To Buy or to DIY, here is my question

Im thinking about putting together the CSS Criton TDX’s or one of Dannys kits.  The finish on Pro AC is awesome.  Unless you are looking for a project just spend the $8k on the Pro Ac’s.  

@crustycoot 

Indeed, sometimes the main reason to DIY is a creative dissatisfaction with commercial offerings.  It's like making your own dinner.  Yes, it's cheaper to eat at home, but sometimes you want a meal just so and the only way to get it is to make it yourself.

Of course, not everyone can cook, but if you are patient and willing to put in the effort and have good mentors you can definitely make exactly the meal you were looking to make.

For me I wanted to put together two really excellent drivers in a small two way (failed on the "smal" part! 😂) with exactly the capacitors I wanted to try out.  That was my drive.  It was never to undercut any retail product, but of course at a 10x markup, I don't think I would have been able to afford my speakers if found at retail.

I built custom speaker systems for a living for 14 years (and moonlighted as a musician and live sound tech), including pro sound reinforcement, studio monitors and hi-fi speaker systems. The company that I worked for had access to raw speakers lines the likes of JBL Pro Series, Altec Lansing, Electro-voice, KEF, and several other brands. Of course I built my own systems several times over the years as well since I could access the components for dealer cost + 5%.

My advice to you is save up for the factory builts. You will thank me later :)
 

Have you built speakers before?

I've done a lot of DIY, especially with wood, and including speakers and crossovers, and I'll tell you right now that it will always take more time than you think and be more expensive than you think. Especially if you need to buy the tools to do it, such as saws, saw guides, router, router bits, drill, drill bits, hole saws, sanders, soldering iron, veneer tools and clamps. Clamps alone could run a couple hundred dollars. You'll also need supplies, like sandpaper, stain, brushes, solvent, veneer, polyurethane, glue, etc. A good stain like General Finishes will run $35-50. And you'll need batting, internal wire, terminal cups, grill cloth, feet, and crossover parts (which can be hundreds of dollars), etc. Even wood is very expensive right now.

It will also be more time-consuming. If you're inexperienced you will make mistakes. And if you are experienced you may tend to want to push your skills to the point of making mistakes. Mistakes cost money.

Unless you're highly skilled, I would say stay away from DIY unless you achieve personal satisfaction from the idea of creating things. If it's just about saving money, you likely won't.

I’ve decided to do the Troels Gravesen’s design Atell 3. A DIY version of Kaiser’s classic speaker.

I like to break each individual part down for a build and then mock up each part to insure it to my satisfaction before starting on the production version,

For instance I made custom trim rings to mechanically fasten the drivers to the front baffle. I manufactured the metal trim ring and recessed it into the material I have chosen to build front baffle with. I can use machine screws now to fasten the drivers instead of using a dry wall diameter wood screw and screwing it into MDF with a front baffle that resonates.

I did the same with the dual rear firing port. I created trim rings that go on outside port flare to give it a high quality look.

For the joints I took the degree pitch of the cabinet and made a mini mock up of edge with locking 45 miters.

I made a mock up of the custom footers as well.

The crossovers are going to be external so I designed a crossover box that mimics the speaker. I can take the crossover and set it on top of that speaker and the edges and angles all match up. Not that I will set it there but to illustrate that the crossover wasn't an after thought and speaker design was integrated into the crossover to be a matching set. 

I’ll use clear scratch-free Lexan for crossover top so crossovers can be displayed as I will get them to rival the Kaisers external crossovers.

So my suggestion is to work out all these details and lock in your measurements and zero out your tooling so your start positions are set for your production run.

Just my .02 cents