Hey folks! I'm another noob here so just wanted to introduce myself. I'm fairly active over in the head-fi.org DIY forums so shout-out to those of you who also participate over there. And of course, I've now discovered this community of DIY-ers that will surely be a further strain on my wallet.
Speaking of which, I'm looking for help on how to spend my money.
As background, my current setup has a cheapy integrated amp feeding a pair of Boston Acoustics VR900's. These are the ones with powered subs in the bottom of the cabinet and a mid and tweeter on the top. They've been "ok" over the last 9 years or so and I don't really have any complaints as they've been fine for all around TV/movie/music duty in my small living room.
Over the last year or so, I've built a number of high end DAC's and headphone amps for my Sennheiser HD650's and now would like to expand my listening universe to higher end stereo speakers. I don't feel a need for huge low end as my house shares walls with my neighbors. Instead, I'm thinking that something in the family of the Zaph ZRT or ZA5 might be a good first project given the availability of complete kits with or without cabinets. Of course, there are different flavors of both of those at different price points but my first question is whether one of those two kits would be a good first foray into DIY speakers that would satisfy me given my semi-relevant reference of my headphone listening.
I guess when it comes down to it, I'm trying to decide if they extra cost of the ZRT system is worth it compared to the ZA5's. I've tried to do some searches to get people's impression of these both individually and compared to each other but haven't had much luck. My own conclusion (very pedestrian and in no way truly informed) is just that the response curves of both systems seem pretty good except the ZRT "looks" better at the high end without the peaks and valleys that the ZA5 tweeter seems to exhibit. Of course, if there are other kits that would be no brainer much better choices, please let me know. But the ZA route seemed like a good one to me so I'd like to focus on that if that's ok.
Also, I'm pretty adept at wood working so the cabinets shouldn't be a big issue regardless of whether I go pre-fab or not.
Anyway, that's my rambling intoduction/question. Looking forward to starting my speaker DIY career!
Speaking of which, I'm looking for help on how to spend my money.
As background, my current setup has a cheapy integrated amp feeding a pair of Boston Acoustics VR900's. These are the ones with powered subs in the bottom of the cabinet and a mid and tweeter on the top. They've been "ok" over the last 9 years or so and I don't really have any complaints as they've been fine for all around TV/movie/music duty in my small living room.
Over the last year or so, I've built a number of high end DAC's and headphone amps for my Sennheiser HD650's and now would like to expand my listening universe to higher end stereo speakers. I don't feel a need for huge low end as my house shares walls with my neighbors. Instead, I'm thinking that something in the family of the Zaph ZRT or ZA5 might be a good first project given the availability of complete kits with or without cabinets. Of course, there are different flavors of both of those at different price points but my first question is whether one of those two kits would be a good first foray into DIY speakers that would satisfy me given my semi-relevant reference of my headphone listening.
I guess when it comes down to it, I'm trying to decide if they extra cost of the ZRT system is worth it compared to the ZA5's. I've tried to do some searches to get people's impression of these both individually and compared to each other but haven't had much luck. My own conclusion (very pedestrian and in no way truly informed) is just that the response curves of both systems seem pretty good except the ZRT "looks" better at the high end without the peaks and valleys that the ZA5 tweeter seems to exhibit. Of course, if there are other kits that would be no brainer much better choices, please let me know. But the ZA route seemed like a good one to me so I'd like to focus on that if that's ok.
Also, I'm pretty adept at wood working so the cabinets shouldn't be a big issue regardless of whether I go pre-fab or not.
Anyway, that's my rambling intoduction/question. Looking forward to starting my speaker DIY career!
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