Greetings all. I've been out of the DIY speaker kit scene for a bit. My last build was a Statement II custom cabinet build 8 years ago. I recently sold my home and the new owners wanted to purchase all my theater gear and DIY speakers. I find myself with nothing more than a Sonos ARC and Sonos sub to enjoy my music, so I'm starting to piece together a new system. I'll be starting with a modest 5.1 system.
In this thread I hope to document my build process and progress for some semi-unique cabinets as well as keep a running budget tally. With this build I'm going to try to use my former skills and try out a few new skills, all while trying to use tools that any normal handyman would have. While I dream of having a CNC machine to make curved braces, I realize many entering this hobby may not have access to machines like that. So the old down and dirty method is what I'll be using and documenting how I do it along the way. I'll try to keep this first post updated with bookmarks to the rest of the posts of major milestones and references. If someone should happen to want to duplicate all or any of the build steps, this first post should act like a table of contents for the entire build thread.
Choosing a Speaker Design
For the left and right main speakers I'll be building the Anthology II speakers. My gold standard for DIY speakers which I have either built heard in person have been the Statement II which I built many years ago. After discovering the midrange for the Statement II is no longer available I exchanged a few emails with Jim Holtz. I've exchanged emails with Jim over the years and I cannot say enough nice thins about the guy. I hope to meet him in person some day and buy him 1 (or more) drinks. Jim was very excited about the Anthology II design. I have the kit ordered from Meniscus and the kits should be delivered today. Meniscus is also working on finalizing an Anthology Center Channel speaker. I've spoken to Chad and Mark at Meniscus a few times about that CC design and they hope to have the CC kit available in the next week or two. Once the CC kit is voiced properly and available, I will order that kit as well. I've done a fair amount of comparisons with upgraded crossover components and the only situations I could ever tell a difference was in the resistor quality for the the mid and upper range drivers. With that in mind I opted for the upgrades resistors for the tweeter on the Anthology kit. This is the first time I also decided to pay for the pros at Meniscus to build the crossovers for me. Normally I solider the components together myself using anything from 1/4" plywood to pegboard for a crossover board. I look forward to seeing how the crossovers look. For surround speakers I ordered the Bromo bookshelf speaker kits also from Meniscus.
Build Kit links
Anthology II - https://meniscusaudio.com/product/an...i-speaker-kit/
Anthology II Center Channel - Coming Soon!!!
Bromo bookshelf - https://meniscusaudio.com/product/br...udspeaker-kit/
Note about the kits: I ordered the kits with the crossover boards professional assembled by Meniscus. I also ordered the full kit which comes complete with wire, midrange tunnels, hardware, stuffing, etc
Cabinet Design
I like to change things a bit with the cabinet. With the Statement II I changed the driver configuration of the woofers hoping it would not have a negative effect on the quality of sound. While I don't recommend it, I think I got away with that change. With the Anthology II cabinets, I want to do something a little different again. I will be keeping the driver layout and distances the same, but I will be doing some curved cabinets. The design is still pending.
In this thread I hope to document my build process and progress for some semi-unique cabinets as well as keep a running budget tally. With this build I'm going to try to use my former skills and try out a few new skills, all while trying to use tools that any normal handyman would have. While I dream of having a CNC machine to make curved braces, I realize many entering this hobby may not have access to machines like that. So the old down and dirty method is what I'll be using and documenting how I do it along the way. I'll try to keep this first post updated with bookmarks to the rest of the posts of major milestones and references. If someone should happen to want to duplicate all or any of the build steps, this first post should act like a table of contents for the entire build thread.
Choosing a Speaker Design
For the left and right main speakers I'll be building the Anthology II speakers. My gold standard for DIY speakers which I have either built heard in person have been the Statement II which I built many years ago. After discovering the midrange for the Statement II is no longer available I exchanged a few emails with Jim Holtz. I've exchanged emails with Jim over the years and I cannot say enough nice thins about the guy. I hope to meet him in person some day and buy him 1 (or more) drinks. Jim was very excited about the Anthology II design. I have the kit ordered from Meniscus and the kits should be delivered today. Meniscus is also working on finalizing an Anthology Center Channel speaker. I've spoken to Chad and Mark at Meniscus a few times about that CC design and they hope to have the CC kit available in the next week or two. Once the CC kit is voiced properly and available, I will order that kit as well. I've done a fair amount of comparisons with upgraded crossover components and the only situations I could ever tell a difference was in the resistor quality for the the mid and upper range drivers. With that in mind I opted for the upgrades resistors for the tweeter on the Anthology kit. This is the first time I also decided to pay for the pros at Meniscus to build the crossovers for me. Normally I solider the components together myself using anything from 1/4" plywood to pegboard for a crossover board. I look forward to seeing how the crossovers look. For surround speakers I ordered the Bromo bookshelf speaker kits also from Meniscus.
Build Kit links
Anthology II - https://meniscusaudio.com/product/an...i-speaker-kit/
Anthology II Center Channel - Coming Soon!!!
Bromo bookshelf - https://meniscusaudio.com/product/br...udspeaker-kit/
Note about the kits: I ordered the kits with the crossover boards professional assembled by Meniscus. I also ordered the full kit which comes complete with wire, midrange tunnels, hardware, stuffing, etc
Cabinet Design
I like to change things a bit with the cabinet. With the Statement II I changed the driver configuration of the woofers hoping it would not have a negative effect on the quality of sound. While I don't recommend it, I think I got away with that change. With the Anthology II cabinets, I want to do something a little different again. I will be keeping the driver layout and distances the same, but I will be doing some curved cabinets. The design is still pending.
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