Hey Thomas, I assume the email you sent to me was telling me to come over here since I was asking a few off-topic questions (I haven't gotten the mail yet), if not...well, more opinions never hurt.
Anyways, this plan has been brewing in my head for quite awhile now actually and kind of got fueled on by a post on another board about building a set of high end bookshelf/stand mounted speakers. Well, I want to take it a step farther than that, I want to build a set of high end floor-standing, full range speakers. I have a few set goals, I want to have a high amount of detail, I want "fast" sounding speakers, excellent imaging. I want a set of speakers that creates an emotional, jaw dropping experience. Basically I want it all.
I haven't heard a great deal of the VERY high end speaker systems out there, just a couple of the JM Labs Utopia line, and a couple of the Wilson Watt/Puppies (different versions, one with Seas I believe and the other with Scan Speak). I tell you what though, I was very impressed with both the Mezzo Utopia and Utopia JM Labs speakers, however I can't justify spending that kind of money on a set of speakers just yet. I also hear the latest revision of the JM Electra 920 is about 90-95% of what the Mezzo's are, at 1/3 the price.
So I want to build my own, and I don't think it's impossible to get that level of performance from a system, I was originally think of going the Newform R645 route. They get RAVE reviews, and if I weren't such a pessimist it wouldn't be hard to believe they were the best speakers in the world (just like Bose! ) by reading the reviews. But, I think I can still do better plus stay away from the Planar/Ribbon approach. So I want to stay in a cone and dome range if possible.
I've basically decided on using some variation of the Focal tweeter, most likely the TC120tdx/2 (or better if there is a reason to).
The midrange I'm totally stumped on, I know Thomas likes the Eton, other people swear by Seas, other swear by Scan Speak. My original plan was to use an 8545 for the mid, but I bet there are better options.
The woofers, I haven't totally decided on this one yet either, although I'm leaning pretty strongly towards the Focal 11V7511 (maybe even a dual Focal 11 setup), in an 85l box I get an F3 in the low 30Hz range, which should get me an in room F3 in the high 20's. I'm also looking at maybe a dual SB10 setup, but I'm concerned about the low sensitivity.
And lastly cabinet restrictions, I'd love to build an X1 clone, but I think that's going to be a bit big for my room, I'd like to keep the cabinet width down to around 12-13 inches wide, probably not more than 20 or so inches deep. Height wise I'm pretty open. They would also have to lend themselves to achieving a nice look to make the SAF high. Oh yea, I'm also a relative newbie to the whole world of DIY speaker building (hence this long message of questions).
So I've got a lot of restriction's here, about the only thing I'm not strict on is budget, and actual work. I'm a fairly handy woodworker/finisher and don't mind having to work days/weeks/months to achieve this, then working another set of days/weeks/months to make them look good. I'm also not to worried about total system sensitivity (I got a bit of power to drive them with), but higher is also better. As I mentioned with the woofers I'm trying to shoot for an in room F3 somewhere in the high 20Hz to low 30Hz range.
That's the situation, what would you do and why?
Andrew
PS, one of the designs I was looking at was this one http://www.speakerbuilding.com/content/1044/ this write-up got this whole thought process started, and is probably a pretty safe bet.
I was also considering the Wilson Watt/Puppy clones that are available here http://users.nac.net/markowitzgd/david/david.htm these use the Focal tweeter, Seas midrange (getting hard to find), and 2 Peerless 8" woofers since the original Dynaudio's are all but gone.
Anyways, this plan has been brewing in my head for quite awhile now actually and kind of got fueled on by a post on another board about building a set of high end bookshelf/stand mounted speakers. Well, I want to take it a step farther than that, I want to build a set of high end floor-standing, full range speakers. I have a few set goals, I want to have a high amount of detail, I want "fast" sounding speakers, excellent imaging. I want a set of speakers that creates an emotional, jaw dropping experience. Basically I want it all.
I haven't heard a great deal of the VERY high end speaker systems out there, just a couple of the JM Labs Utopia line, and a couple of the Wilson Watt/Puppies (different versions, one with Seas I believe and the other with Scan Speak). I tell you what though, I was very impressed with both the Mezzo Utopia and Utopia JM Labs speakers, however I can't justify spending that kind of money on a set of speakers just yet. I also hear the latest revision of the JM Electra 920 is about 90-95% of what the Mezzo's are, at 1/3 the price.
So I want to build my own, and I don't think it's impossible to get that level of performance from a system, I was originally think of going the Newform R645 route. They get RAVE reviews, and if I weren't such a pessimist it wouldn't be hard to believe they were the best speakers in the world (just like Bose! ) by reading the reviews. But, I think I can still do better plus stay away from the Planar/Ribbon approach. So I want to stay in a cone and dome range if possible.
I've basically decided on using some variation of the Focal tweeter, most likely the TC120tdx/2 (or better if there is a reason to).
The midrange I'm totally stumped on, I know Thomas likes the Eton, other people swear by Seas, other swear by Scan Speak. My original plan was to use an 8545 for the mid, but I bet there are better options.
The woofers, I haven't totally decided on this one yet either, although I'm leaning pretty strongly towards the Focal 11V7511 (maybe even a dual Focal 11 setup), in an 85l box I get an F3 in the low 30Hz range, which should get me an in room F3 in the high 20's. I'm also looking at maybe a dual SB10 setup, but I'm concerned about the low sensitivity.
And lastly cabinet restrictions, I'd love to build an X1 clone, but I think that's going to be a bit big for my room, I'd like to keep the cabinet width down to around 12-13 inches wide, probably not more than 20 or so inches deep. Height wise I'm pretty open. They would also have to lend themselves to achieving a nice look to make the SAF high. Oh yea, I'm also a relative newbie to the whole world of DIY speaker building (hence this long message of questions).
So I've got a lot of restriction's here, about the only thing I'm not strict on is budget, and actual work. I'm a fairly handy woodworker/finisher and don't mind having to work days/weeks/months to achieve this, then working another set of days/weeks/months to make them look good. I'm also not to worried about total system sensitivity (I got a bit of power to drive them with), but higher is also better. As I mentioned with the woofers I'm trying to shoot for an in room F3 somewhere in the high 20Hz to low 30Hz range.
That's the situation, what would you do and why?
Andrew
PS, one of the designs I was looking at was this one http://www.speakerbuilding.com/content/1044/ this write-up got this whole thought process started, and is probably a pretty safe bet.
I was also considering the Wilson Watt/Puppy clones that are available here http://users.nac.net/markowitzgd/david/david.htm these use the Focal tweeter, Seas midrange (getting hard to find), and 2 Peerless 8" woofers since the original Dynaudio's are all but gone.
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