# Build Cost for prototyping High End Speakers



## MrPorterhouse (Jul 29, 2006)

I am throughly impressed with Sonus Faber Speakers. The above model is the Cremona M, which retail for about $10,000/pair. I was wanting to know some ball park figures as to what you could build something like this for as a DIY??? I realize that you are not going to reproduce the sound, but my question is more of a general question.

If you are more familiar with other nice brands of speakers that have been modeled after, then I'd be curious as to that as well.


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## bonehead848 (Jan 21, 2007)

Well the box design looks very similar to a project posted over at avs by orbifold here
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=646455&page=13

















And I am sure that you could come very close to the sound by some of the existing designs. Check out the mission completed section over at htguide.com for some pretty high end designs. Maybe something like the statements found here
http://www.geocities.com/cc00541/index.html


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## no. 5 (Jul 4, 2007)

MrPorterhouse said:


> I realize that you are not going to reproduce the sound...


If you know what you are doing, or can have input from someone who does, I think you could have as good, or better sound quality. A number of high end manufacturers use drivers that are available to DIYers, as example, there is a $9,500 a pair RBH model uses a tweeter that can be bought from Parts Express for $25.

And, if you are good with your hands, similar results with the cabinet may not be out of the question.

I know someone who has those Sonus Faber's, I can see why you would want a pair like them. :daydream:


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## MrPorterhouse (Jul 29, 2006)

Thanks for the input. My dad is a highly skilled woodworker who has built furniture, cabinets, tables, butcher blocks, and all kinds of custom trim and built-ins for homes. Speaker cabinets are no problem. Crossovers can be a bit tricky to tweak for my noobie level tweaking skills, but if I go off of an existing design, then I should be safe. Looks like I'll have to dig into the DIY threads here, there and everywhere a bit deeper.


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

From what I've seen/read/heard, a lot of the expense of the really high end speakers is the wood working skills and not so much the "hardware" (i.e., drivers and crossovers). I'd bet that the drivers and crossovers would run in the $2k range for the pair -- based on nothing other than a gut guess.

And if were going to be dropping that kinda coin on some drivers, I'd skip the passive crossover and go to active.

JCD


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## Geoff St. Germain (Dec 18, 2006)

If I'm not mistaken Sonus uses custom spec'd Scan-Speak and Vifa drivers. As such, looking at the high end offerings from these companies should give you a ballpark for the drivers. Factor in a couple hundred for crossovers and that should get you there. I'd ballpark the drivers at about $1500-2000 (~$200-250 per driver). 

Like JCD said $2K should cut it and a good active crossover that has a lot of variable parameters will allow easy tweaking. I would imagine that a decent active crossover would be more cost effective than the swapping of components required for tweaking a passive crossover for a one-off pair of speakers. I suppose you also need more channels of amplification, but that can be had as well for not too much money. In total you'd be looking at only a fraction of the cost of those $10K/pair speakers to build something comparable. Of course you must consider your time to be free. If it's a hobby you enjoy then it's no big deal. If it's just to save money it could be frustrating.


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## southworth (Oct 7, 2006)

You might want to take a look at this build therad in the Ekta-XT:

www.troelsgravesen.dk/ekta_bjoern.html


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## MrPorterhouse (Jul 29, 2006)

Thanks again, guys. Fantastic info. I do understand that the craftmanship is the time limiting and highest requirement of skill. While I don't have a great deal of either, my dad is retired so he has lots of time and he has professional level woodworking skills that he enjoys using to buld all kinds of stuff. I have the interest to build the crossovers and handle the electronics and drivers so we make for a good team. All I need are the right resources and help to get pointed in the right direction. With the help I've got so far, I'm on my way already. I've ordered the book Speakerbuilding 201 and will consider the Loudspeaker Cookbook next.


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