D.I.Y. Speaker Advice needed please...

[Tonydip76]

Hi, I would like to build some speakers that would be a good match for my Pioneer Exclusive C3 and M4 pre and power amps. Thinking 12" or 15" full range or 2 way. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am good with the woodwork... not so tuned in on the technical side of the speakers, crossovers etc. I'm going for classic 70's style look and sound. Any help will be much appreciated.

 

• Quote

 

[mwhouston]

https://www.lii-audio.com/product/recommended-15-full-range-speaker-driver-for-music-loudspeaker-with-tube-amplifier-f-15-in-pair/
 

[BioBrian]

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Loudspeaker_Projects.htm

 

Troels has many options, including '70s style Classics.

 

I'd be going for a 3- or 4-way if using 15" drivers.

[BuzzzFuzzz]

Hey Tony, welcome to the forum.

 

It's highly recommended to begin building with a proven design...  unless you're prepared to devote a lot of time to the project.  

It's not as easy as it may seem to some.

 

Take your time and list your goals and limitations.  Set your budget and look for the drivers you can afford, research each one that appeal and if they'll perform the way you want.

 

Set out your room and listening characteristics in detail here on the forum, the more detail the better.

 

If you have a solid idea well established already, the build will be easier.  Or, as mentioned, you can use a proven design, otherwise you'll require a lot of research to sift through the available driver options, then more research on the most suitable cabinets for your requirements.   As you have the amps, you should narrow your choice to drivers that will pair with them.

 

The crossover designs are provided with a proven design, they are driver and cabinet specific but not room specific.  That's one of the benefits of a DIY build, but you will need to measure your build as you finish, with a calibrated microphone and software for best results finely tuned to your listening environment.

 

If you prefer to not use a proven design, the crossovers will be a challenge and require a lot of patience while measuring and tweaking, not to mention learning the process.  But there's a lot of support here.

 

With more details of your goals and limitations, the experienced members here will jump in with suggestions.

You've got a good start with the amps your design should be built on.  Go from there, research what others use, but ultimately it comes down to what you want.

 

Good luck, I highly recommend going for it.

 

Ant.

 

[RePete]

I recently built the standard Econowave outlined here https://techtalk.parts-express.com/forum/tech-talk-forum/34467-flex-your-pcd-mettle

 

With the Dayton woofer in a 65litre cabinet tuned to 30hz it’s a true full range speaker getting 30hz in room. Sourcing the waveguides here in Oz from Wagner or WES and the drivers from parts express will cost you about $600 plus cabinet costs. I’ve built a few speakers for about that sort of money and I think these offer the best sound and can by built to have the vintage look 

 

Ive enjoyed open baffle full range drivers for the past year but these have much smoother frequency response and most of the dynamics I enjoyed about them 

I’m living with the test cabinets for a while before I spend time building nicer ones, in the past I’ve rushed into the cabinets only to move on to something else  

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by RePete

[Crazycloud]

I agree with the others that you need to lay out clearly some details;

 - how physically large can they be?

 - how loud do you want them to go?

 - how low do you want them to go?

 - how much are you willing to spend?

 - what is your woodworking skillset, and what tools and facilities do you have?

 - do you need a fully evolved design that includes everything from cabinet plans, cutlists and crossover schematics/layouts?

 - do you have an aversion to purchasing parts, such as drivers overseas?

[Johnny Walker]

Check out some youtube videos to get some ideas of what is available in DIY, like from Toids DIY Audio

Have a look at:

YES! You CAN build $5000 HiFi Speakers for UNDER $500 DIY vs HiFi

And lots of other videos to get some ideas of which way you may want to go.

 

It's much easier to build a proven kit to get the sound you want and that way you can concentrate on making the woodwork to your liking.

 

Good luck choosing

[RePete]

Check out some of the Paul Carmody designs at 

 

https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/diy

[THOMO]

The Pioneer M4 is Class A 50 watts with a medium damping factor.So something reasonably efficient and with an 8 ohm impedance rather than 4 ohms would be a safe choice.

I think the vintage Tannoy dual concentrics take a lot of beating .You can spend say $3000-$4000 on  a pair of HPD 385s or Monitor Gold 15s including original crossovers or  $2000-$3500 on HPD315 or Monitor Gold 12s .To me that represents better value than modern kit speakers in the same price range.For example I built a Meniscus Audio Kairos 3 way which is a highly regarded kit speaker using very good quality SB Acoustic Satori drivers and it is a pretty good speaker but nowhere near the sound quality I get from my Tannoy Canterbury inspired speakers which use Monitor Gold 15s.And even a pair of bog standard Tannoy Cheviots using HPD315 drivers are a lot better and you can improve on that design greatly with larger and better built cabinets.

Not the best choice if you are headbanger but for most music they are excellent and the point source and phase coherence produced by the coaxial design takes a lot of beating.

[RePete]

Thomo makes a very valid point which unless you’ve heard a bunch of stuff is hard to value.

 

I’ve built about 7 different DIY designs and listened to a few more commercial designs and I keep coming back to my Tang Band 1808 full range driver in an open baffle supported by a 15 inch woofer. 
 

probably for the same reasons as Thomo, the point source and phase coherence. Money spent on DIY is rarely recovered in resale so it has to be considered a learning exercise.