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DIY speakers....

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8K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  DrDyna 
#1 ·
When you buy speakers you usually will shop around and listen to all the candidates until you find one you like... How do you choose when you are doing a DIY speaker? Do you select on looks and just take what you get?

tia,
Ron
 
#2 ·
Personally, I select drivers based on specifications or how they've been described in a previous project. Then, using the driver's strengths and weaknesses, design a crossover which does what I want it to, then spend a couple of weeks tweaking it.

You never have to "take what you get" really, if you set out to design a speaker with certain criteria. It's more of a "build what you want" instead of "try to find something you like by listening to what other people wanted."
 
#3 ·
Yeah, there's a lot more trial and error in DIY speakers. If you see a design you like, you can just copy it and most likely be happy (and since you make the crossover yourself, you can tweak the design a little for small changes like in-wall, on-wall, or other installation/construction specific changes).

That's the best part, really -- dialing it in. It's what separates the DIY from purchased. I guess you can always take a regular speaker and modify the crossover, but I find that the whole design and planning phase makes you much more in tune with how everything interacts and makes tweaking things easier.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, there's a lot more trial and error in DIY speakers. *snip*
I'd even go one further than that. Once you have done a couple of designs, I'd even say there's less trial and error in DIY. Once you've got a good handle on what you're really after when it comes to a quality speaker, you can go into various projects with your preferences and expectations in mind, as well as what you've gotta do as far as your own engineering to come out closer to what you're expecting.

I've probably done 30 or so various speaker designs since I got into this hobby about 15 years ago (I'm barely 34), and I think it's easier for me to end up with a product that I like, versus someone who spends a couple of weeks auditioning other people's designs before settling on something that's close enough to what they want.

There might be trial and error, but aside from very few exceptions, the trial and error happens on paper..rather than it happening in the sound room of a retail establishment. Once you come to an understanding with yourself about what your expectations are and know what you like, picking that "out of a lineup" of drivers and designs becomes fairly trivial.

(insert sound of 2 cents hitting the ground here.)
 
#5 ·
Well I like my Paradigm Studio 80s but I also loved my Martin Logan 2s... What would be a suggested DIY for my new HT? I will be doing 7.1 or 9.2 in my 2 car garage which is 17'x23' (will be a little smaller after soundproofing the garage walls and ceiling)? I had thought about just building the front wall out and putting my existing speakers behind it, but it I wanted to upgrade is the question at hand here.

tia,
Ron
 
#6 ·
#7 ·
#8 ·
You would have to e-mail contact@jantzen-audio.com for a real quote with shipping. It depends on your idea of pricey :p

As far as what to use for rears, it all depends. One should really aim to have the same tonality across all their speakers, so using either the same for all 7, or "close" to the same, like my example of the DTQWT for mains and then the Quatto, which are fairly similar, except the quattro is smaller and lacks the large eminence woofers. It's tonality is probably very similar, though.

But, don't forget, this is DIY. You're skipping the design stage going with a proven design. If you ordered the kit from Jantzen, you'd get a box with drivers and crossover components and you'd have to build your own cabinets following Troels' instructions. Most of Troels' designs I would place in the "advanced" category, so I wouldn't try it without a full compliment of good power tools, table saw and some fairly well honed woodworkind skills.

Bear in mind, the diamond is probably a lot more pricey than the DTQWT. The diamond tweeter isn't just a name.

Take a look at what goes into the diamond cabinet here:

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Jenzen-D.htm#CABINET
 
#9 · (Edited)
I'd define them as pricy I think it's around $6400.00 in drivers.
C173 – 6 – 191E - $400 each
JANTZEN JDT-1024 - $1,999.00 each
Audiotechnology Flex Unit 10C772510 KAP - 852.06 each

As for how I select drivers I'll usually take an interest in what I've heard at DIY events listening to different speakers there for project ideas. Especially if I think a driver is outperforming where it's priced at. In some cases the price is too good to be true like the RT2IIs I bought at the closeout price of $35.00. I wanted to design a 2 way on a budget for them so they sat for almost a year until I heard the Aura NS6 at DIY NY last year. At that point I started looking at driver specs to see how I thought they'd match. After that was crossover simulations and then going ahead and buying the driver and crossover parts.

Take it easy
Jay
 
#10 ·
EEK $6400 in drivers... Def will be out of my price range
 
#12 ·
What you refer to in "liking the way a speaker sounds" almost sure to be how the crossover is voiced and not because of the drivers themselves. In DIY you have control over the vopicing, and if you have the patience to do the re-work each time, you can keep tweaking until you find the voicing that you like.

Those prices are nuts. There are dozens of top-notch DIY designs out there that use drivers <$100/ea, in my mind there's no reason to be spending thousands. There are diminishing returns in buying the expensive drivers. Oversights or mistakes in the design, or a bad measurement make a way bigger impact on the project than any noticeable "upgrade" from a $100 tweeter to a $500 tweeter.
 
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