Geoff’s DIY Speaker Project – Part I
Audio enthusiast Geoff was looking for the perfect speakers for his listening room. After researching his options, he decided DIY was the most cost-effective and flexible option. Join him on his DIY journey!
DIY AUDIO SECRETS: Tell us about your project and why you chose to DIY…
GEOFF: We have a large listening/living room which is about 16m x 8m with 4m ceilings and L-shaped. The current stereo setup, with small studio monitors and sub doesn’t really have enough “oomph” to fill the space, although it still sounds good.
After looking at various retail store options, I decided that (1) I don’t like black and (2) the store solutions were very expensive, i.e. over $2,000 to get something that sounds good. I then looked up ‘DIY speakers’ and found that you can get much better value with a DIY project, if you aren’t too ambitious and use a proven design.
I visited LSK (The Loudspeaker Kit) with some favourite CDs for an audition and decided that I prefer paper drivers to aluminium (not used in LSK kits but there was an all-aluminium speaker on demo). At the time of the visit LSK did not have a kit which would have been suitable for our space, although the new F6 Floorstanding Speaker Kit would have been an option*.
DIY AUDIO SECRETS: So where did your design come from?
GEOFF: After much ‘Googling’ I ended up at a well known US mail order website and asked the designer of one of its speaker kits if it would work in our room. He has been extremely helpful and suggested I look at one of his new designs which feature a “Mass Loaded Transmission Line” cabinet with an MTM configuration.
The drivers [used in my project] are high quality Dayton Audio RS180P-8 paper/fibre mid-woofers and Morel CAT378 soft dome tweeters. Drivers, crossover parts, vent tubes, speaker feet, grille kit, binding posts and wire were all from LSK: taking postage, exchange rate and, most importantly, local support into account this was by far the best purchase option.
DIY AUDIO SECRETS: What about listening to the speakers before you buy?
GEOFF: No Hi-Fi stores have a listening room like ours and in any case would not let you buy ‘on approval’. I was happy to take advice from the designer and we had many friendly email discussions.
DIY AUDIO SECRETS: So how is the project coming together?
GEOFF: My local electronics shop assembled the crossovers for me and the cabinets are being made for us by a family contact from veneered and stained 18mm MDF. Drivers are recessed.
NB: if you’re looking to make MDF cabinets instead of buying a kit, I found only two firms in Melbourne which would cut to size due to OH&S concerns. Also, there are only one or two firms who will make speaker cabinets; not one kitchen/office/home cabinet maker would touch them.
Stay tuned for part II and project images!
Do you have a DIY audio experience to share? Have you found similar barriers to having your own cabinets made, and what did you do to overcome them? Tell us your story by emailing [email protected]!
*LSK’s F6 Floorstanding Speaker Kit is now available.