Tritrix Diy kit

[flippo]

I've been thinking of this kit (the tower version) for a while. Would they be a step up or down or lateral move to my current mirage m590i speakers? Any thoughts?

 

[flippo]

I'm sticking with the Mirage which I like alot except for the looks (Sock covered monolith. Not a good enough reason to change

 

[Pogre]

I think the Tritrix TL kits look pretty cool and I'll bet they sound very good. but as far as whether they'd be better than your OMDs is just a guess. They're completely different speakers with different dispersion.

 

[lovinthehd]

I wouldn't do a diy project with a mind to replacement particularly, more fun to compare them and learn from the project and some pride in accomplishment rather than try and decide in advance if you'd prefer one vs the other.....then I just use the only trickle down I ever found that works....my best speakers go in my mostly used setup, the next best in the bedroom, the next best in the workshop, the next bests into the spare rooms....but I don't like selling stuff either. I have given/loaned out speakers, tho....

I've always been curious about the Tritrix, but didn't try them as the cabinet building was daunting at that time (went for a kit with a provided cabinet at that point). Might have to revisit the Tritrix design, as I've got some stuff out in the workshop and am more confident in my woodworking....

 

[slipperybidness]

I wouldn't do a diy project with a mind to replacement particularly, more fun to compare them and learn from the project and some pride in accomplishment rather than try and decide in advance if you'd prefer one vs the other.....then I just use the only trickle down I ever found that works....my best speakers go in my mostly used setup, the next best in the bedroom, the next best in the workshop, the next bests into the spare rooms....but I don't like selling stuff either. I have given/loaned out speakers, tho....

I've always been curious about the Tritrix, but didn't try them as the cabinet building was daunting at that time (went for a kit with a provided cabinet at that point). Might have to revisit the Tritrix design, as I've got some stuff out in the workshop and am more confident in my woodworking....

PE has the Tritrix with flat-pack cab option.

 

[highfigh]

A friend built a set of these and is pretty happy with them. He has worked with audio for about fifty years, including a stint at Koss, as one of the people who rebuilt the Koss Electrostatic speakers when needed. Also worked for a small local speaker manufacturer that put out some decent models.

 

[MrBoat]

Kits usually include measurements as a baseline as what to expect. After that it's matching things like bass extension, power and your listening habits/room. You can go even further and look into the history of the drivers use in other designs, as well. Now we have a base characteristic that often follows across multiple designs.

With the Classix2 design, for example, it has the somewhat famous Dayton, DC 160, 6.5″ Classic Woofer. Some of the snootier designers might eschew such a thing, but I hear similar descriptions of it as a favorite of sorts among many, as well. I'm a fan to the point I have considered other designs that use it, just to have even more of what it does so well. It's one of my favorite speakers. The Tymphany, BC25TG15-05 tweeter is no slouch either. I cannot believe I hear and feel the things from this budget speaker kit that I do. It makes me not care about better or worse. I would not sell them unless I had another exact kit to replace them with. Classic paper woofer is something I always suspected that I preferred. This design confirmed it, measurements be damned. I actually grin when I listen to these things.

As someone who has built 5 and a half speaker kits (and as many subs) to date, all of them hit well past the purchase price. You can almost reliably count them performing in the same league as speakers double their price and some well beyond that.

Lateral, up, down. . . . I have no idea. I can't think of anything I would trade for what I have. I am also a life long fan of JBL, so I do have some of those and others as well. As long as I don't hear mechanical distortions like the cheap speakers of decades ago, and they have ample headroom and built for the long haul, their all good and better, IMO.

 

[KNOTSCOTT]

It's so subjective, it'd be a tough call which is "better". Your Mirage are no slouches, so I think it'd take a pretty good speaker to hold your attention. The Tri-Trix brings the benefits of a transmission line (and the MTM configuration), but the success of that T-line varies quite a bit with how its stuffed and how it works with your room....the good news is that you can keep experimenting with stuffing density and placement until you're satisfied.

