Suggestions for $200ish pair of DIY speakers for a home theater?

[tentaguasu]

I'm a novice to the DIY speaker thing, but I'm trying to set up a nice home theater "on the cheap" and have learned that DIY is the best bang for the buck. And it sounds fun too....

Anyway, I'm looking to spend roughly $200 for a pair of speakers that will be intended to do a good job of filling a 15x18 foot room with sound. I would pair them with a subwoofer. I'd stick with 2.1 channels total for the time being, so these would have to do all the work.

Any thoughts on the Microbe kit, the Madisound recession buster, Tritrix RD Recession Destroyer?

Would these have the umph to give me solid, full sound in a room that big?

Any suggestion on which of those is a better buy, or other suggested kits that would be good for this application?

Thanks!

 

[adwilk]

I'm a novice to the DIY speaker thing, but I'm trying to set up a nice home theater "on the cheap" and have learned that DIY is the best bang for the buck. And it sounds fun too....

Anyway, I'm looking to spend roughly $200 for a pair of speakers that will be intended to do a good job of filling a 15x18 foot room with sound. I would pair them with a subwoofer. I'd stick with 2.1 channels total for the time being, so these would have to do all the work.

Any thoughts on the Microbe kit, the Madisound recession buster, Tritrix RD Recession Destroyer?

Would these have the umph to give me solid, full sound in a room that big?

Any suggestion on which of those is a better buy, or other suggested kits that would be good for this application?

Thanks!

The TriTrix kit seemed really intriguing to me. The sub has nothing to do with your budget, right?

 

[tentaguasu]

No, I figured the sub would be in addition to that.

And frankly $200 is sort of arbitrary. If I get a tremendous improvement at, say, $300, then I'd do it.

But I'm trying to do a quality experience on a budget, and you know how quickly you can nickle and dime yourself from a $500 set up to a $3500 setup!

 

[j_garcia]

I haven't heard a better ~$200 range kit than these: http://www.gr-research.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=146 at $240 for the kit alone (no cabinet)

I haven't heard the TriTrix kit, but it does look like an excellent valuem since the cabinets are included at that price.

 

[adwilk]

I haven't heard a better ~$200 range kit than these:

Would those little guys have enough output for that room? I've heard good things about those speakers but I'd be concerned with output... Will they play loud, John?

 

[lsiberian]

I'm a novice to the DIY speaker thing, but I'm trying to set up a nice home theater "on the cheap" and have learned that DIY is the best bang for the buck. And it sounds fun too....

Anyway, I'm looking to spend roughly $200 for a pair of speakers that will be intended to do a good job of filling a 15x18 foot room with sound. I would pair them with a subwoofer. I'd stick with 2.1 channels total for the time being, so these would have to do all the work.

Any thoughts on the Microbe kit, the Madisound recession buster, Tritrix RD Recession Destroyer?

Would these have the umph to give me solid, full sound in a room that big?

Any suggestion on which of those is a better buy, or other suggested kits that would be good for this application?

Thanks!

The recession buster kit can easily fill your room. It fills mine.

for a sub you have several options. I suggest you bargain hunt for deals on drivers. I found a 12" TC Sounds driver for cheap in my area. It's previous owner was an fellow DIYer that had barely used it.

 

[tentaguasu]

Great, thanks for the suggestions. Any more are very welcome.

Any suggestion on how a newbie can pick between these? Are there reviews out there for these kits?

 

[lsiberian]

Great, thanks for the suggestions. Any more are very welcome.

Any suggestion on how a newbie can pick between these? Are there reviews out there for these kits?

Well the RB kit is very low cost and comes with the crossover. The P-E kit comes with the parts to build the crossover.

The question for me should be do you wantt o learn to build crossovers or source them.

If its the former get the P-E kit.

If its the latter do the RB kit.

 

[j_garcia]

Would those little guys have enough output for that room? I've heard good things about those speakers but I'd be concerned with output... Will they play loud, John?

They have lower sensitivity but they are 8 Ohm and with a decent amp they can easily fill a large room. I used mine in a variety of large and medium rooms and they don't struggle to fill the larger ones. My bedroom is around 12x14 and it is like a concert hall in there with just those two little speakers and my integrated in Class A mode (25W). I can actually get decent volume on the other side of the house with those from my bedroom. The A/V-2s are more sensitive and more easily fill a large room, but they are also 4 Ohm and are more demanding of an amp.

 

[lsiberian]

They have lower sensitivity but they are 8 Ohm and with a decent amp they can easily fill a large room. I used mine in a variety of large and medium rooms and they don't struggle to fill the larger ones. My bedroom is around 12x14 and it is like a concert hall in there with just those two little speakers and my integrated in Class A mode (25W). I can actually get decent volume on the other side of the house with those from my bedroom. The A/V-2s are more sensitive and more easily fill a large room, but they are also 4 Ohm and are more demanding of an amp.

Yeah I'm surprised at the power these things have for the price. If you port them they really fill the room, but I didn't like the resonant sound they had when ported. So I sealed them and they still do a good job.

The sealed ones I cross at 100hz. The ported could probably be done at 80hz, but I would still do 100. I detect some distortion at 80hz.

 

[j_garcia]

Yeah I'm surprised at the power these things have for the price. If you port them they really fill the room, but I didn't like the resonant sound they had when ported. So I sealed them and they still do a good job.

The sealed ones I cross at 100hz. The ported could probably be done at 80hz, but I would still do 100. I detect some distortion at 80hz.

I believe you are talking about the RBs, I am talking about the A/V-2s. No resonance in these cabinets My A/V-1's weigh in at around 20lbs each. My A/V-2s are 38lbs each

 

[tentaguasu]

They have lower sensitivity but they are 8 Ohm and with a decent amp they can easily fill a large room. I used mine in a variety of large and medium rooms and they don't struggle to fill the larger ones. My bedroom is around 12x14 and it is like a concert hall in there with just those two little speakers and my integrated in Class A mode (25W). I can actually get decent volume on the other side of the house with those from my bedroom. The A/V-2s are more sensitive and more easily fill a large room, but they are also 4 Ohm and are more demanding of an amp.

Returning to the newbie level for a minute here..

So if I have your typical $150-$350 AV receiver and want to run say speakers from a Recession Buster kit and have the power to comfortably and smoothly fill a 15x18 room, I will also need an amplifier? I'm not sure how/where an amp fits into the picture...

 

[tentaguasu]

Also, any reason no one discusses the Microbe?

http://www.rjbaudio.com/Microbe/microbe.html

 

[j_garcia]

Returning to the newbie level for a minute here..

So if I have your typical $150-$350 AV receiver and want to run say speakers from a Recession Buster kit and have the power to comfortably and smoothly fill a 15x18 room, I will also need an amplifier? I'm not sure how/where an amp fits into the picture...

If you went stereo or 2.1 only, yes a $350 receiver should be able to handle a room that size. A stereo receiver should be easy to find in that range with 100-150w, but even a modest AVR should be fine too (Harmon Kardon, Marantz, Onkyo) You probably wouldn't need an amp, but that might depend on which speakers specifically. My room is 23x13 with a high angled ceiling and I ran my mains with just my integrated amp (95w in class A/B mode) and it filled it just fine.

Also, any reason no one discusses the Microbe?

http://www.rjbaudio.com/Microbe/microbe.html

Never heard them, but looks like the designer has a good idea of what they are doing looking at the x-over design with respect to the response curve. Driver selection seems good as well.