Top DYI Speaker Options

I recently built the SB Acoustics Satori Helios Textreme (kit available at Madisound). 

They perform better than all three-ways I have encountered short of high end $40K+ speakers like Rockports. 

I don’t recommend purchasing the available flat-packs linked on their site however. That’s what I did, and the resulting joinery required a lot of sanding and filling before I could apply veneer. The speakers are worthy of better cabinetry, something with rounded corners and beefier panels, like the examples Javad Shadzi (the designer) created for himself. 
 

A nice feature of the Helios speaker is it can play very loud with very low distortion. It just requires a beefy amp to do so. You’ll want a speaker with similar dynamic range based on your 14’ listening distance. 

A buddy of mine assembled the SB Sasandu kit, which also uses the Textreme drivers but is a 3-way tower. I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to them yet but he seems satisfied with the results, and he is another who has heard some of what the ultra high-end stuff has to offer. Those are also probably deserving of better, customized cabinets, rather than what you can opt for through Madisound.

In my limited DIY experience, the cabinet and driver quality matters far more than the crossover parts. The latter does matter, just not nearly as much. So if you’re on a budget, go with a kit that offers the best driver value and worry less about going all out on crossover parts. Goertz copper foil inductors, for example, are nice to have but not really a necessity for ultra high performance. I would only spring for those if you want to eke out the absolute last nth degree of capability. 

@mm1tt77 are you interested in a Horn Design?

@kofibaffour I hadn’t really thought about horns but I would give them a look.  

@helomech thanks for the info and tips.  I’ll check both designs out, based on your experience, will look at building cabinets vs buying them as a part of the kit.  Also great advice on the crossovers.  

Back in the 90's I had a discussion with the head builder at Proac. I had my own professional furniture manufacturing shop at that time. He said the drivers were standard, off the shelf drivers from Scanspeak. All the effort went into the cabinet. Much of it was spent for appearence. The better it looks, the better it sounds, right? All the time and effort that goes into fancy veneers doesn't add anything to sound quality. 

So I asked him... putting aside appearence, what actually makes the speaker sound better?

#1 was making a cabinet that had no vibration. To accomplish this they used a 2 panel construction using 2 different thickness. One MDF panel 3/4" sand wiched with a 1/2" panel using a SOFT glue for dampening. The interior of the cabinet can be further dampened using a mixture of silicon and sand applied to the entire interior. Better than Dynamat because it goes into every corner.

#2. Don't use the little push-on speaker clips. All connections are to be hand soldered with silver solder.  Each clip connection has 1 crimp and then a press fit vs. one solder connection. These crimp connectors are prefered for auto installations because of vibration but they don't offer the very best connection. So for each clip you solder you eliminate 2 inferior connections. 

This adds up. Think about this...In a three-way speaker you have 6 connectors just to the speakers and another 6 to the crossover board. This alone is 24 crimp connections per speaker. Both speakers is 48 inferior crimps. Then you have crimps to the binding posts another 16 total crimps for a total of 64 inferior connections eliminated! The point is to eliminate all the crimps you can and use point to point solder. (I used solid silver wire also)

One important point... when you solder to the speaker you MUST use a heat sink. I see this as a common mistake. Those tiny tinsel leads conduct heat VERY quickly and you can easily damage a driver. I found the easiest way is to wrap the lead with Play-dough. It doesn't allow the heat to pass. It sucks the heat right down.

The best sounding 3 way speaker kit I've heard is the HiVi Swan 3.1. Tests were performed over at ASR and was highly recommended. The kit is amazingly complete. Some people feel the price is so cheap how could they possibly be any good? (Components purchased separately will cost close to $1000.) When built properly these speakers will amaze you. Hands down the best value in Hifi. They also play PLENTY loud, great bass and excellent clarity.

 https://www.amazon.com/HiVi-Swans-Passive-Bookshelf-Speakers-Pair/dp/B09XGYJFRQ?th=1

They are very similar in design to the Warfdale EVO5.2

https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/wharfedale-evo-5-2-bookshelf-speakers-pair/?sku=AWFEVO52B&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18152791641&gbraid=0AAAAAD8z8frqNFMX4eebrPIRaASqx8WEQ&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs_TQyMLnjgMVI3V_AB06iguqEAQYAiABEgLMnvD_BwE

The Dome midrange is a fantastic addition that yields high-end clarity to the presentation. Being used in many high end designs. Then topped with the AMT tweeter is AMAZING! Highly recommended!

