what's available:
LDSG Recommended Kits
Note that many kit vendors offer cabinet options, which is good if you don't already have a table saw, plunge router, etc.

 

[Walt Park]

Hi,
I was looking at some kits too. I guess it kinda depends on if you want to build the cabinet yourself. Some kits have the option to purchase the cabinet, and others require you to build it.
Some stuff I've been looking at are:
http://www.adireaudio.com/diy_audio/...nitor_kits.htm
http://www.madisound.com (click kits since its a frames site)
http://www.speakercity.com/bookshelf_kits.shtml
http://www.gr-research.com/catalog.htm
Anyway, there stuff out there if you want to design a speaker, but since you said inexpensive, I think you're better off with a complete kit so you dont have to buy all the tools to make the cabinet. Also you wont have to worry about the crossover then, which can apparently make or brake the project.

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

If you want a no-brainer and inexpensive kit (enclosure included!) look at the Partsexpress BR-1

 

[Robert_J]

Some of Wayne J's designs over at Speakerbuilder.net are really good and use inexpensive drivers from PE.
-Robert

 

[Clif Forsyth]

You might try http://www.zalytron.com/ they have an abundance of kits in every price range.

 

[Wes Nance]

Be sure you look at Sound Clearing House . The bookshelf speakers there are less than $100/pr and quite good for the money. I'm using them in my home theater with very good results.
Wes

 

[JimPeitersen]

Look at the ELF 1.5 or the ANT 1.5 speaker kits from Creative Sound Solutions or rawacoustics.ca

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

I always recommend Sound Clearing House kits for best value:
http://wwww.speakerpage.com

 

[Walt Park]

Of the ones above, which have you folks actually built?

The daunting thing about a kit is that it's a pig in a poke. You cant really listen to it until you build, it, and chances of an audition are slim to none.

That one link that Brian posted is a good resource, but other than the dimensions, the drivers, and the price of the guts, it doesnt really tell you much about what it's going to turn out like.

For instance, alot of people have done the adire 281 kit and I think liked them, but it has 2 stars, just like everything else on there.

A good chunk of the kits are not exactly dirt cheap, and I think only one of them has a return policy, so if you dont like what you end up with, you're stuck with it, since selling an unbranded speaker is not exactly easy.

So, any particular recommendations of particular models?

 

[Brian Bunge]

Walt,

I've built all of the SCH kits (except for their cheapest monitor) and I've built all of the GR Research kits. I think that all of them are excellent at their respective price points.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

I've built a pair of the Sound Clearing House's least expensive monitor speaker, about 5 of their better monitor speakers, their center channel, and two of the towers. Amazing values. Start with the cheapies and you'll be surprised and get an idea of what DIY can get you for your $. You could experiment with finishes on them. Later, you can move up to the better monitors or their towers.

 

[Brian Foley]

I built 5 of the North Creek Borealis kits, and they are superb. But they are not in the inexpensive category. If you can find a commercial speaker that uses the same or similar drivers, you can get a good idea of what a kit will sound like. For example, I had a pretty good idea what the Borealis speakers would sound like from listening to ProAc speakers, which use Scan-Speak drivers. Unfortunately, most inexpensive kits use drivers not readily found in commercial speakers.
How much are you wanting to spend? The Ed Frias kit at the bottom of this page
Ed Frias Kit from Speaker City
gets some very good reviews on AudioReview.com and here. It costs about $300 unassembled, with pre-built cabinets and crossovers. All you have to do is install a few parts and hook things up. The kit uses Peerless drivers, which are made by the same Danish company that manufactures Vifa and Scan-Speak. I don't know anything about the tweeter, but LDSG says that the mid-woofer is a good one.
If you like this kit but want to do more of the construction and assembly yourself (and hence save some money), click on the DIY Speaker Kit link here. It gives you a parts list and instructions for building the kit.

 

[Brian Bowles]

I thought I would spend $100-$150 on this project. Here is a link to my website:
Bowles Family Web Page
Look at the picture of the kitchen. I would like a fun project to build some speakers to go on top of the cabinets. I have never made speakers. I would think my best bet would be a kit with all the parts. I could then decided whether or not to build the boxes. I guess building them would be the best bet because It would save me money and allow me to spend more on the components. These speakers are going to be used primarily for background music. My wife loves to listen to James Taylor. She would like some music in the kitchen. I have Polk rt-35i speakers in the other room. Could I build some better than those in this price range. I really do not want a real large speaker. Thanks!!!

