really High End DIY speaker kits? (2 Viewers)

[Manuel Delaflor]

I know of several DIY speakers with detailed info which uses nice drivers. But I have yet to find really high end ones like B&W Nautilus, Eggleston's or Dynaudio's.
Only in the "horns side" I have found the Oris, which seems really nice and some say can compete with Avantgarde's.
Some requisites I can think (please add more if you know them) is a really stiff cabinet carefully designed (in volume) around the drivers. Different chambers for every driver, an impeccable designed crossover and, of course, the best drivers one can find (Scan Speak, Eton, etc).

 

[Mark gas]

check www.zalytron.com

 

[Stephen Dodds]

The Linkwitz Phoenix and Orion were designed by the same guy who designed the Audio Artistry Beethoven, which was Stereophile's Speaker Of The Year in 1998. He says they are of comparable quality.
Check out www.linkwitzlab.com.
I am currently building a set of Phoenixes to see how they compare to my Wilsons.
www.e-speakers.com has some nice kits.
Steve

 

[AllanRW]

Check out Rick Craigs new Line array.
http://www.selahaudio.com/wsnE4BD.html
$$$$$$$
Excelarray $3300 - $5100/pr.
An assault on the best systems anywhere this is an array featuring six 7" Seas magnesium cone woofers and a 45" Newform ribbon per channel. The woofer array cabinet is a 48"x10"x16"(HWD) sealed box. The ribbon and array are mounted on a 12" high base in custom made-to-order cabinets ($5,100/assembled/oak,cherry,or maple). A kit will also be available without cabinets ($3,300). The kit includes assembled crossovers with Theta film/foil capacitors (ribbon), Solen capacitors (woofers), and Solen 14awg Perfect Lay air core inductors. Substitute Solen polypropylene capacitors in the ribbon section for $150 less a pair. Subtract $1000 per pair if you purchased the Newform ribbons previously. A 10% discount on an assembled pair is available for regional owners who allow others to audition the speakers in their home.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Response: 60-20K (+/-3db) (-10db @40hz)
Sensitivity: 89db/1W/1M
Impedance: 9 ohms (nominal) 5.5 ohms (minimum)
Suggested power: 5-200 watts/ch. RMS
Crossover: 850hz w/high order acoustic slopes
I have used a many of his designs and just wished I had this kind of coin.
Al

 

[Dustin B]

Don't know if you'll be able to obtain any as Lambda isn't officially offering them anymore. But a Lambda Unity Horn kit mated to a midbass unit utilizing a several Lambda TD15M drivers would be sweet (figure about >$1500 per speaker depending on how many TD15M drivers you use).

As would the AlphaLS line array kit from GR Research (just under $2k).

 

[Alexi]

I was thinking about doing a MTM whit the Unity and the TD15M, but run out of cash :frowning:
So my TD's are colecting dust awaiting a upswing in the economy. E-speakers new 2"widerange drivers look intresting to do something, combined whit a super tweeter and TD's maybe.

 

[Dan Wesnor]

Some requisites I can think (please add more if you know them) is a really stiff cabinet carefully designed (in volume) around the drivers. Different chambers for every driver, an impeccable designed crossover and, of course, the best drivers one can find (Scan Speak, Eton, etc).

Designs like that literally litter the web. Maybe you should be more specific. Or do you think that because the speaker can be built for $500 that it's not high-end? The "high-end" speakers you mentioned don't have more than $500-$1000 in parts in them.

 

[Manuel Delaflor]

Thanks to all for the good links.

Dan,

It is not the price but the quality what Im seeking. Did you read my original post? Im talking about projects at the same level of the greatest speakers in the world, not the typical DIY project.

And by this I don´t want to mean that DIY projects are just low end, I made my own sub and I have listened anything in the $2,000.00 league. Nothing compares to my $450.00 Sonosub (and of course I know a few kits that can surely compare well with medium priced speakers).

But jumping from this to say I am able to do a speaker that can compare to a Revel or a Dunlavy is not realistic. I need to learn a lot and that is why I started this thread.

