• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

High-end DIY bookshelves?

Commercial offerings and diy are mostly cones and domes in boxes. If you want bass, you pick a good driver and tune it to the bass extension you want.
 
Commercial offerings and diy are mostly cones and domes in boxes. If you want bass, you pick a good driver and tune it to the bass extension you want.
But if he's trying to choose an existing speaker design, he won't be picking the bass driver or the tuning(??) Although, if he is concerned about bass then he should pick an existing design using a quality bass driver that can reach his desired level of low-end extension and SPL.
 
I'm getting more of a vibe OP wants to share his experiences and skepticism more than they want to build something.
 
Good question, maybe EUR 1000 in drivers alone?

Definitely not aiming for a budget design. Oh and one more thing, even though I want to try a bookshelf, by my definition lack of acceptable bass extension is a show stopper. All my commercial bookshelves had more than enough of it. OTOH bass alone doesn't make a speaker great, obviously.

What is your reference commercial speaker?

If your goal is to see whether you might meet or exceed it, would help to know what the target is.
 
My Monoculus might fit well, and you have access to the coaxial via retailers over there.
Monoculus_4thtryphoto.jpg



I would not call it a kit, but all details are available.

John Krutke's ZD5 is also a very good design.
Paul Carmody's Carrera uses the same woofer.

There are MANY designs available, you just have to look.
 
Last edited:
My Monoculus might fit well, and you have access to the coaxial via retailers over there.
View attachment 378221


I would not call it a kit, but all details are available.

John Krutke's ZD5 is also a very good design.
Paul Carmody's Carrera uses the same woofer.

There are MANY designs available, you just have to look.
Is that TB driver available in the US?

Mike
 
DIY forums as well as vendors like lautsprechershop.de give more than dozens of an answer.
Btw. agree @Ktacos
 
Is that TB driver available in the US?

Mike
W4-2315, 4.5" coaxial. To my knowledge, 2 vendors in Europe (Axiomedia and Nonsolospeaker) carry it; but nothing this side of the pond yet, not even Solen or PE. There was a recent review in Voice Coil of it last month, so hopefully it will follow. The driver is only about a year and a half old since their in house measurements were taken in Jan 2023. Of the 3 upper tier coaxes TB sells, I feel this is the one with the most potential.
 
What is your reference commercial speaker?

If your goal is to see whether you might meet or exceed it, would help to know what the target is.
Best I've heard: Triangle Magellan and Raidho X2t Spectacular soudstage, detail without harshness, dynamics, everything. All that I've built (see above) were jokes that were beat by sub EUR 1000 speakers.
 
The X2T is a floorstander.
Magellan comes in several different models.
 
Doesn't matter. Everything I've owned (Dynaudio Audience 52, Dynaudio Confidence 3, Morel Octave 6) were leaps and bounds above anything I've built.

Look, I don't understand what you're getting at. My point is that what I've built was below mediocre. Almost (there are exceptions) everything I've heard, bookshelf or not was absolutely superior in each and every aspect. What I'm aiming at is superlative sound, it's not a matter of budget.
 
I thought you were looking to build a bookshelf style speaker. Then you stated the best you had heard when prompted, and they were likely both floor standers. There is a difference between floor and bookshelf models in that most floor standers will extend lower, have more than one woofer, be a 3way, etc. This yields a bias, and expectations of what floor models do in a bookshelf can lend to being underwhelmed at times. Im not saying you should change your perspective, but i feel the bookshelf choices for your endeavor could likely be counted on on hand.

I feel you are in need of a great bookshelf 3way, forget the 2way options at this point. Then it is a matter of how big you want to build...
 
Furthermore, I am a bit biased about my own designs as most designers are. It's normal. However, from the feedback ive attained, the judges comments last August at SDC, and them tying for second place in their category against floorstanders; I feel the Monoculus are just spectacular as to what they are capable of- and I have also heard a lot of both commercial and DIY designs to this point.
In their size format and type, I would be hard pressed to find one more capable without making a different stark tradeoff. They are not sensitive, but they have great detail, bass, imaging, soundstage, and directivity. Of my personal designs, I've never had one slice up the music like these do before it's served on the platter in front of you.

