Looking for a good 2-way for <$300

[Drew_V]

I need to build some bookshelf speakers for my computer. But I listen to a LOT of music at my computer, so I don't just want some lousy space-fillers. They need to produce some pretty high quality sound. Right now, I've got some Energy RC-10s, which are amazing speakers. I would like to build some of equal or better quality with a materials cost under $300.

Any recommendations? I've looked through a bunch of designs that are referenced on the forums, but I'm looking for some personal reviews and recommendations rather than just the designer boasting about his own design.

My current speakers are around 13" high and they're just about perfect size. I'd like something with the tweeters around 10" high. For some designs, I may need to modify the cabinet slightly, but that's okay. Just looking for suggestions at this point.

Thanks.

[Fdas]

Lineup R4.

https://htguide.com/forum/showpost.php?p=361756&postcount=3

I haven't built or heard this speakers, but Jed designed, and price/performance great drivers chosen.

I have my eye on building this design someday.

[kmibb]

https://web.archive.org/web/20110813101903/http://speakers.lonesaguaro.com/speakers/TB4V/Piccolata.html

Lou's designs always get high praise, and those Tang Band underhung woofers are sweet.

[Silver1omo]

Undefinition has a couple of designs

http://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/diy

the overnight sensations TM and MTM have been built by several DIYers and praised a lot.
Also the Swope line seems interesting.

CJD and ---K--- have the sietecerocero project that looks good:

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35905

[Drew_V]

I was looking at the R4. Definitely a nice looking speaker and I've read good things about Jed's designs.

But in the end, I was really hoping for something with a 5-7 inch woofer, as I will not have a sub. The RC-10s that I'm replacing have a 5.5" woofer (with rear ports), and I'd like to get even a little more beef at the low end.

[Silver1omo]

A bit over budget but with a 8"

https://web.archive.org/web/20101213031735/http://audioheuristics.org/projects_gallery/RS225_RS28A_updates/dayton_reference_rs225.htm

With a 7"

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13154

Perhaps the Modula can be done a little smaller with the "new" RS180...

[Drew_V]

I like the price and potential of the Modula MT. I looked at that one before, but sort of glossed right over it.

At $220 for the pair, that might be a winner. I'll have to read through the official build thread...

[Jed]

Note: a lot of the BOMs are very dated and pricing has increased substantially. The $300 and under budget is a very tough one to hit now with the cost of copper, etc. Unfortunately, I can't update my threads with current pricing in the MA forum, as they are all locked. I'm not sure if the R4 will come in under $300 given the drivers have gone up in price by quite a bit, since I did those designs. As have the rest of the parts.

[dsrviola]

"Lou's designs always get high praise, and those Tang Band underhung woofers are sweet."


I'll second the recommendation for these. I've heard the original pair. They have no right to sound as good as they do.

[Drew_V]

I'm finding out that the pricing has increased, indeed. The drivers are mostly at least 20-30% more than prices from a few years back. I'm probably at least another 6 months away from actually having the time to build these anyway, but it strikes me that the longer I wait, the higher the prices will be! I should probably start buying stuff now to avoid another 10+% increase down the road.

[Vilbig]

I recommend Zaph's BAMTM. I think the woofers are on sale until EOM.

http://zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html

[JonP]

I like the price and potential of the Modula MT. I looked at that one before, but sort of glossed right over it.

At $220 for the pair, that might be a winner. I'll have to read through the official build thread...

I've built a pair and have listened to them for a few years... (present for my sis, a greater procrastinator than even I, she now finally has them :roll: ) showed them around to a few discriminating folks, even took them to the NorCal DIY event... and I can say they have impressed at all of the above. I miss them.

They'll go a bit higher than that, think I priced them out again some 4-8mo ago, at $300-350 or thereabouts. They're still a good bargain, and punch WAY out of their weight class.

But, I'd have to say they are a little on the huge size for a "desktop". (10"x17x12.5") Great speaker to have out on stands for a mid to large size room. I'd actually think something smaller, and with closer driver spacing might do better for a 3' or less listening distance. But, hey... it's OK if you're into the extreme look and listening kind of thing... what the heck, go for it! :T

[Silver1omo]

There is a good priced pair of rs180s in ebay...

[Undefinition]

I'm just throwing this out there, but someone just did the ZX Spectrum in a .5 cu ft cabinet (I'm pretty sure it was the PE one). I forget the exact tuning he used, but I can look it up. Anyway, it would make a pretty snazzy monitor, IMO. And the bass the HiVi M6 can produce is really something.

[Jonasz]

ZaphAudio ZA5.2 and 5.3 seems to be in the right pricerange.

https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=186&products_id=8648

https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=186&products_id=8649

On the other hand, Undefinitions designs seems to get a lot of praise and the ZX Spectrum uses one of my favourite tweeters wich makes this design very appealing to me.

:P

[Drew_V]

I'm just throwing this out there, but someone just did the ZX Spectrum in a .5 cu ft cabinet (I'm pretty sure it was the PE one). I forget the exact tuning he used, but I can look it up. Anyway, it would make a pretty snazzy monitor, IMO. And the bass the HiVi M6 can produce is really something.

Nice, but still a bit large and a bit more than I was looking to spend.


Any comments on your "Classix" design? They look cheap enough and the 6.5" woofer should give me what I'm looking for.

[Undefinition]

Hey, I like 'em a lot. :B The DC160 gets a bad rap because it can fall apart in the midrange. But if handled properly, they put out a surprisingly musical, pleasing sound. Also, if you're looking for ridiculous bass extension in a bookshelf speaker, there aren't many other options out there (not counting the 5.5" Scan-Speak Revelators :W ).

