Suggest a DIY main speaker....

[Brian Steeves]

I am researching DIY main speakers and would like to hear people's experiences with different brands and models. ACI, Shamrock, northcreek, BESL, Speaker-city, etc...
I have no experience with designing mains and crossovers, hence the kit route. But I do consider myself an accomplished woodworker, so complicated cabinets aren't really an issue.

I am already familiar with Adire's 281's so other speakers are really what I'm interested in hearing about.

At this point I am considering all price ranges. I would be using them for both HT and Music. More than likely I will build floor standers, but bookshelfs aren't out of the question if bass response is good enough.

I have an all Mirage "Omnipolar" setup now. Mains are OM-10's. The OM-10's are very transparent but lack the midbass I like, and have a somewhat laid back midrange. I know this is to be expected with a bi-polar speaker.

So any experience with DIY kit speakers would be greatly appreciated.

[ThomasW]

Hi Brian,

No one that I'm aware of makes a di/bipole kit, except for surround speakers. And these are to small. And I wonder if you'd be happy with a "regular" speaker after living with the soundstage created by the Mirages. So what are your thoughts on that issue? If you don't care, then there are plenty of good kits available. But if it is something you want then we'd need to create a new speaker, using doubled kits/side. Not all that difficult, just more work. Larger bipolar speakers can have plenty of "punch"




theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

[Andrew Pratt]

Well there's always the route Thomas suggested for me...buy Maggies instead. If you want to keep the dipole sound what about buidling something using one of the ribbon tweeters?