High Budget DIY Satelites

[doc]

So, it's pretty well known you can build a great sounding system and keep costs down by going the DIY route. I'm wondering however, if budget wasn't so much of a consideration and you just wanted to build some especially great sounding satelites that cut very few corners, how would you do it? What would it cost?

I'm thinking music, 2-channel... There would be subs as well but I'm more interested in the actual main channels.

[95Honda]

If I weren't going to design them, I would say a Zalytron kit or one of the Madisound factory designed kits. You couldn't go wrong with either of those. A little more expensive would be a kit from North Creek (whatever they are still selling, they are getting out of DIY) or ACI. For a budget minded kit, PartsExpress has some really good stuff.

Or, if you want to design it yourself, you could do a killer set of 2-ways using very high end drivers that require a very simple crossover and build cabinets like brick-shithouses. The better the drivers, the easier the crossovers alot of times. Technology is getting so advanced with some of the drivers that you could really make a true reference high-end speaker with a simple design, using very high quality parts. Corners are usually cut with the cabinet and crossover.... Very easy to do right when DIY'ing.

[doc]

Or, if you want to design it yourself, you could do a killer set of 2-ways using very high end drivers that require a very simple crossover and build cabinets like brick-shithouses...

Yeah, I like the sound of that... What sort of drivers should I be reading up on?

[95Honda]

I'll get back to you when I do some research.

Ryan (Bigsmooth) built a killer little set of 2 ways last year with some Accuton drivers in the Partsexpress cabinets, maybe he can share some details.

[95Honda]

Some of those Seas kits on Madisound look interesting, the cabinets they sell are junk though....

If you are looking at doing something, let me know. We could order some of the stuff anytime, cruise out one weekend this winter and we could knock them out..... If you went with a kit, minus the cabinets, then that would alleviate all the testing and tweaking, and you could knock out a nice set of cabs in a few days.... Shoot, we could even do Line-X like Marshall's HE10s....

Lemme know buddy....

[doc]

Yeah, that would be sweet... I was looking at the 'Thor' kit (http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=9444811.651&pid=485) and I think something like that would be great. Thoughts?

Once I figure out which to purchase I'll probably slowly start buying drivers one or two at a time until I've got them all. That way it wont be too painful on the wallet all at once :)

[95Honda]

Something like that would be great, also we would just buy the drivers from Madisound, we would buy the crossover parts from somewhere else and build them ourselves, would probably be cheaper anyways.

I know the Seas stuff is pretty good, and those kits aren't just designed on a computer by Madisound, they are actuall factory offerings. Dynaudio used to have killer kits, but they quit selling to DIY a year or so ago, that would have been the ticket.

I'll also snoop around Zalytron, and see what they have to offer. I know they'll have the best prices anywhere on drivers...

[BigSmooth]

Hey Doc. Come by sometime and you can check out what I built. Give me a call.

[95Honda]

Ryan-

What crossovers are in those 2-ways you built?

[MikeS]

Those ribbon tweeters look like fun to play with.....

[BigSmooth]

1st order crossovers. Forgot the crossover point but it's pretty low. Great tweeters...

[doc]

Okay, so now I'm wondering about how to send signal to these things.

I recall there being a trend in the past few years to run a tube preamp with a solid state amp; is this still the way to go?

What do people like brand wise for tube preamps and solid state amps nowadays? Budget would be around $1-2k per component...

[BigSmooth]

Well it all depends on your taste really... It also depends on the type of speakers you build. Of course high efficiency speakers will run better on tubes than low efficiency ones. I’m sure everyone will have a different answers for you on this one. As for tube amps (new ones at least), Rouge makes some cool products. Good build quality for the price.