I am a bit confused, though. The Classix are 1/2 the price of the $300 your original post said you wanted to spend.

[Drew_V]

I am a bit confused, though. The Classix are 1/2 the price of the $300 your original post said you wanted to spend.

Well, less is ALWAYS better I didn't *want* to spend $300, but I suppose I would be willing to go that high if necessary. And from the sounds of it, most of the speakers I'm looking at USED to cost around $250, but now they're $350. I originally didn't want to spend more than the $250 that I spent for my current speakers, but I bumped that up to open up my options.

Space is also a consideration. My computer is set up pretty snugly on my desk right now, so I only have about 9" or so on either side. I could possibly squeeze out another inch, but not much more than that. And most of the larger bookshelves that I've seen are 10+ wide. My current speakers are 7" wide, although they've only got 5-inch woofers.


The Classix fit my desk space nicely, they've got 6.5" woofers, and they're dirt cheap. What's not to like?

[ThomasW]

I like the price and potential of the Modula MT. I looked at that one before, but sort of glossed right over it.

At $220 for the pair, that might be a winner. I'll have to read through the official build thread...

I think they'd make a great PC speaker

Note: a lot of the BOMs are very dated and pricing has increased substantially.

With PE eliminating the shielded versions of the drivers the overall cost of the building some of the systems in Missions Accomplished has stayed fairly stable. The RS180 is a case in point

The other thing to do is shop when PE has it's frequent sales or Deals of the day.

Unfortunately, I can't update my threads with current pricing in the MA forum, as they are all locked.

Anytime anyone needs to update their MA threads all they need to do is ask. Any moderator can temporarily unlock them.

[Undefinition]

The Classix fit my desk space nicely, they've got 6.5" woofers, and they're dirt cheap. What's not to like?

Hey, I'm with ya. Just be careful, this is an addicting hobby!

[Dan B]

Modula MTs

I built the Modula MTs years ago and love them.

[Drew_V]

Would I be able to get the Modulas down to 9" wide or less?

Here's my crazy idea: Make the cabinets narrower (down to 8.5-9" wide), then make them taller and move the port to the front, squeeze the tweeter down just a hair closer to the woofer, then offset the port to the side in the area just above and to the side of the tweeter. Is there any possibility in doing this without totally ruining the speaker?

Front ports are usually set on-center and below the woofer. But is there anything wrong with squeezing it just above the off-center tweeter?

[neuro]

You might still be pleased with the results of your plan, but it will be a pretty strong deviation from the original design parameters. Baffle width is an important consideration in crossover design, as is tweeter - woofer spacing. If you change both of those, it's unlikely you will maintain the original character of the speaker. You could trade depth for height and maybe even get away with moving the port to the front, but changing the width and tweeter - woofer spacing probably won't work so well. Only one way to find out for sure, but don't do it unless you can also accommodate the original spec just in case you have to rebuild.
While I like the Modula MT as a top choice, if you really need 9" or less, you are probably better off with a design created at that width.

[Drew_V]

Well, it occurred to me that Undefinition's "Classix" design that I was looking at is eerily similar in component usage as the Parts Express "BR-1" kit. And for an extra $20-30, I could get the cabinets included in the BR-1 kit. So it struck me that I could probably do a bit better for the money, since the point of this whole thing is to build my own cabinets anyway. So I moved up to the Modula design, but that's too wide for my space.

There is a CJD design using the RS150 in an MT configuration that would fit my available space, although the build instructions are a bit spotty and I'm still a beginner at this.

What to do... what to do?

[Undefinition]

Just got your PM about the Classix, but since you are wandering down this trail...

The Core or Amiga designs are both 2-ways that use the RS180 (like the Modula), but the cabinet is narrower than the Modula. I am pretty sure they'd work fine in a .5 cu ft cabinet. I'd just have to adjust the tuning a bit.

[Drew_V]

Just got your PM about the Classix, but since you are wandering down this trail...

The Core or Amiga designs are both 2-ways that use the RS180 (like the Modula), but the cabinet is narrower than the Modula. I am pretty sure they'd work fine in a .5 cu ft cabinet. I'd just have to adjust the tuning a bit.

Hmmm. Okay, talk to me. What do you think can be done with either of those? How low do you think they might go in a vented configuration?

They seem to be within my price range, so it might be worth pursuing. Which would you say would fit best in my situation?

[Operandi]

Would an RS180 speaker work well nearfield? It seems a bit big to me for something like that.

Jeff Bagby's Dreydel uses the RS150 and a Seas tweeter; can't go wrong with that.

Images not available

[Undefinition]

Well, let's say you put it into a .5 cu ft cabinet about this size:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=302-720

You would use a 2" dia x 4.25" long vent. This tunes the cabinet to 50 Hz, which gets an F3 in the upper 40 Hz range. That's about average for bookshelf speakers that size with a 6.5"-7" woofer. This of course brings us back to the uniqueness of the DC160, which gets an F3 in the mid 30s in the same size cabinet. It's noticeably deep bass. The tradeoff here is that the Amiga/Core are going to have a more refined midrange.

Still, I can't sell-out the Classix. Just because that DC160 isn't the most sophisticated driver out there doesn't mean that it doesn't make a very pleasing, musical sound. (But I'm a musician at heart--not an engineer)

[Drew_V]

Well, as I said, this project is mainly to get some experience in speaker building and to replace my PC speakers. I'm not going to do much critical listening on these anyway. I'd prefer to have more of a full sound (F3 in the mid 30's would be great) than a slightly nicer midrange anyway. I'll probably just stick with the Classix and call it a day.