Hope this helps!

ttps://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/diy-speaker-kits-a-good-idea

First, this is not the best site for this.  DIYaudio is much better.  Second, given your music choices, why not a 2-way with horn tweet or a coaxial with 10" woofer and compression tweeter?  Plenty of fun factor for reasonably little construction. 

Linkwitz LX521

GR Research  (see web page & also review builds on GR Research audiocircle forum)

CSS

Troels Gravesen

NOGAPS suggestions are top notch. The Linkwitz is great. The others offer designs from lower cost to almost ultimate. Troels kits don't offer cabinets but there is a German site listed in some of his designs that offer CNC flat packs for some of his speakers. Plus he literally has zillions of designs and he's good enough that ScanSpeak had him do the first design for their latest high end drivers.

I’ve built two GR Research kits, both superb.  As you feed better and better signals to them, the quality shines through.

 Belong to a very large metro audio club and mine compete with some of the best rigs in the club.

Put a really expensive front end with them and they sound spectacular.  Even a couple of audio dealers have told me how impressive they are.

Thanks for all the responses.  @erik_squires I’ll give DIYaudio a look.

@gdaddy1 thanks for all the recommendations, tricks of the trade.  Based on the speakers I already have, would likely love the kit you recommend. 
 

@nogaps  GR Research on the list now and put to the top of it.  I’ll check out Linkwitz as well.

@dougthebiker which GR kits did you build?  Did you build your own cabinets or go with theirs? 

I built their smallest $200 kit to get a little experience; use those in my family room now.   Then I jumped to the NX-Oticas.

 Used their MDF flat packs for both.

On the NX-Oticas, I put a skim coat of bondo on them, then had an auto body shop paint them Ferrari Red.

..also, with respect to GR, look at the top sticky thread on the audiocircle forum..you have options if you’d rather have someone else build the crossover, or get a flatpack..etc. There’s a build thread there too that has member build threads indicated. 

If it isn't clear, the Linkwitz will require a non-std power setup. 

Another enthusiastic recommendation of the GR Research DIY kits, both loudspeakers and the amazing OB/Dipole Servo-Feedback Woofer GRR owner/designer Danny Richie created in a collaborative effort with Rythmik Audio owner/designer Brian Ding.

OP:  Sorry should always suggest the Parts Express forums too.  The community police used to be complete sh*ts but plenty of more affordable kits and unique projects. 

Yes, the servo subs from GR Research are fabulous and there are enough controls on the Rythmik amp to have them merge perfectly with the speakers.  Danny has a very good YT that explains all the controls.

@mm1tt77 send the maker of the horn design an email to see if they can be convinced to give you schematics and so on. The also have a standmount you can do but that is already a flatpack system and you want to do the whole woodworking if I am not mistaken

Attached are the CTA horizontal directivity plot. Incredibly controlled. and attached also is a visual of how it looks

Email - contact@audiofirstdesigns.co.uk

I've considerable woodworking experience, along with metals and plastics.  Lucky to have the means and methods to blend such, but working with plastics primarily in my structures.... Foamed PVC, which damps vibration, is part of the formula. 

Adhering to a column format, avoiding the box....eq can compensate for any pipe resonances, especially with a parametric/octave mix.....

Spend a certain amount of time making funny noises in front of mics....*L*

GR-Research and Linkwitz, there is a concurrent thread going on right now that was pasted above

I second @gdaddy1's Hi-Vi/Swan's 3.1 recommendation. I built a pair and they punch well above their weight class. Terrific value and terrific speakers. High quality parts and very complete kit. The only issue I had was gluing up the cabinets, as all the joints are miter cut. That is a problem with my woodworking (lack of) skills, though, not a shortcoming of the kit.

If you have any interest in horns, you should look at Joseph Crowe Audio.

they have been supported DIY audio community for a really long time and Troy is absolutely fantastic with his designs and objective testing.

Build plans are incredibly reasonable. 
 

^ I like the J.Crowe builds but have never heard one. Another horn focused kit that sounds fantastic are from Pi Speakers. Great communication with the designer through a forum, flat packs and even matching subs. His kits use Eminence drivers for the standard kit and B&C if you choose to upgrade. I like the Four Pi bass reflex model, you have an option of using the JBL 2226 15" woofer!

Audio First Fidelia has good reviews.

A lot of great suggestions. mine is just to Not to forget to use REW in measuring whatever changes or designs you use so you can Quantify what you are doing. In the end, it still your ears that will define the end result. but quantify it to be able to know what you're hearing is something that makes electrical sense