$10,000

[JohnnieB]

I thought a system recommendation on this budget would be interesting. Guidlines: Do not include a display or projector. Most people allready have a display of some sort. Do not include furniture, ie racks, ent. centers, audio cabinets, I feel these things can be built bought used or something makeshift made to work. Speaker stands can be included if they are matched from the speaker manufacturer. Refurbed gear is accepted, but not used, no garage sale stuff. Any refurbed must have warranty. Do not forget cabling. This is for fun, there is no right or wrong as far as brand x being better than y. It,s simply to see what kind of variety comes up. Make it a wish list or an existing build. I would also like to keep these to 5.1.2 or 7.1.2 systems. Thanks in advance for taking the time to participate.One last caveat. This will be a 50/50 HT music system.

 

[afterlife2]

Dang here I thought you were giving it away. False advertising.

 

[JohnnieB]

That would be fun. Degree in marketing from BOSE University. Wait...what?

 

[rojo]

Denon AVR-X4000 from A4L ~$920 shipped I guess

2x MB Quart Alexxa floor standers
1x MB Quart Vera VS1C center
2x MB Quart Vera VS1SW subwoofer
Assuming $200 freight for shipping of all from Maxxsonics, that's about $2215 shipped

4x NXG surrounds ~$180 shipped from Amazon
Generously figure $250 for wall mounts, lamp cord, subwoofer cables, HDMI cables, banana plugs, misc. as needed from Amazon.

What are we up to, about 3600?

Take the other $6400, buy a pair of outdoor rock speakers and a hot tub for zone 2 on the back patio.

 

[shadyJ]

If it was me, I would go DIY on everything except for receiver/amp. $10k would go a long way in DIT speakers and subs. If I wasn't able to go DIY for whatever reason, I would go for something like I recently recommended here.

 

[rojo]

If you think about it, isn't music often about wooing women? My hot tub idea will go much further than your deafening THXnis measuring contest. Just sayin'.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk

 

[fuzz092888]

If you think about it, isn't music often about wooing women? My hot tub idea will go much further than your deafening THXnis measuring contest. Just sayin'.

If all you're looking to do is woo women, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here. Just sayin'.

 

[fuzz092888]

I guess it would depend on which I was doing, a HT system or a dedicated 2.X system. Either way I'd be looking to go DIY for everything.

 

[JohnnieB]

So speakers in a hot tub to woo who?
"I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted." W.C. Fields
I often thought about diy and may yet try a set of bookshelf. I figured diy would be relatively cheaper. Is that the case?

 

[fuzz092888]

I often thought about diy and may yet try a set of bookshelf. I figured diy would be relatively cheaper. Is that the case?

Depends on how you define cheaper. The performance vs price value can definitely be there, but it usually really hits its stride after a certain point.

 

[JohnnieB]

Not sure I follow, I have to go for bigger towers for it to pay off?

 

[fuzz092888]

Not sure I follow, I have to go for bigger towers for it to pay off?

No, what I'm saying is that you're probably not going to be building anything to compete with commercial speakers that you can buy for between $50-200. Mainly because, at that price range, a big company can manufacture higher quality parts in bulk for cheaper than you can buy individual parts for DIY. This is also why I said it depends on what you consider cheaper. If you're going to go the kit route, you'll probably spend $2-400 on a parts kit, then either lumber or a flat pack/prebuilt cabinet, finishing materials, and whatever else you need to bring the project to completion. Depending on how elaborate you get with your finishing you could be looking at tacking on an extra $50-250 onto the kit price for a pair of bookshelves. So you'll end up with a $300+ pair of DIY bookshelves that will likely be able to compete with commercial speakers in the $4-700+ range (your ears are the qualifier here).

The other point I'm making is that the more expensive kit you get, usually the greater value you'll see in terms of raw performance. Most manufacturers aren't putting $1000+ worth of drivers and crossover parts into a $1500 speaker. So if you buy a really good parts kit for $1000 then put $500 into building some really nice cabs (depending on your ears) you'll likely be comparing your $1500 speakers to much much more expensive commercial offerings.