I want to go with the best possible drivers and I can then build an extremely rigid enclosure. But Im learning about shapes, time, venetian blinding, off axis performance and other things. My weak link is the crossover. It will take me a while before I can design a competent one.

 

[Dan Wesnor]

Most DIY its between $400 and $1000 will compete with any commercial speaker you can come up with. The "average" DIY speaker will compete with anything under $2k.

Case in point: You can build a ProAc 2.5 ($4k?) for less than $500.

You need to tell us what you're going for before we can give you a recommendation.

 

[Stephen Dodds]

If you investigate some of the new active digital crossovers such as the dbx Driverack you may be able to make the crossover less of a hassle. Check the specs at Link Removed
JBL, Rane, Ashly and BSS make similar but more expensive units.
I have a Driverack PA and it sounds great and I will be using it with my little dipole project.
Steve

 

[Dennis XYZ]

The VMPS speakers are available as kits, with or without the enclosures. The RM40 won best of show at CES, beating out the big name brands, so it's up there as far as quality. Whether it's the speaker for you is another matter and only listening to a pair can tell you that.
http://www.vmpsaudio.com/index.htm

 

[Manuel Delaflor]

The more I read the more Im convinced about never buy a speaker again. Why pay others for their marketing campaigns and for their designs around the very same drivers that are available for anyone?

Its exactly like computers. I make my own computers, it is easy to make them better (faster, cheaper, with larger storage and components, etc) than anything commercially available.

 

[Greg Monfort]

>The more I read the more Im convinced about never buy a speaker again.
====
A good plan IMO if you're willing to learn enough to make intelligent design decisions and experiment to find what works best for you in your room.
====
> Why pay others for their marketing campaigns and for their designs around the very same drivers that are available for anyone?
====
Note that many (if not all), of the high priced spreads either get OTC drivers tweaked to their specs, or tweak them in-house, and why 'cloning' one normally requires careful measurement of the components and adjusting the design to suit. Might as well start from scratch IMO.

GM

 

[Danny Richie]

Some of the best sounding speakers I have ever heard are available as kits.

A few of them exceed any commercial models that I have heard easily.

But jumping from this to say I am able to do a speaker that can compare to a Revel or a Dunlavy is not realistic. I need to learn a lot and that is why I started this thread.

Don't kid yourself. There are many very inexpensive kits that will give those a run for their money.

 

[Manuel Delaflor]

Dan,

The ProAc 2.5 clone surely looks fine. That is more or less what I have in mind. By the way, your speakers are really good!

Greg, Im aware of what you say. Still, the original drivers are just as good. The only difference (which I see) is that the enclosure should be designed around the drivers if one can't have specially designed ones...

Danny, Im now more aware of that, you are right.

 

[Dan Wesnor]

Hey Danny! I've got 4 M16's loaded and ready to fire. My 2.5-ways using it and the MDT-30S are finished with the design phase, and the first box is in the press with its last veneer panel.

Helluva driver.

Clones: I'm convinced that many of the "tweaks" to OTC drivers used in commercial speakers serve little more purpose than to fulfill the marketing statement "We start with the best drivers in the industry, and then modify them to meed out high standards."

The 2.5 close measured (and sounded) exactly like the ProAc 2.5 in a recent test. The only difference was a slightly (very slightly) different bass loading, which would be consistant with doping the cone. But the difference was so small that it could have also been normal production line variations for the woofer.

 

[Danny Richie]

Dan,

I would be interested to hear more about your 2.5 ways using the GR-M16's and would like to see some pics as well.

I have never used them in that configuration.

Thanks,

 

[Chris Carswell]

I would too. Last time I talked to you Dan it was about the MDT-20 vs MDT-30 when I wanted to use them with the GR-165 in a MTM set up. That's when you told me about a project with the MDT-30 & the GR-M16. So, how's it coming ?
-Chris

 

[Manuel Delaflor]

I found an interesting site, look at this:
http://www.speakercity.com/bookshelf_kits.shtml
http://www.speakercity.com/floorstanding_kits.shtml
Looks like relatively soon I will be engaged in the construction of my new mains.

 

[Stephen Dodds]

This one at Speaker City looks even more interesting:
http://www.speakercity.com/GRProject...vProject.shtml
Steve