Do any of you sell speakers with parts from parts-express?

[Mancave]

Assuming one can make a nice enclosure, correct size, aesthetically pleasing, etc., do any of you buy drivers, crossovers and all that and sell your speakers with parts from parts-express? I'm just trying to figure out what would count as "appropriate" to sell to a consumer.

 

[Adam]

I'm just trying to figure out what would count as "appropriate" to sell to a consumer.

IMO, as long as the customer knows what he/she is buying, anything is appropriate. (Well, speaker related. )

 

[Mancave]

When does the "trade secret" stuff come in? When you create your own driver I guess?

What I really want to know is if I sell a speaker with a part from parts-express, am I selling sub-par stuff. If I ever did do anything, I don't want to sell total junk.

OTOH, if I market something and say, Oh, they came from a place named "parts-express," that does not sound good to my ears. Sounds cheap. It may not be in reality but it doesn't sound good to the consumer, imho.

I guess, Dayton Audio DC250-8 10" Classic Woofer, sounds better. Hope I'm making sense.

 

[Swerd]

Assuming one can make a nice enclosure, correct size, aesthetically pleasing, etc., do any of you buy drivers, crossovers and all that and sell your speakers with parts from parts-express? I'm just trying to figure out what would count as "appropriate" to sell to a consumer.

When does the "trade secret" stuff come in? When you create your own driver I guess?

What I really want to know is if I sell a speaker with a part from parts-express, am I selling sub-par stuff. If I ever did do anything, I don't want to sell total junk.

OTOH, if I market something and say, Oh, they came from a place named "parts-express," that does not sound good to my ears. Sounds cheap. It may not be in reality but it doesn't sound good to the consumer, imho.

I guess, Dayton Audio DC250-8 10" Classic Woofer, sounds better. Hope I'm making sense.

For nearly all DIY speaker builders I know, Parts Express, Madisound, and Meniscus Audio supply nearly all the parts. That includes drivers (woofer, tweeters, etc.), crossover parts, and speaker cabinet hardware. All three vendors have good reputations. Mostly they sell parts manufactured by other companies. Parts Express has it's own line of parts called Dayton. Some of the Dayton Classic drivers are inexpensive but decent quality, and some (Dayton RS or reference series) are very good but still priced lower than some other well-known driver makers.

The kits sold by all 3 vendors are very good, and can be significantly better than what is available in stores for the same price.

There are very few patents in speakers, but the proprietary or trade secret part is the specific crossover and cabinet design for a given set of woofers & tweeters. Most DIY designs publish all these details, and are for personal use or resale in limited quantities. If someone started selling larger quantities of their proprietary designs or kits, companies like PE, Madisound, or Meniscus might want to talk to your lawyer about licensing fees.

I don't know of anyone making their own DIY drivers, much less selling them.

From your earlier questions, I thought you were new to DIY speaker building, but now you're talking about selling stuff. What do you have in mind?

 

[Mancave]

I am new. I like the process, but I'm also entrepreneurial in my thoughts. I tend to think ahead thinking of ways to turn hobbies in the businesses. Just my nature, getting all the facts. Both sides interest me.

 

[ImcLoud]

A friend of mine made his own cabinet for 3 seas 6.5" speakers and then put the tweets and mids in their own cubes on top of the enclosure, and made some weird exposed crossover boards so he could unplug and replace components at will to change the sound and test different combos, they sounded really good, and he made the enclosure exactly to the volume specs seas suggested and he had everything is separate enclosures...

Heres the problem my ascend 340s cost half of what he paid I had to do no work and sound better..... So if you are not doing it just to create your own design for your own satisfaction it doesn't make sense,,,, their are too many people with actual scientific know how, professional experience and clout, with R&D budgets to compete with...


