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!