 

[Brian Foley]

At that price point, I'd be looking at the bookshelf kits at the Sound Clearing House. The K05B50 kit with the Vifa tweeters and Peerless mid-woofers sounds promising. But maybe Hank or Wes can tell you which of the two (K05B50 or K05B11) is the better speaker. They are about the same amount of money. Or you can just call the company and ask them which of the two would be better for your intended use.
Personally, I would get the baffle and cabinet flats from them. I don't know what they are made of, and I'm sure you could make something better yourself (if you have a table saw and plunge router) out of MDF. But you won't save much money, if any, especially if you have to buy even one good router bit to finish the job. And don't even think about making the cabinet yourself if you don't have a plunge router.
Are you going to paint these white to blend in with the rest of the kitchen? If so, you might want to go over to the Speaker City web site and order some white grill cloth. I'm sure the stuff sold with the kits at Sound Clearing House is black.
BTW, your wife is certainly a good sport, letting you park those two SVS subs in her family room. But I'm sure she's pointed that out to you more than once...

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Brian, for the kitchen, the SCH K05B11 will work fine.
If your Polk's cost about $300, the SCH K05B50's will at least equal them. As Brian F said, if you don't have the tools, just buy the cabinet flats from SCH - they're only
$30-$35 for the pre-cut baffles and other flats and are made out of MDF.

 

[Walt Park]

Hi, I know I'm tagging on to this thread, and I hope I dont end up hijacking it.

My HT is a Polk LSi setup. 9's in front, LSic, and FX in the back with the PE 10" titanic kit sub.

The room I want diy's for is the living room, which I just want stereo. Right now I have a pair of Jamo e800's in there. I have a Polk PSW350 sub in there for lowend (which is what I replaced in the HT room. It will get replaced eventually cuz it sux compared to the Dayton titanic kit)

Anyway I find myself listening to music more in the living room just sitting around, or when we eat since the house is a tri-split and the living room is open to the dining area and the kitchen like so:

A---B
--D--
C---B

the floor is roughly square, 30X30 ish. (not really big)

A is the kitchen, B the living area, and c the dining area. D is a closet/pantry that kinda sits in the middle of the openconcept floor.

Anyway. I wasn't really a diy person but the quality/price of the Dayton subkit has me really changing that idea. My current notion is to do the Aria 5 kit and have Zalytron do the front baffle since that's stuff I'm not sure I can do. If it was a round hole I could probably do it, but the shapes are not easy looking for the insets. I'm not sure if I need flares, for the ports, of if I can just use a hole saw and a PVC pipe for the port. Is this a good plan? or is there something else you'd suggest in that price? I'm pretty sure I can finish cabinets to a somewhat presentable state.

I listen to mostly jazz, classical, and trance. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Walt Park]

hmmm no delete msg.

 

[Brian Foley]

Walt,
I've read very mixed reviews of Focal's metal dome tweeters. Some people love them; many hate them. FWIW, I see very few of the hard core DIY people on the Madisound board talking about using them.
A safer bet, I would think, would be a kit/design that uses a Hiquphon OWI, Scan-Speak 9500, Seas Excel, or Morel MDT tweeter. These are almost universally praised, except perhaps by people who like only ribbon tweeters and look down their noses at domes. If you look at the LDSG kit recommendations, you'll see that the Aria kit is rated even lower than kits that use less expensive Vifa tweeters.
Zalytron has kits in your general price range for a couple of well-regarded designs that use the Hiquphon tweeter here. At a little bit higher price point, you could build the North Creek Okara, which uses the S-S 9500 tweeter and a Vifa mid-woofer. BTW, Dennis Murphy has an alternate crossover for a version of this speaker that uses the Hiquphon tweeter. The cabinet design, which he doesn't provide, is available here.
What you might want to do is go over to the Madisound Board and post a message asking for kit/design recommendations. Tell them what you are willing to spend, what music you listen to, what you want to accomplish, and what parts of the job you don't want to do yourself. I'm sure you'll get some diverse answers, but I would bet that the Aria kit is not one of the principal recommendations.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Walt, I'd suggest you check out the GR Research kits. Brian and I and others have heard them and I'm sure you'd be pleased with them: http://www.gr-research.com For a mini-monitor, I recommend the A/V-1. Step up to the larger A/V1+, or the tower model A/V-3.
Brian can build the monitor cabinets for you, and I can build the towers. Unfinished if you want to do that yourself. E-mail us for further discussion as we can't talk about personal biz here.