reasonable full-range floorstander suggestions

[Undefinition]

Hi everyone. I am looking for suggestions for my next DIY speaker project. My woodworking ability is decent. I have built several pieces of furniture. I also just finished a pair of Dayton IIIs, which I absolutely love. After those things, I caught the DIY bug, and I'm already excited to work on the next project. Any and all input is welcome!

Parameters:
+Full-range floorstanding (can be "extended bookshelf" if appropriate). I'm tired of speaker stands. Plus, I'll be inheriting my girlfriend's large dog within the year, after we get married (and stands scare me around large dogs and little kids)
+Used primarily for 2-channel music... very little home theater. No interest in a separate sub.
+Budget - hopefully less than $300-$400 for speakers and electronics
+can be MTM, TMWW, whatever
+can be sealed or ported... although i'm a bit scared of attempting a transmission line at this point, maybe someone here can talk me into it.
+Driven by 75 W (8 Ohms) Alesis RA-100 amp.
+I am not ready to design my own speakers yet. I am looking for proven plans.

Right now, I'm considering the variation on Wayne J's veritas with the Vifa D27 substituted for the ribbon tweeter (not that I wouldn't love a ribbon tweeter, it just pushes the price out of my limit too quickly). But I'm by no means sold on it. If you have any other ideas or suggestions, don't hesitate to post.

Thanks very much!
Paul

[cjd]

A 3-way will be more than twice the cost of a 2-way of similar quality - twice the crossover and with larger component values is killer. So, you can get a little more range out of something that will be similar quality, or you can improve quality.

What kind of music do you listen to?

The Natalie P or Modula MTM is a huge step up in a similar concept to the D3's you have, and can be built as towers. Not full range for my type of music, but for many they're sufficient. Superb. In your price range I think they're one of the best options out there.

If you stretch your budget out somewhat I think you can do the TMWW's.

My thoughts on this subject at the moment, anyhow.

[Undefinition]

Thanks very much for the input! The Natalie Ps and Modula really do intrigue me. My biggest hesitation is that they won't quite "get down there" into the low end, because I won't have a sub. That was one of the things that blew me away about the D3s was that they didn't seem to want to quit until about 30 Hz (could be room-influenced)!
Now, I saw that some people have done the Natalie Ps and Modula MTMs as towers. Did they change the internal volume (and did this change the low end), or did they just block off the bottom half?

By the way, the music I listen to is just about everything. Primarily rock (Devin Townsend, Deftones, etc), electronic (Squarepusher, Aphex Twin), and jazz (fusion, huge Jobim fan). I also enjoy some classical (Stravinsky, Debussy) and a capella music now and then. Do what you can with that.

Thanks again!
P.S.: of course I can stretch my budget a bit, if a design is worth it.

[cjd]

For classical in particular, I would urge you to look more seriously at the 3-ways, like the TMWW's. Go with one of the Seas tweeter variants (that's almost $40 in savings over the RS tweet) and save up.

Also, WHERE in Chicagoland? I'm up in Gurnee, a handful of other folks around, and there are gatherings with some of these DIY projects now and again. Swing by to listen and stuff some day. It can help identify what you're missing, what you need/want...

C

[engr_dave]

Paul,

As Thomas has observed, the nice thing about going with a Modula or NatP is that you can upgrade later with a sub... or better yet, add a couple of bass bins (with active XO) for a truly high-performance full-range system. Hint: Set up your wedding registry at Parts Express! :B

The Modula or NatP in the 50L floorstanding version is tuned lower and will reach into the thirties - which I think is as good as the DIII. I recently built a pair of DIII's for my dad and, while they were a nice design for the money, their bass extension and overall imaging wasn't spectacular.