DIY/Home Brew Taking A Risk

Have you listened to any of the guys speakers? Is this a proven designed or something he suggested to you?

I have no woodworking skill and have never attempted building speakers. I have seen some beautiful builds on the DIY forums by some guys with amazing skills.

I have built amps, preamps, headphone amps and other misc projects. DIY is not always cheap. You can makes some amazing equipment for a good price, using high quality parts. But you can also end up with a piece of ****.

So what makes you trust this guy? If he has a good track record and made some nice gear, why not? If not?

I did view and listen to a few of his designs. Had several discussions with the builder and a contact he built speakers for.

I've had good luck with my home brew projects but have not ventured into trying to build box speakers. Too many variables and I don't have wood working skills enough to make beautiful cabinets. Open baffle speakers would be an easy DIY project to take on.

Very good point. There's some truly outstanding gear out there that far exceeds manufactured product quality but you have to audition it first, then buy it.

Depends on your situation. Woodworking is my forte. I've spent years studying exotic veneering and cabinet construction. I don't do crossover design. But, over the years I have met a few people that I really trust to do impeccable crossover work.

Combine them together and I have a product I couldn't touch on the retail market. I'm currently veneering my 37th pair of speakers.

Please post pictures of your system.

In my case the builder used cabinets from Parts Express. Three cabinets are attached together. Smaller cabinets for the midrange and tweeter and 2 larger,similar cabinets that are stacked for the woofer. He's a good cabinet maker but I did NOT want to spend a lot of money for fancy custom made cabinets. He's is very good at the technical aspect of speaker building - crossover designs, various speaker makes and types..... He spent many an evening listening and analyzing the speakers using a mike and laptop with some ??? software, and his ears of course. He also cross braced, dampened the cabinets, and installed spikes so the speakers are angled back about 10 degrees. He offered to make any additional adjustments or changes if I did not like the sound. I liked them from the get go so no changes needed.

The crossovers also have three resistor options for the tweeter and midrange. I can adjust the tweeter and midrange in +3, 0, -3 db increments via a soldering iron once the midrange is removed from the cabinet. Currently the neutral resistors are in the circuit and sound correct.

As for the passive subs - I repurposed a mint,vintage pair of Optimus speakers. He told me the cabinet volume needed and the Optimus speakers fit the bill so to speak. I replaced the front baffle, painted the cabinets a satin black. I then handed over the cabinets to the builder. He then braced and dampened the cabinets, and installed spikes. I have three positive taps for three cutover points. I also use a passive volume control (attenuator box) between the preamp and Emotiva amp. So now I can adjust gain and frequency cutover. This gives me the all the flexibility I need depending on the music being played.
The builder even created a mockup version of my main speakers at his home so he could calibrate these passive subs to the main speakers as an integrated unit.

The builder bent over backwards to give me a speaker system that just sounds fantastic!!!! I had a woofer starting to chafe - even though I did not over drive or push in the driver. He took my word for it and replaced the woofer for free.

I've had good luck with my home brew projects but have not ventured into trying to build box speakers. Too many variables and I don't have wood working skills enough to make beautiful cabinets. Open baffle speakers would be an easy DIY project to take on.