Any DIY audiophiles?
 

I'm thinking it's time to build a set of speakers for my 6.1 setup and I'm not sure if I should go with a kit or just plain build the damn things from scratch and order components.

Def not going big but a matching set of 6 is where I'm headed at. I listen to a lot of music. Full range 20-20,000hz is needed as the subwoofer is only there to fill out a little bit and to be honest, consumer grade speakers these days rely too much on "boom" from a powered sub to fill in the lack of low end response. Music does not need a sub. Only surround tracks from a multi-channel source do.

Anyone have any success stories of either kits or custom?

If you don't have a nice valve amp, or didn't build a nice transistorised MOSFET amp then I wouldn't bother building speakers.

Oh I'd love to.. in time. Eventually I'll be building a hybrid but not until the cost of a good processor comes down to my liking. I have a decent high-current amp for now but an upgrade in speakers would sure make a huge difference. The drivers I'm using now are getting old, some are as old as me. Mid-range response is getting quite poor.

Welcome to contradictionville. Go big or go home.

Ya, that's not going to work with small speakers. I've seen good quality floorstanders with 10 inch woofers that can't do 20hz to 20 khz +/- 3db. In fact, a lot of subwoofers can't go that low.

Not with a flat response curve no, true enough. However I've seen (eerr Heard) some 10 inch drivers in properly built cabinets come pretty darn close. Not to mention folded horn reflex too.. albeit quite specific to each driver and a bit on the larger size in terms of the cabinets to get that right response without overpowering the other drivers. I guess I can handle 43hz and up if need be.. I just don't like having to rely on the sub to hit lower notes for me.. just doesn't sound natural to me in music. It's muffled and unfocused. I like the texture of all the sound being directional and more focused.

I have a very picky ear and discern a lot of nuances in musical reproduction that many may never notice. I guess I'm kind of answering my own questions.. should go custom to achieve that or grow in size of cabinets but when I'm talking bookshelves I'm not talking tiny little ones.. I'm talking 8-10 inch drivers, 3-way setups in roughly a 2 cubic foot volume.

A. Horns don't have shit for low bass. K-Horns drop like a fucking rock below 100Hz, and like a meteor below 50.

B. No homemade speaker will sound as good as a big name audiophile speaker. I have Thiels in my listening room and if I gave you $5000 you couldn't build something that sounds half as good.

I'm not "handy" enough to even consider a project like that.

.