what's the word?

[emericanchaos]

<font color='#000000'>hey everyone this is my first post here. &nbsp;my name's craig, i'm 20 and i'm looking into something to compliment my sensitive ears.

so my question is... what's the word on the denon AVR-2803. &nbsp;i'm sure you're getting alot of questions about denon products because they're offered on crutchfield. &nbsp;i know a good bit about electronics, computers and the hardware end home audio. &nbsp;my planned setup is to run mostly everything through my computer to the denon and out to the speakers. &nbsp;if you can offer something comparable please do. &nbsp;recquirements are 7.1 capable extremely clean sound and around $800.

all my computer buddies are trying to sell me on logitech z680's. &nbsp;PC speakers. &nbsp;in my opinion this is a bad idea because, again in my opinion, speakers are usually the weakest point in an audio system. &nbsp;my idea was to, prepare for the cringe, build my own speakers. &nbsp;i have a great knowledge of car audio speakers and was planning to do something with the names i know from there. &nbsp;if any of you know about car audio here's what i was planning. &nbsp;i'm going 7.1 and want to build my surrounds with focal polkevlar components and focal tweets. &nbsp;planned on maybe an eclipse aluminum 12'' sub. &nbsp;my main reason for going this route is I KNOW what those speakers are capable of. &nbsp;they're not designed to fill a car, &nbsp;they're &quot;competition&quot; grade speakers made to handle obscene amounts of power with the utmost clarity, &nbsp;shhhhwing!

anyways, this setup was going to cost a bit, polykevlar 7&quot; drivers cost around $600 a pair, the tweets are around the same per pair and the sub is around $500. &nbsp;plus &nbsp;some heavy wood to isolate everything. &nbsp;so all in all it's like $3000 for speakers. &nbsp;i'm up for suggestions here too. &nbsp;specially if they'll match the denon well. &nbsp;

links.
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/car/poly-k/index.htm
that's for the polykevlar line. &nbsp;it's the second highest line in their car audio division.

http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/sommaire.htm
that's the index page if you want to check out the rest of their stuff.

http://www.eclipse-web.com/products/speaker/index.html
speaker index for eclipse. &nbsp;looking at either alum DVC or titanium DVC 12's.</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>You need to be aware of two (2) major issues in car vs home;
1) cabin pressure due to the size of the room (the enclosed space of a car) is much higher in a car than in a larger room in a home.  This causes bass to sound louder in a car.

In a normal home, you will find that room dimensions cause a much smaller cabin pressure effect and the effect will typically be bassy peaks on a few select bass frequencies.

2) Most car speakers are 4 Ohm, because of the 12 volt car battery.  In a home these 4 Ohm drivers will typically require lots more amplifier power (an amplifier with higher watts per channel and higher peak amps per channel).  IMO, designing the crossover for your proposed driver setup will be very difficult.  Crossovers optimized for the car won't work well in the home because the size of the listening space is very different and they don't take into account the baffle step compensation needed for HT speakers mounted in a cabinet.

In conclusion, I doubt the Denon receiver will be an adequate amplifier source for the 4 Ohm car type speakers you want to DIY.  I would recommend you look to Adire Audio, or Madisound, or Audio Concepts, Inc. on the web for some DIY HT speaker kits.

Adire

Madisound

Audio Concepts</font>

 

[Audioholics]

<font color='#008080'>In addition to Bruce's suggestions, $3000 will get you a pretty decent setup from some other manufacturers that have been reviewed on this website. And with a lot less elbow grease to boot.

Consider the ability you'll have to potentially audition speakers as opposed to building something that is untested in a home theatre environment. Consider also, that you can begin at 5.1, and expand to 7.1 at a later date.

If you do go with a current speaker manufacturer, the Denon you mention should do well for the price, and provide the 7.1 for which you are looking.</font>

 

[mustang_steve]

<font color='#000000'>Here's an DIY speaker page that's not too bad, also has cable recipes. &nbsp;I use his interconnect reipe, although with a slight modification due to some tolerance issues I found on some of my equipment. &nbsp; http://home.new.rr.com/zaph/audio/

Don't forget www.partsexpress.com. &nbsp;Great site for buing drivers, enclosures, and about anything you might need.

They also sell a kit speaker, the BR-1. &nbsp;About $140 shipped. &nbsp;Good value for the dollar, I feel they are on par if not a bit better than the Klipsch SB-3. Slightly warm sound, surprising bass for a 6.5&quot; woofer. &nbsp;The mids do have a very slight coloration, but nothing that's really bothersome.

My only complaint with the speakers was they had spring clips. &nbsp;But there is a shop called menicus audio (www.meniscusaudio.com) that sells posts that just might fit. &nbsp;I have a set in the mail right now, should be here next monday.

Well if you decide to try out the BR-1 kits, send me a message and I'll give you more details on my specific assembly experience. &nbsp;Soldering is required on them, but the enclosures are pre-assembled.</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Well I for one will never buy comercial speakers again. &nbsp;DIY is a far better way to go (IMHO).

I've built DIY subs from Adire and they are a excellent value, flat to 19 @ 110 with out excedding xmax, just plain good base. &nbsp;Plus just try to find a commercial produced sub that is finished with tile oak. &nbsp;(OK, your 20 so you likley don't give a hoot about how it looks, but Hawke might)

A great place to start DIY is http://ldsg.snippets.org/index.php3

This site details out the pro's and con's much better than I can.

If you want value, nothing beats a kit like the Audax HT or PE's (WayneJ's) Dayton HT, if you want quality nothing beats the Zaylron Focal HT ( if you like Focal here you go), Seas own Odins and Thors, or North Creek Scan Speak kits. &nbsp;In my case I'm going for the middle ground with a Alcone kit &nbsp;check it out-

http://www.rcmakustik.com/eng/rcm_rahmen.htm
&nbsp;
Like all things audio, DIY can get pretty dumb too. &nbsp;Acuton pure diamond drivers anyone? &nbsp;At $1200 each they are sure to improve (or create) your sex life and give you general sense of purpose in todays crazy world.

Wow there a lot of Joe D kits up there, never really noticed that before.

Rob</font>

 

[mustang_steve]

<font color='#000000'>Joe D'Appolito's design is really good, and his configurations are mimicked in so many loudspeakers now.

I presonally love the look of those configurations, but just don't have the money to build one to my liking yet.

And, the DIY scene does get wack at times. &nbsp;Some people have cable debates, DIY'ers have capacitor debates, enclosure design dabates of any little thing, and so on. &nbsp;It's just the DIY debates tend to be more reasonable in some aspects, at least when compared to the cable debates i've seen. &nbsp;At least a more scientifical approach is used to say the least.

All I hope for is for someone to make a Transmission Line kit. &nbsp;Something about the smoothness of a good TL speaker that makes me drool. &nbsp;

</font>