What DIY project next?

[Olli]

Hi all,

I built myself a pair of DIY ProAc Response 2.5 clones last year. I am very happy with them, but I am always thinking about he next step when it comes to DIY

Are there any other similarly well documented speaker projects out there which will yield superior sonic results? I am most interested in floorstanders and I love my bass. An element of style/subtlety (in the same way these ProAcs are quite slender, thus pleasing on the eye) would be awesome, but perhaps not 100% necessary

I notice that on these forums, a lot of people are designing speakers completely from scratch. As much as I would love to be able to do that, I have very little knowledge, so it would be a bit of a hit and miss thing most likely (unless I spend a LOT of time reading... But finding the time for that will probably be a longer term ambition).

Any advice/recommendations?

Cheers,
Olli

[Dean100]

Lots of documented projects here:http://www.htguide.com/forum/forumdisplay.php4?f=39

[---k---]

I had to google the ProArc 2.5 speakers. They appear to be a nice speaker with scanspeak drivers - so high end.

I think for us to provide you with good recommendations, we need to know your budget. That is the best place to start.

If your reference point is scanspeak drivers, I think you're going to want to be in the range of JonMarsh's Ardents or Modula Extreme - which I'm not sure is fully published yet.

There are other designs out there that use the higher end drivers. I'm just not that familiar with them. Most stuff I pay attention to is in that midrange or budget category. Check out Jed's Clearwave Audio. I think he has some designs that may fit the build.

[oneplustwo]

Olli,

I'm in a similar position as you. I've built Zaph Audio SR71's and now his ZDT 3.5. But now I'm thinking that a different style speaker might be interesting so I've been looking at dipole designs. The leading contender at the moment is undefinition's (Paul C) Sunflower design. Just a thought that thinking outside the box (pun intended) might be worth some time.

[Olli]

Thanks for the link Dean. I did have a look at some of those, although there are an awful lot of them!

Yes, K, am am looking into the higher-end for this project; part of the reason I am conducting this research is to ensure I don't waste a lot of money My budget will be perhaps around the 2000GBP ($3000) mark all in (i.e. including cabinets). This is for a stereo pair, just to clarify.

I'll take a peek at what you have suggested, cheers.

Btw looking at your DP, K, I would guess that you don't spend AL your time in the budget/midrange category!

Edit: Oneplustwo (of head-fi/AMB forums fame? ): interesting point; I will certainly explore your suggestion. Thanks.

[oneplustwo]

umm, not sure about fame, but yes. ops:

with that kind of budget, you might also look at the linkwitz orion for what could be the penultimate dipole DIY project.

[Bear]

I have a pair of Jed's (Clearwave's) Minuet5 MTMs that I like quite a bit. They were not too drastic on the woodworking skills, though they did still take a bit of time even with pre-built cabinets. Part of the budget discussion should be the time budget as well as the dollar budget. If you have to outsource the cabinets, that can eat up driver/XO budget, but if you don't have a lot of time, that may be the preferred way to go.

For me, a center channel and then surround speakers are next on my agenda.

[dmalphur]

I think that the cutting edge of speaker technology seems to be controlled directivity designs, ala the Linkwitz Orion or Geddes Summa.

If all the drivers I have in the closet were suddenly liquidated into an equivalent sum of money to spend on an entirely new project, I would build something along the lines of Geddes' designs or one of the offshoots inspired by his work.

-David

[Olli]

This is a project which will not happen for a few years yet; I'm just in the preliminary stages of learning about what is out there. David's point about speaker technology moving to controlled directivity designs is very interesting, and will warrant further reading.

I still envisage myself doing all the fabrication myself; for me it isn't the same if one just buys a kit that purely requires a bit of glueing and painting. Thus, the time budget would be quite large.

Thanks for the links so far