To Buy or to DIY, here is my question

@duramax747  It sounds like you are set up and ready to go and with personal care and attention are likely to get a better build quality than most factory speakers.  As for the crossover and speaker design, you are trusting the guys on the DIY board, who are likely pretty knowledgeable.  They have invested a lot more time than the average guy who walks in a plops down hi Amex and buys a pair of expensive speakers.  OTOH, they are subject to the same confirmation bias as everyone else.

But don't expect guys who have bought $20k speakers on this forum to agree that your speakers stand a snowball's chance in hell of sounding as good as theirs.  they won't do it.

Jerry

Real gratification comes from visualizing a new speaker, designing it, building it and changing it until it sounds as you first imagined it.

I agree, but let's not forget this is a hobby, and learning happens from all sorts of directions, as does the passion to learn more.

The DIYer who buys a complete kit, perhaps to build with their children or grandchildren is starting a journey. 

I personally am always happy to see DIY efforts in Audio for a lot of reasons.  I like builders more than I like spenders and people with hands on experience in building a single speaker already know more than any audiophile who merely reads a magazine. 

Please, please, get your hands dirty.  Encourage your daughter or son to learn about electronics, music, physics and let's all have a great time with it.

It's fun, it's frustrating, it's time consuming, it's very gratifying.

If your any good at it. The next pair are already in your head. 

If I was going to DIY right now, I'd go with GR just because they have kits, cabinets or you can DIY too. Support is just an Email away and if you run out of gas, you can buy finished cabinets.. Great support. But most of all a great speaker weather you paint it with a roller or take it in for an auto finish or fancy veneers.

They sell a very good speaker.. Their subs are exceptional too. OB Servos.

Regards..

Costs of commercial speakers: typically 10-30% of their price is the materials cost. (Cabinet + drivers + XO + internal cabling). That's the standard business model. When companies push it lower, they play with fire as they are will be unable to support returns and customer support.

I suggest getting a commercial speaker first. Build a DIY speaker second because it’ll tie up considerable time, effort, planning, money, etc. BTW, if you don’t have the proper tools, like table saws, don’t waste your time, unless you’re fine with rough looking cabinets.

The virtues of building speakers is that you can voice the speakers like fine instruments to your liking. Certain MP Caps work well with different cone materials and to a lesser degree coils. For example, Mundorf Supremes work well with paper cones. Topology, drivers, cones, enclosures, porting, damping, etc. all contribute to the sound, and with DIY, you’re in control of these parameters, whereas a commercial speaker, you’re stuck with lowest-cost-to-produce mentality.

Good Luck!