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DIY Speakers vs Commercial Heavy Hitters

trivium

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Hi Guys,

im looking for a set of speakers for my mother in law to pair with a cheap used receiver. I have two Tymphany BC25TG15-05 tweeters new in the box from a project a while ago i never started. I was planning on building some of paul carmod'ys classix II speakers with the tweeters i have, however the build is still going to cost about $250 CAD all in by the time i buy the MDF. For that money i was looking at some of the commercial heavy hitters and cant help but feel any of the budget DIY speakers are hardly worth building now with some of these heavy hitters in the market...thoughts? Im trying to avoid going used as its a gift and i think it will lessen the impact and appreciation factor. I know DIY will have maximum impact but in reality may not be worth the time.

I should mention though that im currently building an active, Bluetooth overnight sensation boom box, however this is a anomaly because there is really no reasonably priced commercial equivalents which is why i decided to build it. Im not sure if i would build the OS just for bookshelf's alone with so many great commercial equivalents, where in my mind leverage the R&D from their most expensive speakers so that one is just paying for parts and cheap labor from china.

Heavy Hitters:
Elac DB5
Paradigm Monitor SE ATOM (I personally have these as surrounds, i listened to them in a 2.1 setup and they punch way above their class)
NHT from amazon
Mission LX-2
 

Inner Space

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Great questions. The issue seems more about love and emotion, rather than technology and value. For my mother-in-law, I would have been at the pawnshop with twenty bucks. But you seem to like yours, and she seems to like you, to the point where a labored-over handmade item would mean a lot. So do it that way. Or - as a halfway option - consider used, but really clean them up, like antiques. That would be a personal input. You said she has a used receiver. And presumably she's no spring chicken herself.
 

Absolute

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Competing against cheap but excellent small speakers with a DIY design is a waste of time. It'll be more expensive or perform worse - or take way too much time to do right to make the effort worth it. (Assuming normal diy skills, not elite level speaker designer and part-time carpenter or something.)

Once you go big and bold it's a different story, imo. Things that are expensive because they're big and heavy is a better target for value.

And let's face it, unless it's big and heavy we're talking toys. :D
 
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trivium

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Competing against cheap but excellent small speakers with a DIY design is a waste of time. It'll be more expensive or perform worse - or take way too much time to do right to make the effort worth it. (Assuming normal diy skills, not elite level speaker designer and part-time carpenter or something.)

Once you go big and bold it's a different story, imo. Things that are expensive because they're big and heavy is a better target for value.

And let's face it, unless it's big and heavy we're talking toys. :D

Well that was my thoughts aswell with entry level DIY speakers, I’m not a professional but here is my overnight sensation boom box work in progress made from 1/2” premium sanded pine to keep the weight down. A few things and mistakes im not happy about but not bad for my first go at DIY speakers other than subwoofers. Like i said though nothing even remotely hifi exists thats portable so thats the only reason i made it. As you can see im still waiting for the components. I used a chunk of Rigid PVC, a heatgun and glass corona bottle to form the bell ends as i couldn't find anything in canada that meets the tuning requirements for the ports. I was going for a rustic with a touch of class cigar box design to complement the gold Hivi woofers. I made the front a removable baffle in case i wanted to tinker with the crossover and ports. The goal was to separate the tweeters as much as possible to maximize whatever minimal stereo separation/imaging is offered.
 

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trivium

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Great questions. The issue seems more about love and emotion, rather than technology and value. For my mother-in-law, I would have been at the pawnshop with twenty bucks. But you seem to like yours, and she seems to like you, to the point where a labored-over handmade item would mean a lot. So do it that way. Or - as a halfway option - consider used, but really clean them up, like antiques. That would be a personal input. You said she has a used receiver. And presumably she's no spring chicken herself.

Haha well i love my wife, so i suppose i tolerate my mother in law. She will be helping with our first born to be so the speakers are sort of a thankyou.
 

billjon

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I have built Paul's Classix II design as a gift for my brother in 2016.

Since I did not feel like building the cabinets and veneering or custom painting them, I used Dayton Audio BR-1 cabinets by Parts Express. The cabinets are finished "black ash" vinyl laminate and include grills with black cloth, ports, and binding post terminal cups. Please refer to this Tech Talk thread.

The Classix II speakers produce deep bass for bookshelf speakers, therefore, you do not need a subwoofer.

Parts Express offers free shipping on $99.00 or more orders.
 
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trivium

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I have built Paul's Classix II design as a gift for my brother in 2016.

Since I did not feel like building the cabinets and veneering or custom painting them, I used Dayton Audio BR-1 cabinets by Parts Express. The cabinets are finished "black ash" vinyl laminate and include grills with black cloth, ports, and binding post terminal cups. Please refer to this Tech Talk thread.

The Classix II speakers produce deep bass for bookshelf speakers, therefore, you do not need a subwoofer.

Parts Express offers free shipping on $99.00 or more orders.
Pretty much everything parts express sells to Canadian customers cost an arm and a leg to ship...especially for flat packs. I avoid parts express for these reasons. It really makes anything DIY from there not worth it so I usually stick to solen.ca. Yet I can order anything from digikey to canada for free from the USA, go figure. We get screwed on Netflix, pay more taxes and the cost of living is twice as high lol but I shouldn’t get started.
 
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trivium

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If for excellence on a budget, you can check out the Hivi DIY kit, their 3-way version.
Hivi Swan 3.1A DIY Kit

Its the basis of the excellent Sehlin Mod speakers measured here on ASR. ( So you'll need to do some electronic tweaking to get the most out of them. )

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-1a-diy-speaker-with-sehlin-mod-review.15802/
I really like that option and the 2.2 aswell but I can’t find the anywhere in Canada. I added to the Amazon.ca wish list but haven’t been able to find anything for months. Are know they use knockoff Dynaudio drivers typically used on very high end speakers.
 

TerryO

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For excellent speakers, you can buy them (and stay broke) or you can build your own and progressively get better until you can spend far less and have Better Sounding Speakers than you can honestly afford. That is also true for a lot of DIY gear that people have constructed. If you feel handicapped by a lack of skill and knowledge, remember that both are being obtained the moment you begin!
 

Worth Davis

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Build linkwitz Pluto or 521 imo, own the 521 and they are end game speakers
 
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