DIY Loudspeakers: Can You Build "Better" Than Professional Designs?

[MrBoat]

MrBoat
I am with you on your general line of thought as it regards things you can DIY verses just buying the end result. The end result often isn't the point: its the process or the path you take to get there that's really important. Given all the resources of a real corporation, the DIY guy probably isn't going to come up with the next great sounding speaker. Given all the resources of a real agri-corp, you aren't going to come up with cheaper produce either, or better.

But working on your own speakers is reward in itself as is gardening and providing something for your own table with your own two hands. The few tomatoes that survive my feable attempts at gardening are always worth the effort. Most things I can do a DIY approach with aren't about the end result being "better". They are about doing something myself or with my family. If the end result is pretty good, so much the better.

Better produce grown at home most definitely. No pesticides and home ripened is worlds better. One indication being, a home grown tomato, even picked ripe, will live on a counter without refrigeration for two-three weeks. Carrots will keep in a fridge drawer for months. Spinach will keep 4x longer than store bought. My kids/grandkids thought they hated carrots and green beans. Once they tried them raw, fresh from the dirt, they were hooked.

My current strawberry crop. No insect issues, sprays or chems. I have a worm composting operation that devours all of my veg scraps and my cardboard from Amazon and Parts Express. This is in part why things grow/taste so good. There's 3 cabbage plants in that one pot and they usually best 10lbs each.

Somewhat similar to speakers, I rubbed elbows with some pros that told me how and when. Some thought I was crazy trying to grow cool weather crops in Florida organically. Others, a bit more open minded once they checked out my operation and saw the sense in it. Now I am kind of known around these parts for growing killer tomatoes. It is very difficult to find stuff like tis around here. Even at the specialty outlets, with their specialty prices.

When it comes right down to it, I don't want the same thing everyone else has. I'd make some exceptions on some of JBL speakers.

When I built my diysoundgroup Tempests, I could not find a set of grilles I liked at any price. I know I am not the only one who owns the Tempests, but I am betting I am one of a few that has them in cherry with custom grilles and two RSS315 subs that match. This system is a little beyond DIY for it being a kit designed by pros of some sort. But I found a kit that defies WAF, current trends in aesthetics (as does my well lived in home) and actually ends up fitting into my industrial lifestyle. I'm a welder by trade and a bit rough around the edges and I could not buy a system that really fits all that.

 

[panerist1]

I like this article a lot. Just recently, some very confident dude told us story about some highly regarded manufacturer couldn't even build good xo, and laughed at some other highly regarded brands. He looked down to those "overpaid" engineers working for those brands (some sort of Rambo / Bond vs groups of villain). He boasted his critical listening skill & been a well-known judge to some audio contests, and has been designing xo for some of his customers gaining "significant improvement".
Then, we gave a listen to the loudspeakers he created (which isn't even cheap, relatively), in the room he specifically designed the speaker for.
What I have learned: Rambo & James Bond only exist in the movies.

 

[tszaky]

https://www.tiktok.com/@avigailadam1/video/7150116159247912235?_r=1&_t=8WCeZW7fqpS&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7150116159247912235

Cool Nautilus DIY I found

 

[blanddawg62]

Can You Build "Better" Than Professional Designs?

Uhhh. Yes. (taking 'You' in the general sense).

They don’t have anywhere near as strong an opinion about power amps or CD players or DACs or pre-pros. They have opinions, firmly-held even, but not as deeply ingrained as they feel about speakers.

Because Speakers are 98% of the sound and the only mechanical device that couples and directly interplays with the room.

Audio enthusiasts hold fast onto their opinions about speakers regardless of the degree of technical/design/engineering knowledge they have about acoustics and electronics.

That's a really broad statement to make. I think designers into Di-pole, Ri-Pole, Controlled directivity, etc....

The really talented enthusiasts try all sorts of different styles and approaches.

I think that the reason people are more willing to even try to build speakers as opposed to amplifiers or CD players or turntables is because the components of loudspeakers are more available and there are so many fewer 'moving parts' involved. Not to mention the fact that the main components of loudspeakers are mechanical (the drivers) instead of electronic (circuitboards, transistors, capacitors, and transformers). Loudspeakers just appear simpler than other audio components.

 

[TLS Guy]

I think that the reason people are more willing to even try to build speakers as opposed to amplifiers or CD players or turntables is because the components of loudspeakers are more available and there are so many fewer 'moving parts' involved. Not to mention the fact that the main components of loudspeakers are mechanical (the drivers) instead of electronic (circuitboards, transistors, capacitors, and transformers). Loudspeakers just appear simpler than other audio components.

Can you please stop dredging up old threads and making inane comments.

 

[MrBoat]

Can you please stop dredging up old threads and making inane comments.

Oh, c'mon now TLS Guy. It's not as if this forum is loaded with new threads beyond repeat questions or which new products to buy.

It's unfortunate that many of us came late to the party, or that the scroll isn't getting refreshed with enough new content that covers all the things people into audio want to talk about.

When old threads get revived, either they continue, or get buried again soon enough. If he were to start a new thread that were to ask the same question, they would be told it had already been talked about and to search the archives.

