DIY gives music lovers and audiophiles the ultimate power. First of all, DIY speakers use the same parts, building materials (usually), and design techniques of HiFi speakers in the 4 and 5-figure range. This means you can have that "rich" sound at a fraction of the retail cost. Second, by learning the science behind the design of loudspeakers, a lot of the mysticism and mythology that plagues the audiophile world becomes dispelled, and you learn what is important--and what is irrelevant in exceptional sound reproduction.
Everything here is free. I am a lifelong speaker addict, and this is my contribution to the audio world.
DIY Speaker Designs
Bookshelf
China Syndrome Silver Flute W14RC25-S + Vifa Logic AC25SG05 This is the "sister project" to the Orient Express. They use the shielded version of the woofer, and should cost around $100-110 per pair. They were meant to work as a Home Theater setup or bookshelf speakers. They were voiced to sound best placed up near a wall.
Matching China Syndrome Center Channel to complete the China Syndrome HT experience.
Classix Dayton DC160 + Vifa DX19 Strange driver combination makes for a good, strong overall speaker that I would put up against retail bookshelf offerings in the $500 range--not bad, considering they cost about $150 in parts
Orient Express Silver Flute W14RC25 + Vifa Logic AC25SG05-4 Uses very nice-looking, decent-performing, low-cost
drivers available at Madisound. They manage a surprisingly full and
pleasant sound in a relatively small package. Since they come in at
under $100 for the pair, the possibilities abound for things you could
do with them!
Overnight Sensations HiVi B4N + Dayton ND20FA-6 A simple, small speaker with surprisingly deep bass and a wide and deep soundstage. Also a good bargain at around $85 a pair.
Girl from Ipanema Dayton RS150 + Seas 27 TBFC/G Seems everyone's done a design using these drivers; here is my version. This is a sealed design, but the midrange and treble is really quite excellent. Would work great for a Home Theater, paired up with a sub handling the range up to 80 Hz.
Vaagens Audax AP170G2 + Vifa D25ASG I designed and built these for my father in law. At moderate listening levels and above, these are some fun speakers for just putting on some tunes (dare I say "records"?) and kicking back, or putzing around the room.
Floorstanding
TRS-80 Dayton RS180S-8 + Vifa D25AG In a situation similar to the Classix, what started out as a strange experiment in pairing two unlikely drivers ended up in an extremely enjoyable, inexpensive speaker. At $220, it's the cheapest 2-way I know of that uses the RS180.
Dipole / Open-Baffle
Aethers Dayton SD215 + TB W5-704D + Seas 27TDFC They have a massive soundstage,
image very well, and have a very natural, "un-boxy" sound. They won
the Budget category at Iowa 2007 and InDIYana 2008. Try it; you'll
like it!
Sunflower Dayton RS225 + Dayton RS125-4 + Vifa XT25 What started out as an "RS Version of the Aethers" is really quite a step up in terms of sound quality. Can be built in a variety of cabinet designs and should come in around $450.
Extras
Other People's Projects
- Here are a few writeups I did as I built some projects designed by
some of the DIY masters out there. I share them here because simply
building a speaker is not necessarily an easy task.
Common Speaker Conversions -
This is a simple excel calculator to perform a bunch of conversions I
tended to need again and again while working on projects, but I got
tired of using the calculator function on my phone.
I'll level with you - My audio manifesto. This is what happens when a composer and musician also is a closet audiophile. (Warning: contains unorthodox audio opinions)
Questions or comments? (DIY-related)