New FAQ: Why do DIYers always say to do a "proven" design first?

[Undefinition]

http://undefinition.googlepages.com/diy-faqs-provendesigns

[Teran]

One addition I would make is that very often that off-the-shelf design is going to have to be modified slightly for the builder's particular room/placement/aesthetics/etc. This is going to require enough modification to box tuning/padding/bsc/etc. that the builder will still end up creating several forum threads trying to get enough of an understanding needed to get it half-way right. After all that, they will still have less than 10% of the knowledge necessary to design a decent speaker. But, their ears will get a little training and they will understand a lot more of the terms/concepts involved. Better, they will understand how much more there is to know.

[MT Speakers]

+1
I got interested in speaker building about 2 months ago. It took me a while to figure out that if I wanted to get the most for my money, I should go with a proven design. So I settled on the Zaph SR-71. Now as I'm building them and studying their design, I am just beginning to know what I don't know about speaker design.

[BigguyZ]

I think that part of it is that bringing people into a hobby is easier if the entry cost is low. Now I’m not only talking about money here- as speaker building can be quite $$. What I’m talking about is the initial investment of time needed to participate. When I built my first speakers, I took a chance and went with a kit from an online. I was comforted by the fact that the designer of the kit is very well-known, as at the time I wouldn’t have thought a hobbyist would be able to design something of quality. Also, the crossovers were pre-assembled, so there was no worry about how to best lay them out and connect them. So, all I had to do was build the cabinets. As a result, I feel I got what I wanted out of the experience, and now I’m looking for a more advanced design, where I’ll be building the crossover, and I can make some changes to the design as well.

I don’t think that I’ll ever get to the point of doing my own design- or making crossover tweeks even- but since I went with something that I was comfortable with (because it was proven), I ended up with a new hobby that I’m enjoyed (and cursed).

[---k---]

Paul,

That's great, as usual. I'll continue to point people that post those type of questions to your website.

Reading it, I just kept thinking that building someone deign also teaches so many skills that can be used to avoid mistakes on the next project. There are so many ways of doing things. Some of the build threads I see online are often not the easiest way of doing things. Building a cheap pre-designed speaker would teach all those little things, such as:

1) laying out crossovers on a board small enough to get through the woofer hole.
2) Don't glue your crossovers in, so when you have to fix one of your mistakes you can easily get it out.
3) Don't put so many braces in your box that you have no room left inside for your crossovers.

I'm sure we can go on.

I wonder if links to Speaker Building 201 would be helpful. Also, links to Unibox, PCD, and BDS would be helpful. It might quickly overwhelm them into retreat.

[Curt C]

Your FAQ's are great resources Paul.
Nice addition... :T

C

[Jed]

I like Paul's style. Straight to the point, and the dialogue format is "approachable." Well done Paul.