Ideas for the budget minded diy-er?

[Akoma]

I have a 8'x4' piece of 3/4" MDF lying around and have been toying with the idea of building a pair of speakers out of it. Ideally a nice pair of 3-ways for use with my vintage Sony TA-F3A. I have been poking around here and there on DIY speaker sites and haven't really found what I am looking for. Basically what I want is a tested design with a shopping list of ingredients. All the places I found seem to be experiments by people much more skilled and knowledgeable in these areas, and they expect you to know what you are doing. And they weren't cheap either. Don't get me wrong I don't want crap but something affordable would be nice.

Task: 3-way DIYs on the cheap

Budget: $200 or less (or as close as you can get, whatever)

 

[Swerd]

I have a 8'x4' piece of 3/4" MDF lying around and have been toying with the idea of building a pair of speakers out of it. Ideally a nice pair of 3-ways for use with my vintage Sony TA-F3A. I have been poking around here and there on DIY speaker sites and haven't really found what I am looking for. Basically what I want is a tested design with a shopping list of ingredients. All the places I found seem to be experiments by people much more skilled and knowledgeable in these areas, and they expect you to know what you are doing. And they weren't cheap either. Don't get me wrong I don't want crap but something affordable would be nice.

Task: 3-way DIYs on the cheap

Budget: $200 or less (or as close as you can get, whatever)

Here are a few tested designs from good DIY speaker designers. The first one will probably be closest to your budget, and I'm not sure about the cost for those others, although they promise to sound better. Be sure to look around those web sites at their other designs. You may find some MTM designs that might sound great and be less expensive than a 3-way.

http://www.parts-express.com/projectshowcase/indexn.cfm?project=woodies

http://www.rjbaudio.com/Dionysus/dionysus.html

http://www.zaphaudio.com/ZDT3.5.html

http://www.lonesaguaro.com/speakers/

 

[highfigh]

I have a 8'x4' piece of 3/4" MDF lying around and have been toying with the idea of building a pair of speakers out of it. Ideally a nice pair of 3-ways for use with my vintage Sony TA-F3A. I have been poking around here and there on DIY speaker sites and haven't really found what I am looking for. Basically what I want is a tested design with a shopping list of ingredients. All the places I found seem to be experiments by people much more skilled and knowledgeable in these areas, and they expect you to know what you are doing. And they weren't cheap either. Don't get me wrong I don't want crap but something affordable would be nice.

Task: 3-way DIYs on the cheap

Budget: $200 or less (or as close as you can get, whatever)

Look for the Recession Buster at Madisound and the thread about them here. $59/pair or $29 each if you need an odd number. They come with the woofer, tweeter and crossover. For the $200 you mention, you can have 5 and still not break the bank. The box dimensions are on the Madisound site.

 

[highfigh]

Here are a few tested designs from good DIY speaker designers. The first one will probably be closest to your budget, and I'm not sure about the cost for those others, although they promise to sound better. Be sure to look around those web sites at their other designs. You may find some MTM designs that might sound great and be less expensive than a 3-way.

http://www.parts-express.com/projectshowcase/indexn.cfm?project=woodies

http://www.rjbaudio.com/Dionysus/dionysus.html

http://www.zaphaudio.com/ZDT3.5.html

http://www.lonesaguaro.com/speakers/

I'm not sure the Dionysus will fit the $200 budget. The crossovers will probably cost that much.

 

[lsiberian]

I have a 8'x4' piece of 3/4" MDF lying around and have been toying with the idea of building a pair of speakers out of it. Ideally a nice pair of 3-ways for use with my vintage Sony TA-F3A. I have been poking around here and there on DIY speaker sites and haven't really found what I am looking for. Basically what I want is a tested design with a shopping list of ingredients. All the places I found seem to be experiments by people much more skilled and knowledgeable in these areas, and they expect you to know what you are doing. And they weren't cheap either. Don't get me wrong I don't want crap but something affordable would be nice.

Task: 3-way DIYs on the cheap

Budget: $200 or less (or as close as you can get, whatever)

for 200 dollars I don't see alot in the way of 3-ways. But your best bet is to get a pair of nice used car audio subs. like JL Audio 8w6s or something similar and then a pair of RB kits or Recession Destroyer kits. Build the bottom cabinet seperate from the top cabinet. Line the walls with 2" Fiber or rockwool. and you will have a nice speaker system. Do build em sealed. It's much simpler and you don't have to buy any ports. with the Subs handling the bottom you don't need the extra extension anyway.

You can use WinISD and boxnotes to design your boxes.

 

[Guiria]

Agreed that 200 dollars is a pretty tight budget for a pair of DIY 3-ways.

Check out this build

http://www.zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html

Not a three way but will definitely fit in your budget and should produce plenty of SPL from what the build page suggests. MTM's are usually very efficient and easy to power. Just browse Zaph's site and see if there is something you like that you can build.

Also the project showcase at Parts Express will have some speakers that fit your budget.

Another good source I've found is the mission possible DIY section over at htguide.com.

All these sources have documented builds that are budget friendly. You should be able to find something there that works for your preferences and budget.

The other suggestions earlier in this thread are good but some of them are well above 200 dollars.

 

[lsiberian]

Agreed that 200 dollars is a pretty tight budget for a pair of DIY 3-ways.

Check out this build

http://www.zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html

Not a three way but will definitely fit in your budget and should produce plenty of SPL from what the build page suggests. MTM's are usually very efficient and easy to power. Just browse Zaph's site and see if there is something you like that you can build.

Also the project showcase at Parts Express will have some speakers that fit your budget.

Another good source I've found is the mission possible DIY section over at htguide.com.

All these sources have documented builds that are budget friendly. You should be able to find something there that works for your preferences and budget.

The other suggestions earlier in this thread are good but some of them are well above 200 dollars.

If you exclude the tools and materials. Mine are less than 200. But once you toss in materials the costs take off.

 

[Guiria]

If you exclude the tools and materials. Mine are less than 200. But once you toss in materials the costs take off.

Yes you are right, the Recession Busters are definitely in the budget a long with a good deal on some subs for bass modules.

I was referring to the links from Swerd, while those builds are probably worth every penny most of them (I think 3 of the 4) exceed the stated budget...if the OP can stretch some of course I would recommend he stretch the budget as much as possible IMO.