This isn't to say that a less expensive kit will be less valuable. I built the Mandolin kit designed by Jeff Bagby which was around $350 for the parts kit, did a simple/cheap build for around $50 in some maple trim, leftover Maple veneered ply, and poly. To my ears, I have no problem putting them up against nearly any bookshelves I've heard at any price point. They're not the be all end all, but they're very good and for the money I put into them it was well worth it since I would've had to spend a lot more on a pair of commercial bookshelves to get the same quality.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[JohnnieB]

Thank you Fuzz. This has me thinking a little more seriously about DIY. I'm somewhat familiar with Parts Express. Where do you recommend for components, kits? Any recommended books on cabinet design?

 

[fuzz092888]

Thank you Fuzz. This has me thinking a little more seriously about DIY. I'm somewhat familiar with Parts Express. Where do you recommend for components, kits? Any recommended books on cabinet design?

Well are you looking for something that contains all the parts, you just need to assemble it? Or do you want to build the cabinet as well? Bookshelves, towers? Price point for the kit?

I can certainly give some recommendations and advice, but if you want to browse around yourself then PE has some kits, but there's also

meniscusaudio.com
madisoundspeakerstore.com
diysoundgroup.com
Speaker kits, loudspeaker design services, sub-woofers and amplifiers.
Pi Speakers - unmatched quality and state-of-the-art performance
Selah Audio

As for cabinet design, all kits come with pretty detailed plans on exactly what you're supposed to do. However, the best resource for cabinet design help that I've found is PE Techtalk forum. Any questions or things you aren't sure about and they will get you set straight if I or someone else here can't help you. Still not a bad place to check out to see what project those guys are working on.

Tech Talk Forum

 

[fuzz092888]

Since you're here on AH and you're interested in DIY, it's mandatory you check out Dr. Mark's (TLS Guy) massive reference tower build.

CONSTRUCTION AND INSTALLATION OF TRANSMISSION LINE SPEAKERS FOR WALBERSWICK STUDIOS AND THE BEGINNING OF EQUIPMENT INSTALLATION - mdcarter

 

[Plexmulti9]

The DIY forum section must be slow these days......

 

[fuzz092888]

The DIY forum section must be slow these days......

It usually is

 

[JohnnieB]

I caught TLS in the sub thread, he sent me a link. Wow is all I can say. If i,m ever up that way fishing musky on leech I may look him up. I do quite a bit of home remodelling, so i,m pretty confident I can build a speaker cabinet. That doesn,t mean I know anything about designing a speaker cabinet. I need to educate myself on some basic electronics before I attempt my first crossover. It took me 6 mo. to decide on which components I wanted for my new audio setup, I don't think i'll rush into this either. I'll save your suggestions to favorites and surf around in them for a while. Thanks.

 

[fuzz092888]

I caught TLS in the sub thread, he sent me a link. Wow is all I can say. If i,m ever up that way fishing musky on leech I may look him up. I do quite a bit of home remodelling, so i,m pretty confident I can build a speaker cabinet. That doesn,t mean I know anything about designing a speaker cabinet. I need to educate myself on some basic electronics before I attempt my first crossover. It took me 6 mo. to decide on which components I wanted for my new audio setup, I don't think i'll rush into this either. I'll save your suggestions to favorites and surf around in them for a while. Thanks.

For your basic cabinet, it's just a box with some holes cut in the front. if you choose to get into it, there's recessing the drivers (which should be pretty easy for you), chamfering behind the woofer and making sure everything is air tight. Most of the Meniscus and Madisound kits have an option to have the crossovers preassmebled.

There's a lot to choose from in the kit world. I've got my eye on a few different ones.

 

[shadyJ]

Well are you looking for something that contains all the parts, you just need to assemble it? Or do you want to build the cabinet as well? Bookshelves, towers? Price point for the kit?

I can certainly give some recommendations and advice, but if you want to browse around yourself then PE has some kits, but there's also

meniscusaudio.com
madisoundspeakerstore.com
diysoundgroup.com
Speaker kits, loudspeaker design services, sub-woofers and amplifiers.
Pi Speakers - unmatched quality and state-of-the-art performance
Selah Audio

As for cabinet design, all kits come with pretty detailed plans on exactly what you're supposed to do. However, the best resource for cabinet design help that I've found is PE Techtalk forum. Any questions or things you aren't sure about and they will get you set straight if I or someone else here can't help you. Still not a bad place to check out to see what project those guys are working on.

Tech Talk Forum

+1,
Another lively DIY place with lots of information and helpful posters is the DIY subforum as AVSforum.