Zalytron kits are really quite nice. Elliot can be a bit offputting to some people, but he is really a fine person in the speakerbuilding hobby. As far as the kits go, they are as good as almost anyone else out there sells. His designs are first rate; almost always coming from either Kimon Bellas and/or Joe D'Appolito. The cabinets are well made, heavy duty, and just what you want for good sound. The finish is not furniture quality, as is popular in many of the top assembled speakers of today. Drivers are excellent. He carries Accuton, Cabasse, Focal, Morel, Raven, Seas, etc. His kits usually feature Focal or Cabasse mids/woofers. Tweeters can be Accuton, Cabasse, or Focal. I am a big proponent of the Focal mids, but absolutely hate the Focal tweeters. Being that Kimon Bellas and Joe D'Appolito design the kits, you are usually getting a D'Appolito configuration(which the Aria 5 and Aria 7 are). You could look at things as though you are getting a JMlabs Daline(of which the plans are available from Kimon), for a much lower cost. I find the one area that the kits fall a little short is in the quality of the crossover components. While the Axon or SCR caps are good, you really can make a nice improvement in sound by using better, thicker gauge coils. I have found that two good sources for coils are AlphaCore Goertz or North Creek Music, depending on your tastes. And, please use Ohmite wirewound resistors in lieu of whatever is included in the kits these days. These resistors really do make a huge improvement. Well worth the very small cost(usually $5 - $17 for a pair of speakers). Good Luck!