Madisound offers the Thor kit, which is more money, but uses exceptional Seas drivers in an MTM configuration that's also based in a transmission line.

Sticking with good grade crossover components can only help with transparency.

 

[Pogre]

It's so subjective, it'd be a tough call which is "better". Your Mirage are no slouches, so I think it'd take a pretty good speaker to hold your attention. The Tri-Trix brings the benefits of a transmission line (and the MTM configuration), but the success of that T-line varies quite a bit with how its stuffed and how it works with your room....the good news is that you can keep experimenting with stuffing density and placement until you're satisfied.

Madisound offers the Thor kit, which is more money, but uses exceptional Seas drivers in an MTM configuration that's also based in a transmission line.

Sticking with good grade crossover components can only help with transparency.

The Thor looks like something you could get from Salk Sound.

 

[Eppie]

I would love a MTM kit with upgraded drivers like the Salks. Something with ribbon tweeters and higher end woofers. The challenge would be the crossovers. Dennis can't release any work that he's done for Salk. Not that the ER18MTM is bad, but it would be nice to be able to take it to the next level.

 

[panteragstk]

I would love a MTM kit with upgraded drivers like the Salks. Something with ribbon tweeters and higher end woofers. The challenge would be the crossovers. Dennis can't release any work that he's done for Salk. Not that the ER18MTM is bad, but it would be nice to be able to take it to the next level.

I've been contemplating building that speaker for years. I have nowhere to put it, and am not looking to upgrade unless I plan to put a LOT of work into whatever I decide on. Oh, and a lot of $$.

 

[Eppie]

I've been contemplating building that speaker for years. I have nowhere to put it, and am not looking to upgrade unless I plan to put a LOT of work into whatever I decide on. Oh, and a lot of $$.

Yeah, the driver kit alone for the ER18MTM is $750 and going to SEAS would up that a lot. BMR drivers are $972. Move up to the Enthraals and it's a whopping $2,276 so one has to be serious about committing to that project.

 

[Pogre]

Yeah, the driver kit alone for the ER18MTM is $750 and going to SEAS would up that a lot. BRM drivers are $972. Move up to the Enthraals and it's a whopping $2,276 so one has to be serious about committing to that project.

I never heard of the Enthraals before so I looked 'em up.

https://meniscusaudio.com/product/enthraals-loudspeaker-kit/

Holy crap! Now that's a serious kit! Whoever put that one together looks almost good enough to be a higher end Salk speaker! They use the 70/20 RAAL tweets too, the same ones that are in my Sierras, but some beefier bass drivers. Man, that really, really makes me wish I had a half decent woodworking setup and the skills. $2.2k is chump change to end up with speakers like the one in that image above. I'll bet they'd be close to five figure speakers for the pair finished like that.

 

[panteragstk]

Yeah, the driver kit alone for the ER18MTM is $750 and going to SEAS would up that a lot. BRM drivers are $972. Move up to the Enthraals and it's a whopping $2,276 so one has to be serious about committing to that project.

This is why I've not built anything. That price is quite high and I'd probably have to have a few builds under my belt before spending that on drivers.

I still need to finish my Overnight Sensations build. Granted, that's just staining.

 

[ryanosaur]

It's cool to see those Enthraals on the market... I remember watching a few of the vids Javad did on that design... they weren't all there when I watched them, but it was pretty cool.

There are a lot of interesting kits available for a wide range of prices. The best are ones where you get Gold quality from non-premium components. That said, I think there is also something to be said about well designed Speakers built around Premium Drivers: if the Designer is any good, the quality of the Speaker will be fully in the hands of the DIYer where a little competence can yield great results.
An interesting example is the Iluminoso kit from Rick Craig at Selah Audio... he was selling the Kit for $3K, all SB Acoustics Drivers (10 in total) including their Be Tweeter. His cost of selling it as a Speaker was up in the $7-8K range. By all accounts, it would be one of those Speakers that you could keep around for 10+ years, and the quality of the finish would make it a true work of art.
I was tempted to order this... alas, no more with Rick's passing.