You want to create your own design, figure out the volume of a 340se enclosure and make them with nice curved cabinets and apply a sweet veneer, then just buy a pair of 340s and install all the parts in your box, thats the grills, crossovers, drivers, cables, ports, plugs and tweets for $500 a pair, all top quality stuff, tested and proven... If you really want to get fancy, make them into towers and install a 10" driver in the base...

 

[lsiberian]

A friend of mine made his own cabinet for 3 seas 6.5" speakers and then put the tweets and mids in their own cubes on top of the enclosure, and made some weird exposed crossover boards so he could unplug and replace components at will to change the sound and test different combos, they sounded really good, and he made the enclosure exactly to the volume specs seas suggested and he had everything is separate enclosures...

Heres the problem my ascend 340s cost half of what he paid I had to do no work and sound better..... So if you are not doing it just to create your own design for your own satisfaction it doesn't make sense,,,, their are too many people with actual scientific know how, professional experience and clout, with R&D budgets to compete with...

You want to create your own design, figure out the volume of a 340se enclosure and make them with nice curved cabinets and apply a sweet veneer, then just buy a pair of 340s and install all the parts in your box, thats the grills, crossovers, drivers, cables, ports, plugs and tweets for $500 a pair, all top quality stuff, tested and proven... If you really want to get fancy, make them into towers and install a 10" driver in the base...

The Ascends are not flawless speakers and your proposal is silly at best.

If you want to build your own speakers with your own design it is certainly doable. A dayton reference build would sound fantastic and could be produced for a reasonable price.

 

[ImcLoud]

The Ascends are not flawless speakers and your proposal is silly at best.

If you want to build your own speakers with your own design it is certainly doable. A dayton reference build would sound fantastic and could be produced for a reasonable price.

OHH, I misunderstood, so he is building "flawless" speakers, I'm sorry I thought he was just some guy that a couple days ago was asking about diy speakers, I didn't know he was going to bring us the new "flawless" speaker...

I have listened to a lot of speakers I have to say the cheap 340s are by far well above there price and I don't think there are many people throwing together a speaker that sounds as good for $500.... and my post was just to put into perspective that there isn't much difference between buying a kit and slapping it together vs buying a complete speaker and putting it in your own enclosure, if anything that takes more skill, than glueing together a cnc'd enclosure and soldering a pre made crossover up...

and I'm glad Im the one in this thread being "silly" lol, thats exactly what I was shooting for...

 

[Mancave]

No, not flawless! So does this mean you all do sell speakers made from those parts or not? Is everyone in it for hobby sake? That's okay. I'm only curious. One guy said he thought Dayton drivers were junk. Others love them. I don't want to start that war. Just the entrepreneurial side of things.

 

[Swerd]

I would guess that most DIY builders are in it for the hobby. However, there must be people who sell their work.

One guy said he thought Dayton drivers were junk. Others love them.

Every DIY noob I've ever known (including myself) initially believes that you must have expensive drivers to make good sounding speakers. The first thing DIYers learn is that you can make good sounding speakers with inexpensive drivers such as the Dayton Classic series. It's all about proper cabinet and crossover design.

Anyone who claims Dayton drivers are junk is clearly showing his lack of experience and knowledge in DIY speakers, and I wouldn't trust anything else he may say.

The Parts Express catalog, and PE's Dayton drivers are essential to DIY speaker building in the USA.

 

[slipperybidness]

I would guess that most DIY builders are in it for the hobby. However, there must be people who sell their work

Yup. I would guess some may sell their work just to clear out space and have room for the next project.

 

[monkish54]

Two things:

1. John "Zaph" K. designed and sells his own driver, the ZA14W08.

Any DiYer can build his/her own driver. The resourses are out there to produce it, you must gain the knowledge first. I'd like to design my own drivers eventually, much like Zaph did.

2. Some Dayton drivers are top notch. Some of those RS series driver compete with drivers far more expensive. Sure Scan-Speak drivers are better, but Dayton drivers are tremendous value. That Dayton RS28A is pretty damn awesome for the price!