# First DIY Speaker - Front Mains



## bassmann (Dec 1, 2009)

Hi there,

I'm looking at building my first set of speaker. I've been researching for a while and have a few questions.

Here's some background...

*Why am I DIY'ing in the first place*
I want to upgrade my speakers which are used for stereo music and HT and from what I read, I can get a better performance/cost ratio from DIY'ing rather than buying new commercial speakers. My current speakers are Jamo E670 mains, Jamo E6Cen, Jamo E610's for surrounds. I'm driving this from a HTPC with a MAudio Profire610 for analog conversion. I'm also setup to do multichannel room eq and management via a DEQ2496 on mains and DSP plugins for other channels.

To be honest, this setup is ok, but I'm bored with them and need a project. The point of clarifying my current setup is it establishes a baseline and I want to build something better. In relation to this thread, I want to improve the performance of my main E670's which are 3 way.

*My Skills*
I pickup the physics behind sound and electronics easily. In terms of woodwork skills, I'm lucky enough to have a friend who has the gear to laser cut my cabinets to my design specs so I just need to plan the components and construct.

*What I'm looking at doing (so far)*
Down the track I'll build a pair of sealed subs, so sub-bass preformance is not essential in the mains.
The room these will go into is smallish, about 5m * 4m so around 20m2, therefore the speakers do not need to fill a large space. I do expect them to have a wide soundstage and be reasonably flat (before eq).

*Based on my research, what am i looking at?*
Well I kind of like the idea of a full range in a tower bass reflex setup because it leans to simplicity and minimal phasing issues accompanied with multiple drives. Also eliminates the need for crossovers. Alternatively would consider a 2 way bass reflex with a woofer and tweeter. Since I'll build 2 * subs, why bother with a 3 way for subsonics.

*Potential Designs*
In particular this design inspires me but I have no idea if this will meet my expectations. Its a full range tower with Jordan JX92S drivers.

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Speakers/Jordan-JX92S-Bass-Reflex/

Without ever hearing these, based on the above info, is this likely to meet my expectations?
What else do people think I should look at?
Am i moving forward or backward is respect to my current setup?

Cheers,

Bassmann


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## fbov (Aug 28, 2008)

bassmann said:


> ...I'm looking at building my first set of speaker. ... My current speakers are Jamo E670 mains, Jamo E6Cen, Jamo E610's for surrounds....my current setup is it establishes a baseline and I want to build something better. ...Down the track I'll build a pair of sealed subs, ...The room these will go into is smallish, about 5m * 4m so around 20m2... I do expect them to have a wide soundstage and be reasonably flat (before eq).... I kind of like the idea of a full range in a tower bass reflex setup ...Alternatively would consider a 2 way bass reflex with a woofer and tweeter. ...
> 
> In particular this design inspires me but I have no idea if this will meet my expectations. Its a full range tower with Jordan JX92S drivers....


First off, welcome to DIY. Nice to see someone with a realistic set of expectations!

If you like single-driver, full range designs, here's another, and one that has been quite well received. 
http://speakerdesignworks.com/Singularity_1.html

If you'd like to consider a far wider range of possibilities, here's the master list. 
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?211558-Links-to-existing-DIY-speaker-designs

Given you already have TWMMs, it's not likely a DIY design will play louder (not needed in your size room), but I bet you can play cleaner - lower distortion drivers - at a price. Don't expect to save money, rather expect to pay just as much for your components as you did for the Jamo speakers, and add in a lot of your time building the boxes - appearance is up to you. 

Here's a site with lots of speaker test data. Scroll down past the speaker designs... Yes, Zaph is on the master list, but it's his test data that will give you some idea where you want to start for low distortion drivers.
http://www.zaphaudio.com/

In return, you'll learn a lot, have speakers no one belileves you built, your room will sound better, and you'll know more about what you did to improve it. 

HAve fun,
Frank


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## bassmann (Dec 1, 2009)

Hi Franks - thanks for the tips.

Yes, they certainly don't need to be as loud as the Jamo E670's,
I'm after something that plays cleaner, with a wide soundstage and low distortion.

Anyway I've got some work to do on this.


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## fbov (Aug 28, 2008)

http://meniscusaudio.com/continuum-pr-p-1324.html
This is the ticket for "something that plays cleaner, with a wide soundstage and low distortion." I first heard them at InDIYana several years ago; one of two designs that disappeared into their sound fields. I made a pair when Jeff offered the design to the DIY community a couple year ago, before the Meniscus kit. The quality is in the design; mine sound as good as Jeff's. 

But there are a lot of others, too...

HAve fun,
Frank


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## bassmann (Dec 1, 2009)

I've spent the week following your leads Frank which are great, but I think I've got less clarity on what I'm after now (too many choices)...

So this is what I'm thinking of thus far 1) determine a budget 2) narrow down potential speakers 3) cabinet designs. 
The rationale is, with this path I get hardware that suits my budget and if the desgin doesn't work i can try an alternative design with low cost risk. Does that make sense?

*The budget*
Well, I want to exceed the E670's in terms of clairty, distortion and soundstage. Power handling and low end performance is not a requirement, if i get either its a nice to have. I purchased the E670's in 2002 for around $1500 AUD, at the time the AUD>USD was about 0.55 so I figure at that time the US price at the time would have been around $800.

The AUD has appreciated somewhat against the USD since 2002 now sitting at ~ 1.04 give or take which gives me much better buying power today.

On that basis, I'm will to spend up to $1000 USD on hardware which could be just the speakers (no crossover).

The other thing that's changed this week with my research, is that I'm not as tied to the Full Range concept I started with, but more open to a 2 way or 3 way configurations if it fits my budget.

If I go down this track I'd probably do active crossover and bi-amp or tri-amp accordingly and the crossover does not need be part of the speaker budget.

On that, some speakers that appeal include;
- Seas W22EX001
- Seas T25CF002

Potentialy, I could buy a pair of each for ~ $1000 and build something biamp'd either as a bookshelf or tower design.

I need to investigate further, but quite like the SEAS TRYM speaker kit

http://www.seas.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=41


Using this as a central idea, any comments on my thinking so far?

Thanks,

Bassmann


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## bassmann (Dec 1, 2009)

Add to that, with the SEAS combination above, I could build a pair of biamp'd bookshelfs for the small room they are in today and put in towers if I move them to a larger room down the track.

Thoughts?


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## fbov (Aug 28, 2008)

I think you ought to cross post your project definition to some more-active forums, where you'll interact with a lot more folks, most more knowledgable than I. 
- PE's Tech Talk is kind of the everyman's forum, very busy with a very wide price/quality range considered
- HTGuide is more focused on higher-end designs, with some very knowledgable folks who share what they're doing at the moment, and get truly gargantuan threads!

At least, these are the ones I frequent... DIYaudio is also big, but I've spent little time there myself.

HAve fun,
Frank


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## DrDyna (Jul 21, 2011)

If your budget is in the $1k usd range, I would seriously consider something from Troels Graveson, such as the DTQWT-MKII.

Check them out, seriously at that price range. His crossover work is outstanding and he gives very detailed descriptions and pictures.

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/JA8008_DTQWT.htm

Edit: Those might bust your budget a bit (the bass drivers aren't in the kit), but he has several versions as well as lots of other designs that do fall in the budget.


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