Regardless, I expect I'll be building some BMRs in the future as I'd like to add one more to my stable, perhaps bring my rears down from above the closet. I have two unmatched BMRs, so I would buy a single kit and rebuild one of the others into a matching pair.

But for all this talk about Kits... I still want to build one of Troels Gravesen's designs!

 

[panteragstk]

I still want to build one of Troels Gravesen's designs!

I hadn't heard of those. Neat.

 

[Eppie]

There are so many nice kits out there when you start to do the research. My problem is that I tend to jump right in with both feet. I really should start with something simple like the Speedsters that Boat built, then try a BMR and move up to bigger cabs if all goes well.

 

[MrBoat]

It's cool to see those Enthraals on the market... I remember watching a few of the vids Javad did on that design... they weren't all there when I watched them, but it was pretty cool.

There are a lot of interesting kits available for a wide range of prices. The best are ones where you get Gold quality from non-premium components. That said, I think there is also something to be said about well designed Speakers built around Premium Drivers: if the Designer is any good, the quality of the Speaker will be fully in the hands of the DIYer where a little competence can yield great results.
An interesting example is the Iluminoso kit from Rick Craig at Selah Audio... he was selling the Kit for $3K, all SB Acoustics Drivers (10 in total) including their Be Tweeter. His cost of selling it as a Speaker was up in the $7-8K range. By all accounts, it would be one of those Speakers that you could keep around for 10+ years, and the quality of the finish would make it a true work of art.
I was tempted to order this... alas, no more with Rick's passing.

Regardless, I expect I'll be building some BMRs in the future as I'd like to add one more to my stable, perhaps bring my rears down from above the closet. I have two unmatched BMRs, so I would buy a single kit and rebuild one of the others into a matching pair.

But for all this talk about Kits... I still want to build one of Troels Gravesen's designs!

BMR is on my radar as well. Why, I don't know. I have already exceeded my needs with what I have. Seems about everything from the Tempests on out is sort of a lateral move. Not so much better, as, just different. Still hard to match the available headroom with the F12s, of which I might be using 10% of on my wildest listening days, with THD so low at that level, that it isn't even worth a thought.

I have all the parts for Paul Carmody's "Tarkus" design, sourced from the information on his website, and electronic parts/wire/cabinet hardware kit from Meniscus, PE, Digikey, and Mouser. As much as I like the best SQ, I find Carmody's designs just fun and pleasing to listen to. This will be my 3rd by him. Classix2, Speedster, and now Tarkus. All Peerless drivers.

Paul Carmody's DIY Speaker Pages - Tarkus

Home > Floorstanding Speakers > Tarkus

sites.google.com

 

[Eppie]

BMR is on my radar as well. Why, I don't know. I have already exceeded my needs with what I have. Seems about everything from the Tempests on out is sort of a lateral move. Not so much better, as, just different. Still hard to match the available headroom with the F12s, of which I might be using 10% of on my wildest listening days, with THD so low at that level, that it isn't even worth a thought.

I have all the parts for Paul Carmody's "Tarkus" design, sourced from the information on his website, and electronic parts/wire/cabinet hardware kit from Meniscus, PE, Digikey, and Mouser. As much as I like the best SQ, I find Carmody's designs just fun and pleasing to listen to. This will be my 3rd by him. Classix2, Speedster, and now Tarkus. All Peerless drivers.

Paul Carmody's DIY Speaker Pages - Tarkus

Home > Floorstanding Speakers > Tarkus

sites.google.com

Those DIY samples at the bottom of Paul's web site blow my mind. There are some great wood workers out there. I have to get crackin' on my cabinet drawers to finish the wall unit so that I can seriously think about a speaker project. We also just inherited some antique furniture from my father-in-law, much of which needs restoration work. More projects than time. ;_;