Building Speaker Enclosures

[Xevuhtess7]

Could i do this as opposed to buying an expensive klipsch or logitech 5.1? i want a really good sounding system... any info on this? also, what kinda speakers/subs to get and such.

[BaldHeadedDork]

Your best bet is to find a speaker repair shop in your area (if you have one) and talk to them. The enclosure isn't hard if you have good carpentry skills.

Picking the best speakers for what you want is something else. There are literally dozens of models from Electro Voice and they all have different construction and characteristics. You really need someone who has that stuff down cold to get useable advise.


BHD

[Malpine Walis]

You can certainly build your own speakers. It is no harder than building your own computer ;-)

Here (http://www.decdun.fsnet.co.uk/loudspeakers.html) is a link to some good information on the topic. Along the way you will save some cash due to the fact that you are not paying for expenses like marketing and warehouse/transport of large and heavy items (comment taken from halfway down that page).

However, if you are trying to get Klipsch quality, you will have to buy high end drivers and cross-overs and measure and cut all your parts very carefully. Also, unless you can find premade plans, remember that what got Klipsch to the industry standing that they have is some very talented engineers, CAD and a whole lot of experience.

[Xevuhtess7]

thanks, ill try my best... how would i wire them for a computer though? and make like a control piece for bass treble and volume and such?

[JimmyG]

I think building your own is a great idea. You get a lot of experience in figuring out a great number of problems. BUT....you will probably not be able to build anything electronic for less than the manufacturer. That's why all of the kit manufacturers went out of business. Some of you may remember Heathkit. They made great stuff, but you just couldn't compete with mass production. The parts (speakers, wood, wire, transformers, potentiometers, etc) will cost more than buying the finished unit from Klipsh. Hey, but what do I know!

[Malpine Walis]

Which is probably the reason why nobody has ever started a thread around here titled

"Just got a new barebones from tiger direct, what should I put in it"

Anyone who can handle a barebones unit (and can find us) has no need for the things. ;-)

[Voodoo Rufus]

Here's some sites for speaker building:

www.zalytron.com
www.madisound.com
www.partsexpress.com

I've been wanting to make my own speakers but money is an issue. You can always build a set of speakers that are much better than prebuilt speakers of comparable price.

[mbentley]

Originally posted by Xevuhtess7
thanks, ill try my best... how would i wire them for a computer though? and make like a control piece for bass treble and volume and such?

um... i would think that you would need a stereo receiver to do this. because if these are any decent sized speaker, they will need to be amplified for any decent sound. the key to quality sound is a good amount of power. if you are lacking in power, the quality will degrade.

[Voodoo Rufus]

Yes, depending on if you want just stereo or surround sound, amps can cost from $20 to thousands. It all depends on what you're going to do with them.

[eab]

I saw awhile back at an online electronics store the main "speaker" part of some bose speakers, they where pretty cheap to, don't know where it was though or if they still have them.

[Xevuhtess7]

nice eab, bose speakers are sooo nice, i have a wave radio. i dont know if i really wanna carry though this project if it actually costs more then buying prebuilt speakers, but mabye ill take it up later just to expand knowledge on electronics

[Voodoo Rufus]

I don't know, I've heard a lot of badmouthing of Bose, esp. on the Klipsch forums. Don't know the specifics, but the price for what they sell and the specs on some speakers looks like junk to me.

[eab]

Don't know from what I heard bose is like top of the line... But to my untrained ear putting a sony boom box next to a bose wave radio I really can't tell the diference.

[Voodoo Rufus]

Well, Bose is FAR from top line. From what I know, Klipsch is the master. Listen to a set of Klipschorns and you will KNOW.

[loudblaster]

Bose Makes decent speaker cabnets, but they use cheap drivers. and ther cross overs are a joke.

But building your own speaker boxes is certanly possible.

You might want to look for a program caled blaubox. it alows you to designe a profesional box, if you have the carpentry skills, or know someone else that does.

One draw back to the program is you need alot of specific information about the drivers you plan to use, calle theil small parameters. you will usually see thes on high quality subwoofers. specifcations (other than frequency response) on midranges and tweeters are not necesarry.

good luck
Steve

[loudblaster]

Bose Makes decent speaker cabnets, but they use cheap drivers. and ther cross overs are a joke.

But building your own speaker boxes is certanly possible.

You might want to look for a program caled blaubox. it alows you to designe a profesional box, if you have the carpentry skills, or know someone else that does.

One draw back to the program is you need alot of specific information about the drivers you plan to use, calle theil small parameters. you will usually see thes on high quality subwoofers. specifcations (other than frequency response) on midranges and tweeters are not necesarry.

good luck
Steve

[loudblaster]

heres a link to that blau box program from blaupunks website. http://www.blaupunktusa.com/speakers/blaubox.zip

sorry for the double post, connection problems.

[Voodoo Rufus]

Yeah, learning how to make enclosures is an art, and figuring out the crossovers and driver parameters is a chore. I haven't built any speakers yet, but I've been reading a good amount on it over the summer. Takes some work.

One option is to buy a speaker kit. These would most always be better than most hifi speakers you can buy at the same price.

[Xevuhtess7]

earlier in the thread someone said that they dont really exist anymore?

[Voodoo Rufus]

Speaker kits? No, they're around, many many kits out there. It all depends on yoru budget.

I posted a couple links up above for driver and kit companies.

[Xevuhtess7]

alrighty, well i dont know if im gonna try to put together speakers since im not extremely experienced with electronics and such, aside from computers.

[Voodoo Rufus]

some sites have nice kits around. Partsexpress in particular has easy kits for beginners. You can build one of their nice subs in about 1 hour. Their loudspeakers don't seem great, but they'd be better than Klipsch PMs I think.

It would be hard to build a good 5.1 system for cheap, as they're HT kits are geared towards high end systems, but you can make a REALLY good pair of stereo speakers for about the same as a surround set from Klipsch or Logitech.

[Xevuhtess7]

the thing is, i already have a set or logitech 4.1's (see sig). i'd probably more likely build the set for experience rather then using it in place of my logitechs, UNLESS they break or sumtin happens or whatever.

[Voodoo Rufus]

Well building a pair is the only way you'll learnm and a kit is a good way to go. That's what I plan to do in the future. You can do a lot with a homebuilt pair of speakers. Start a real HT or something, use them as music speakers or whatever.