DIY Speaker Project

zerosk8er · October 2005

I've been looking to upgrade my speakers since i have a Pioneer VSX-1015 as a receiver but only 2 Polk Audio R15's as mains. My previous receiver wasnt as good so it went well with the Polks. I've looked around and liked some Athena, JBL and Polk Audio speakers that I've seen. But I started thinking that i like lots of bass and want a pair of speakers than can (but probably won't) be used without a subwoofer and actually sound as if there is a small subwoofer being used. My parents own a pair of Accusound 12 inchers and they rule!! But it''s really hard to find something like that nowdays. I've decided that what I want is a pair of speakers that are 3-way, big woofer 10-15 inch with really good bass response and I don't want to spend 1000$ (I'm still a student so something around 400-500$ including wood to build enclosure etc. would be prefect). I plan on using them primarily for music without surrounds. I live in Ottawa and I found a store that sells components and suposedly also designs speakers. I need help with design, knowing how big or small to make the enclosure and maybe some suggestions on drivers and crossovers. I know there are programs out there that help with this but I dont feel like buying software unless it's really necessary. I haven't done this before and I know its a big step but I love to build stuff and am really good at trial and error. Also if you guys (and gals) think there are some decently priced speakers that meet my demand out there please tell me about them because I don't quite know what I'm getting into and might end up buying a pair in the end.

thanx and sorry for the length

-Alex

jcaut · October 2005

I'll be the first to say that it's awfully difficult to just jump right into DIY speakers and end up with something that's truely good, UNLESS you start with a pre-existing design by someone who knows what they're doing. Speaker-building is more of a long term hobby than a one-time "build a big cool set of speakers" thing. That said, if you have some woodworking tools and a little skill, and LIKE to do that sort of thing, building your own cabinet to house someone else's design might be perfect for you.

I see you're in Ottawa so PartsExpress might not be the best choice of supplier for you, but you should check out their tech forum, if you haven't already. Inquire about a design to fit your plans on PE or on http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/.

There's a lot of excellent free software for speaker building. WinISD is a slick little box design program, available HERE. There are lots of tools at FRD consortium, and Speakerworkshop is also free, though it's more involved and measurement-based, requiring some additional hardware in order to do much with it.

Here's a nice project that might fit your budget, http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/veritas.htm. There's also a version using a less expensive tweeter.

Madisound will design crossovers for you for a pretty reasonable cost, for drivers that they sell. I've never gone that route, but people who have seem to generally be pretty happy with the results.

I don't know if any of that helps you much, but at least it will give you some reading to do.

Jason

gatemplin · October 2005

Welcome,

As Jason said you should try to find a design you like and then copy it.

What store in Ottawa sells speaker parts? Is it OZ enterprises?

A parts source that I highly recommend is www.Solen.ca in Quebec.

zerosk8er · October 2005

I found a store called speakermart that would design a crossover and cabinet according to the components i buy and the music i listen to. Does OZ Enterprises have a website? I can try and find out if theres a branch in ottawa but I've never heard of them.
thanx for the links I'll look into them, I liked the Veritas project by the way so I'm still thinking.

thanx

-Alex

Dennis Gardner · October 2005

Pioneer 1015 doesn't equal "big bass" with any speaker at loud volumes unless they are very efficient. Klipsch comes to mind.

zerosk8er · October 2005

If I wanted to make it a bi-wireable speaker would that complicate it too much? I know my receiver has that option and I would like to take advantage of it. Is it actually worth it? I've never heard bi-wired speakers so I don't have anything to compare.
thanx

steveinaz · October 2005

IMHO bi-wiring is largely voo-doo audio, and way overrated. Some of the best speakers on the planet are not biwirable. Good crossover design will far negate anything biwiring would accomplish.

zerosk8er · October 2005

It's good to know everyones opinion so thanx. I heard that if u had a 100wpc amp and 2 biwired fronts that there would be 200wpc going to each front. Is this true?

thanx

-Alex

Edit: My bad I meant biamp again!

Dennis Gardner · October 2005

Research this forum for "biwire" and "biamp". They are 2 entirely different approaches.

To "Biwire" indicates 2 sets of wires coming from 1 amp channel.

To "Biamp" indicates 2 sets of amplifiers.

Big difference..............

IMO with a little Pioneer 1015, either method is a waste of time and money.

Insert tongue in cheek and repeat after me..............Biwiring is the poor mans way to thinking he is getting better sound. Biamping is the rich mans way of showing how much money he has to waste on his sound.

jcaut · October 2005

I agree with Steve and Dennis. It's not something that's going to make a huge improvement in sound, especially not in a rather basic rig. Bi-amping has some merits, but it requires more amps and a sound knowledge of what you're trying to accomplish.

If you're building a speaker, though, and want to make it bi-wire, or bi-amp capable, all you would do is wire the high-pass and low-pass portions of the crossover seperately to two sets of binding posts (or whatever). For non- bi-wire use you'd just bridge the two sets of inputs together with speaker wire---or most input cups designed for biwiring have metal straps.

Jason

steveinaz · October 2005

Dennis Gardner wrote:

Insert tongue in cheek and repeat after me..............Biwiring is the poor mans way to thinking he is getting better sound. Biamping is the rich mans way of showing how much money he has to waste on his sound.

Outstanding, could not have said that better. :cool:

To give you some background, I bi-wired and bi-amped for years; it wasn't worth it---financially or sonically. I'm back to a single set of speaker cables and 1 amplifier.

Airplay355 · October 2005

I had extra wire so i bi-wired. I have no idea if it made a difference or not because I got new speakers, a new amp, and bi-wired all at once. Do I care if it made a difference? Nope not at all, but it isn't doing anything bad and its better then having my cable curled up in the closet. So if you have the extra wire, bi-wire away.

zerosk8er · October 2005

I do have a **** load of wire lying around, good quality too. So i think I will opt for the bi-wiring, I'm still a beginner and I want to try everyhting out before I decide on whats best. Thanks for all the tips and your opinions. I recently took 8 books out of my public library so its time to read!!!

have a good one

-Alex

Dennis Gardner · October 2005

They still have libraries? I thought that those were things of the past with the internet and all. :rolleyes:

Good on you! You can never know enough about the theories and acoustical properties of this hobby.

DIY Speaker Project

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