 

[jazzman53]

Can a DIY'er build better speakers than Professionals?

Generally, I must say NO, because we have fewer resources than the big companies... but it is possible.

My "generally, NO" conclusion comes from my own 30+ years of experience with results ranging from awful to pretty good, but never fully meeting my lofty expectations, nor did I save any money if I account for my labor at minimum wage.

Finally though, after decades and many failures, I succeeded in building a speaker that sounds as good (more often better) than the professional speakers I've heard.

I attribute my ultimate success to a hand-built transducer favored by physics, opting for a DSP crossover/bi-amp setup rather than passive, and not being constrained to produce a commercially viable product.

My final design (I no longer build speakers) is is a symmetrically segmented wire-stator, hybrid ESL with electronically-tailored dispersion and an OB-mounted woofer. It's frame and stator support lattice consists of 69 interlocking red oak details, and the labor was so horrendous, no one in their right mind would attempt it.

 

[Bobby Bass]

Those look awesome congrats! My buddy and I tried building speakers when we were in school. He bought the tweeters, bass and crossover components from a French company. We had to make the cabinets from scratch. Way over my head and skill level. Wish I had the talent to build a beautiful setup. I buy instead. A man has got to know his limitations

 

[haraldo]

you can still do things you won´t find in commercial speakers .... my first build was with 2.5" mdf cabinet walls, lined with 3 layers of bitumen inside; for a small .042 cubic feet bookshelf speaker with two Seas 5" p13-rcy midwoofers and a Seas 1" softdome in MTM setup, small speakers weighing in at 60lbs.

I think it bettered any speaker at the price range I paid for it, not very linear but simple crossover and heavy EQ made for extremely enjoyable listening experiences, I lived with them more than 5 years before John Dunlavy designed Duntech PCL-15 speakers came along and bettered everything. DIY is fun

Maybe I wanna redo that build with latest state of the art drivers and an active digital x-over, this time with Panzerholz cabinet walls,

diy´ers can do this. we can go extremely extreme with material selection, without breaking the bank .... So possibility to better commercial designs, YES
Ken Fritz did this

 

[TLS Guy]

Can a DIY'er build better speakers than Professionals?

Generally, I must say NO, because we have fewer resources than the big companies... but it is possible.

My "generally, NO" conclusion comes from my own 30+ years of experience with results ranging from awful to pretty good, but never fully meeting my lofty expectations, nor did I save any money if I account for my labor at minimum wage.

Finally though, after decades and many failures, I succeeded in building a speaker that sounds as good (more often better) than the professional speakers I've heard.

I attribute my ultimate success to a hand-built transducer favored by physics, opting for a DSP crossover/bi-amp setup rather than passive, and not being constrained to produce a commercially viable product.

My final design (I no longer build speakers) is is a symmetrically segmented wire-stator, hybrid ESL with electronically-tailored dispersion and an OB-mounted woofer. It's frame and stator support lattice consists of 69 interlocking red oak details, and the labor was so horrendous, no one in their right mind would attempt it.

View attachment 65543

A beautiful unique design. You can't buy that online or at the B & M store.

 

[TLS Guy]

you can still do things you won´t find in commercial speakers .... my first build was with 2.5" mdf cabinet walls, lined with 3 layers of bitumen inside; for a small .042 cubic feet bookshelf speaker with two Seas 5" p13-rcy midwoofers and a Seas 1" softdome in MTM setup, small speakers weighing in at 60lbs.

I think it bettered any speaker at the price range I paid for it, not very linear but simple crossover and heavy EQ made for extremely enjoyable listening experiences, I lived with them more than 5 years before John Dunlavy designed Duntech PCL-15 speakers came along and bettered everything. DIY is fun

Maybe I wanna redo that build with latest state of the art drivers and an active digital x-over, this time with Panzerholz cabinet walls,

diy´ers can do this. we can go extremely extreme with material selection, without breaking the bank .... So possibility to better commercial designs, YES
Ken Fritz did this

Yes, that is the whole point. To design and make a system that has no commercial equivalent.

There is nothing commercially remotely like my speakers system.

I think a lot depends on your mentors.

The other issue is that most commercial speakers are not designed to reproduce classical music optimally. That includes large orchestral works, choral works, and especially opera.

The reasons are largely two fold. A really big problem is that that do not generally have enough power band width in the midrange frequencies and they tend to be over resonant.

You can also do your take on some classic designs, and a major inspiration for me was the legendary active TL monitors at the BBC studios at Maida Vale.

They were designed cooperatively by competitors, including Peter Walker, Raymond Cooke, and Jim Rogers.

They were taken down a few years ago. A couple of the power amp boards, designed by Peter Walker came up on eBay a few years ago. I just cold not resist. So I have Quad 405-II with those two amps in it.

There are a lot of reasons to choose to go the DIY route. For me a huge motivation is to provide speakers at a performance level not commercially available.
Secondly economic reasons, as you get top end performance at a fraction of the cost of top end commercial designs.

It also allows you to create speaker systems that in no way would be commercially viable. Lastly it allows for total design and the ability to design speaker, room, including room architecture as a unified design.