I'm also not trying to convince you either, I'm just stating how they sound to me and make me feel. It is not the only great bookshelf out there, but I feel it is definitely one of them.
 
With around your proposed budget, could do an active Directiva r1. As with @Wolf, may be bit biased. :)

If passive, would suggest the SB Ara Be or a Purifi SPK 16. These are SOTA DiY designs. Am stretching on the Purifi as it is pending availability. If you gave a decent custom speaker designer an open checkbook, should be able to exceed a commercial design. Am sure Troels has something too, but am not up to date on his latest.

I would not build anything without a known directivity profile. A lot of older designs were created under lesser criteria. They may be good (even great) but have no way to ensure a they would perform as well as more current speakers.
 
Last edited:
I thought you were looking to build a bookshelf style speaker. Then you stated the best you had heard when prompted, and they were likely both floor standers. There is a difference between floor and bookshelf models in that most floor standers will extend lower, have more than one woofer, be a 3way, etc. This yields a bias, and expectations of what floor models do in a bookshelf can lend to being underwhelmed at times. Im not saying you should change your perspective, but i feel the bookshelf choices for your endeavor could likely be counted on on hand.

I feel you are in need of a great bookshelf 3way, forget the 2way options at this point. Then it is a matter of how big you want to build...
The floorstanders I've mentioned were the best I've heard in absolute terms. It's simply o coincidence that the only times I had the chance for extensive sessions with my own music it was with very good fronstanders. Other bookshelves I've heard were also very good but by matter of chance the listening sessions were shorter and too far back in time to take them as references. But even in those terms they were also very good, just inferior to TOTL floorstanders. But still MUCH better compared to DIY designs I've built.
 
Good question, maybe EUR 1000 in drivers alone?

Definitely not aiming for a budget design. Oh and one more thing, even though I want to try a bookshelf, by my definition lack of acceptable bass extension is a show stopper. All my commercial bookshelves had more than enough of it. OTOH bass alone doesn't make a speaker great, obviously.
If you are not looking for budget speakers, I can recommend the Satorique kits.
Not cheap, but the developments come from a team that has been successful for over 40 years and are very uncompromising. You can choose whether you want to buy a CNC-milled cabinet kit or use the saw and milling machine yourself. You can find the measurement diagrams in the construction descriptions, as well as insights into the construction. The cabinet kits are available in MDF and birch plywood, just ask.

Visaton has some very good and many underrated kits, but the Alto series is by far the worst in my opinion.
 
If you are not looking for budget speakers, I can recommend the Satorique kits.
Not cheap, but the developments come from a team that has been successful for over 40 years and are very uncompromising. You can choose whether you want to buy a CNC-milled cabinet kit or use the saw and milling machine yourself. You can find the measurement diagrams in the construction descriptions, as well as insights into the construction. The cabinet kits are available in MDF and birch plywood, just ask.

Visaton has some very good and many underrated kits, but the Alto series is by far the worst in my opinion.
Yeah, the alto is the cheapest kit, one would expect that. They lack soundstaging but tonally they are acceptable. I see you're from Germany, have you listened to other Visaton kits?

The Satorique webpage looks very interesting too.
 
Yeah, the alto is the cheapest kit, one would expect that. They lack soundstaging but tonally they are acceptable. I see you're from Germany, have you listened to other Visaton kits?

The Satorique webpage looks very interesting too.
I have heard many of the higher quality Visaton kits, even in comparison to expensive commercial speakers.
Perhaps this is due to the Alto's being too easy to tune, or the W170S chassis; speakers with W100s, W130S and W200S are all very good to excellent.
Very good kits are La Belle CR, Couplet and the Nimrod.

The Satorique are something else entirely, especially the versions with the Berylium tweeter.
 
what is your opinion about the

Satori Helios TeXtreme 9.5" 2-Way Speaker Kit?​


Designers have creds and drivers are solid albeit pricey. Appears to have a directivity error around 2 kHz. For that kind of spend, would want to see a full spin and get better assurance before purchasing. Was just looking at Erin’s latest review of the Polk R700 at $2200. The Satori Helios kit here is around $2000 without cabinets, assembly and finishing effort. Am struggling to with how to rationalize DIYing in this case.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom