DIY Speaker Kits, a good idea?

@nogaps 

say you buy a name-brand speaker for..$10K.  That speaker has..I don't know..$2500 worth of parts in it??  Then one day you need to move on from that $10K speaker and sell them for...$6K?  Well, that $4K hit you just took more than covers the cost of a very good kit.  So, the moral of the story is we all need to pay to play. You can buy a speaker kit for $2-$3K (that'll sound like a $7-$10K set of speakers) and sell it eventually, after enjoying them for years, for.. $1500? Seems like a similar story compared to the buying and selling of a name-brand speaker. 

This is an excellent point, and the number estimates are feasible.  Very few of us profit when reselling our audio gear, but it's certainly possible to cut our losses when we buy right.

Troels Graveson is a very very good place to start investigating options on a DIY Speaker.

I know from experiencing a few models from these designs and can say the ones heard have had a profound effect on myself, I actually believe I have heard extremely high end design for a Cabinet Speaker.

In a system very familiar to me that went through a few speaker changes over a few years, when the TG were introduced the systems End Sound was transformed in a way unimaginable.

There are high quality DIY speakers using top end drivers, solid cabinet plans, using  competent crossover designs and components. Madisound has a few kits I have been interested in building but I don’t have the need, space, or motivation at the time.

Building your own speakers is a labor of love. You might save some money but in my opinion you build because you enjoy it like any other hobby. I don’t have the design experience to design my own crossovers and it has been a number of years but still enjoy the North Creek Music System Vision Signatures and Okara II nearfield monitors I built. I’m currently looking into ways to refinish then so I can move them into a light controlled home theater. I may just cover them with a black velvet cover or tape.

You can always try building a subwoofer first. They are easier and you can find out if you enjoy the experience. The subwoofer in the background was the first DIY project, The NCM Leviathan 18" in a down firing end table design.

Great points mentioned here. 

You get tremendous value, in which performance and cost are a part of, building your own speakers..

You get to select cabinet material, crossover upgrades, wiring, binding posts, footers, etc... all to your taste from the very beginning. Big savings over buying speakers with these parts only to change them out. 

A hot build is Madisound’s TeXtreme 2-way. It gets down to 30hz and is easy to integrate into a room since it’s a 2-way. 

This cabinet is less intimidating than a floor stander. 

Minimal parts in crossover so speaker is very dynamic and has been reported to outperform speakers in 20K range. 

We made some Panzerholz versions of this cabinet in which we pinned (doweled) which makes it much easier for enduser to keep square while they glue/clamp up. 

It allows for others to get their hands dirty, which I encourage, that otherwise would not because of difficulty. 

Troel’s has some simple designs as well one might try. 

Think it all comes down to if you are a DIY kind of person or not. As said, you will get much higher quality parts, at much lower prices, so if you are bargain type of person. Yeah, you can make a $10k speaker for around $4k. Yes, the resale will be less, but it started out as less. 

Also when you DIY, you understand how it all work better, able to know what to upgrade, or change to get the sound you want. You can totally transform speakers with simple crossover changes.