Merry Christmas: Free DIY 2-Way High End Monitor

Merry Christmas fellow music lovers. For Christmas, 2017 I give you all the complete designs for a high-end two way mid to large monitor. Alternatively, the cabinet can be done as a floor stander.

The design uses a world-class Mundorf AMT in the tweeter down to about 2kHz and a very nice ScanSpeak cut-paper 6.5" mid-woofer. Gryphon is a big fan of these tweeters, and the mid-woofer family has appeared in a number of Wilson’s designs.

I was inspired somewhat by the Klan Ton NADA but wanted to reduce the vertical dispersion to better fit my small apartment ceiling. I was also inspired by the recordings of Halie Loren, who despite having shoestring resources produced excellent recordings.

I would call this a full-range speaker, but it is not boomy at all. Ideally you’ll want it about 1-2’ from the rear wall for the best bass performance. The dispersion is also very wide, so space from the sidewalls is also going to be necessary for the transparency of the unit to come through. Some may find it a little too lean. I think of this as an ideal jazz/classica/movie speaker but not a rock’n’roll speaker.

Starting in 2016 a number of high-end manufacturers introduced high-end 2-way monitors in the 12 to $16k price range and I feel this speaker trounces all of them. Build cost is around $3k. $1k for the cabinetry, $1,400 for the drivers, and the crossover can vary a great deal depending on what you use for caps and coils.

I have been sitting on this design for a while, wondering if I should make it a commercial project or not. I have finally decided not to, the financials and work involved are just not worth it. So instead I’m sharing it with the world in the hops that others may enjoy the benefits of the design.

For simplicity and communication I have started a thread with the technical data you will need at DIYAudio. Feel free to comment and ask questions on the thread.