The most fun you can have in audio is DIYing your own speakers

I started designing and building my own speakers back in 1979. I LOVE to be creative, to try something that hasn’t quite been done before, in hopes of pushing a boundary here or there. It was not until 2005 that I "turned pro".

For the small direct-selling manufacturer, there are fewer levels of markup but also fewer economies of scale. Whether or not we can translate our fewer levels of markup into superior loudspeakers relative to the big boys comes down to the design itself (of which the crossover is arguably the most critical part).

Ime the enclosure is often the most expensive piece of the puzzle, which implies that the DIYer who works for the sheer fun of it can easily beat any manufacturer on bang-for-the-buck, as long as the design itself is competitive.

Over the years I have run into a fair number of hardcore DIYers who set out to combine the best woofer with the best midrange and the best tweeter and put them into the best cabinet using the best crossover and... the results were disappointing. I have helped some of those guys sell their collection of "best" parts. So let me toss out a suggestion for those of you who embrace the creativity of truly rolling your own (instead of using a kit): The goal is synergy. As much as possible you need to take everything into account from the very beginning, with system synergy guiding your choices.  And imo the "system" includes the amp and the room (including the location within the room of speakers and listeners). 

Duke