I have built several systems and all have proven better than expected. The last uses 12" NHT's for subwoofers and Dynaudio 13W75 for mid range and Dynaudio 28/2 tweeters for top ends. The subwoofers have separate enclosures (90 liter) and the top ends are housed in 12 liter enclosures. The enclosures were made by Woodstyle (available at Madisound) and are finished in golden oak with black grilles. (They are visually quite appealling.) The subwoofers were lined with 3/4" MDF to give a 1.5 inch thickness and increased rigidity. The crossover is electronic @80 Hz and @4000Hz. Electronic crossovers have fundemental advantages over passive LCR types and eliminate the nightmare of cross-over design. While I have not A-B'd them with other high end speakers in the same room, I have listened to high end Thiele's, Watt Puppys and B&W Nautilus and come away feeling my speaker's sound as good or better. Total cost was less than $1500 including enclosures, drivers and cross-over. My design was inspired by the late Dan Hildebrand's site "A Speaker Project". I went with electronic cross-overs and different high end drivers. Check out Marchand on web for electronic crossovers. Madisound for drivers and enclosures. Zalytron has good deals on drivers as well.
