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The soul of a builder

Been thinking about all the types of people and desires and enthusiasm that goes into our hobby of audiophelia. Though I myself have not always been the most inclusive sort I want to be. I want to call everyone who is into music and gear a fellow, so long as they are kind and having fun and sharing that fun with others.

There’s no right way to be an audiophile, but listening to music and listening to others sure does help.

I like commercial speaker makers. I’m so glad they are here. Same with electronics makers and people who build acoustic materials for a living, and yet, in one particular way I’m a builder, not a buyer. Like, at all. That way happens to be speakers. Others build their own tube preamps or DACs for fun, for me it’s speakers.

To put my position in stark relief, if some one gave me a million dollars to spend on speakers, my first thoughts would be of buying a CNC machine to mill cabinet parts. Never would I think I would go buy speakers. Not because I dislike commercial offerings (well, you know) but because this is my personal joy. Trying things out for myself. Line arrays, stepped baffles, powered systems, bypass capacitors, slot firing mid-woofers... not to sell them, but because this is the center of my hobby. Certainly not the case for my DAC or integrated or HT processor or TV, that’s for sure!

My point to this is, if you are a builder, be a builder and don’t try to ask yourself if you are making a cost-effective product. You probably are, but that’s really not the point. If you need to get dirty, to assemble, solder and think about trading off bass for efficiency, and cut off points for fewer drivers then you are a builder and you must build and prices be damned. Don’t treat it like a way to save money.

Treat it as a way of feeding your soul.

erik_squires

Showing 2 responses by decooney

decooney
2,334 posts
 

44 years ago, I started out designing and building my own speakers because I could not afford anything I actually liked or wanted to listen to. Started out to "save money", while hopefully obtaining the next-level-up speaker I could have never afforded otherwise. Decades of drooling at speakers in audio stores and diy kits for motivation.

Arriving at the final chapter a few years back, this adventure evolved into building speakers I’d actually keep. The lifecycle allowed for a level of speaker I would have not have convinced myself to pay for in today’s retail layers of manufacturer > distributor > dealer market. Met a lot of great people in the process and learned a lot. Comparing to most store bought or boutique speakers, it all worked out nicely. The value placed on "time" was more about learning and gaining first-hand experience. The musical results achieved with each pair made it fun too. 

In closing, to your point id say it did "feed the soul".

decooney
2,334 posts
 

@fuzztone not totally yesterday. Fortunately, we still have a small pocket of dealers in my region of the country, and the few who can charge enough at their layer to make enough to thrive and afford to stay in business. While i build some of my own stuff, also supporting local dealers. To be able to go in to see, hear, maybe buy some smaller items once in a great while is still a lot of fun. Have a 56 year audio dealer near me, total throwback experience. :)

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@knotscott chorus’ Agon thread finally has some folks chiming in here about diy builds they did or thinking about doing. Getting closer yet not like how the soul really is over on the diy forums. IMO DIY’ers are people who just like building their own results. In my case it was purely out of necessity to afford and get much closer to what I truly wanted, sooner than later in life. Persistence to keep trying helped too. 

 

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