I remember JL saying that also. I think he was building the Natalie P. I have the RS TMWW towers which I started in May. I broke my router bit and then got sidetracked before I got a replacement. Now, it's just too hot and I'll wait until it cools down. I have the cabinets built and I had started cutting the driver holes when I broke the bit. I also still have to cut all the holes in the shelf braces. I guess I could build the xovers inside where it's cool.

oh, i thought he was building the daytons. I know he had posted a few messages on the htguide forum where the dayton rf's are discussed.

Anyways, get em done and bring em up so I can have a listen :)

later
duane

Just noticed this thread... suprised it was never moved to the DIY forum. Anyhow, here's my venture into DIY:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=826642

Duaner, those are based on the Dayton RS series.

Hey Johnla,
I haven't been on AVS since May. I started on my TMWW RS towers in May and my straight cut router bit broke. I finally got around to buying a new one and other things came up. Now, they're still sitting in my garage waiting to get the rest of the holes cut.

This will be my next project, I have all the drivers. Now I'm basically just waiting for the final design.

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=26574&page=1&pp=35

We also bought a new boat in June and my daughter played in a soccer tournament in the UK for two weeks in July. In July, it started hitting 90 degrees on a routine basis and it's just too bloody hot! I'm now waiting until October to resume.
Yeah, ultrafine MDF dust, and 90+ temps, are a bad mix, add in some humidity and it's even worse. (And I've had a taste of how the humidity can be in Atlanta, after one of the 15 minute rainstorms that always seem hit us every time at Road Atlanta back when I was racing there twice a year) You might as well take advantage of all the summertime fun while you can, and enjoy all the things like that new boat. Plus going to the UK for two weeks had to be kind of a neat deal as well. And sooner than you think, it will be getting cooler out to where making a bunch of MDF dust will be better done at those cooler fall temps. But for people in areas similar to or like Chicago where I am located, we can't wait too long. Because it also means for us, that weather like ice and snow is also hiding just somewhere around the corner as well.

Hey Johnla,
I've also done a lap or two around Rd Atlanta. I recently sold my Lotus, but I was there twice a year for the HSR (Historic Sports Car Racing) events. I also ran a few SCCA Solo events a few years ago.

ttt

ttt

Is this supposed to be a bump to bring it back to life? If so, I like it!

Yo Scott, add some MotoGP stuff to your motorcycle links...;)

Johnla, I forgot that was even on there and have not updated it for quite some time now. This year, since the MotoGP races were not on Speed, I kept missing the races and have not seen a single race. They were on NBC or ABC or something?

Yeah, a few MotoGP's were on network TV this year. The USGP at Laguna Seca was one of them, it was broadcast live. Unfortunatly, Nickey Haden had a bunch of bad luck, so he lost his chance for 3 wins in a row. And with 3 races to go, Ducati's Casey Stoner won the championship this year. You can always find when some of the races are on TV for all types, at cyclenews.com. And a few MotoGP's for this season are shown to be still coming up on SpeedTV.

http://www.cyclenews.com/racing/tv02.asp

Yeah, a few MotoGP's were on network TV this year. The USGP at Laguna Seca was one of them, it was broadcast live. Unfortunatly, Nickey Haden had a bunch of bad luck, so he lost his chance for 3 wins in a row. And with 3 races to go, Ducati's Casey Stoner won the championship this year. You can always find when some of the races are on TV for all types, at cyclenews.com. And a few MotoGP's for this season are shown to be still coming up on SpeedTV.

http://www.cyclenews.com/racing/tv02.asp

Cool, thanks! BTW, I will add both MotoGP and the cyclenews site to my links page within a few days...

Now, back to your regularly scheduled thread....

Is this supposed to be a bump to bring it back to life? If so, I like it!

Yeah. To The Top. It was time to resurrect this awesome thread as I am finally getting ready to build me a set. Any advice from the pioneers? :confused:

Yeah. To The Top. It was time to resurrect this awesome thread as I am finally getting ready to build me a set. Any advice from the pioneers? :confused:

Make lots of dust? :cool:

Measure twice, cut once. Also, a plunge router and a table saw are your best friends.

[QUOTE=Johnla;11331589]This will be my next project, I have all the drivers. Now I'm basically just waiting for the final design.

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=26574&page=1&pp=35

JohnLa,
That's interesting, because I'm waiting for the finalized design too. In particular I'm considering making the CC enclosure ~35L to "optimize" the potential of the HiVi's.
I've been using the Audax center with four Modula MT's for fronts and surrounds.
But, I've got those HiVi D6.8, VifaD26NC55 and RS52 drivers just sitting there waiting to be "employed". I'm also chompin to make a pair of floor stander TMWW mains with the Vifa, RS52 and a pair of RS180's anchoring the bottom end.
I'll still use the Modula MT's for surround and rear duties.

Yeah, it's pretty amazing that this thread is still going.........

We're getting lotsa rain here recently....another 1" by morning:(
Doesn't mix very well with MDF.

Hi! Does anyone have plans for classic 3-way speakers (12" woofer)?Something like:Yamaha ns1000m or something like it?

There are a few 3ways in the partsexpress "projects" area.

How about something in a 15" 3way?

http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/angelf1/angelf1.cfm

Here is a 12" 3way, but I don't know if you can still get the drivers.

http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/goldenboys/index.cfm

Also you may want to look around the htguide forums in the DIY area, lots of 3way designs are mentioned there.

http://www.htguide.com/forum/forumdisplay.php4?f=6

Also take a look in the diyaudio forums as well.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=22

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/forumdisplay/f-6.html

slo74, I don't know if you're still around, but since you're looking for a classic 3-way, I'll post one I like: http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_files/Projects/Lyra/lyramain.htm In the spirit of a classic 3-way, it's also 8homs.
This will also revive the thread!

Hi! Does anyone have plans for classic 3-way speakers (12" woofer)?Something like:Yamaha ns1000m or something like it?

Does anyone know off-hand of speaker projects (sub-$2000) that have a non-traditional or otherwise interesting look to them? By that I mean not just a plain tower, but something more along the lines of the Totem Wind or an ESL design that makes for a good, aesthetically pleasing conversation piece as well as providing solid sound.

If I were you, I'd ask that one over at diyaudio.com There are lots of guys building things like that over there.

Does anyone know off-hand of speaker projects (sub-$2000) that have a non-traditional or otherwise interesting look to them? By that I mean not just a plain tower, but something more along the lines of the Totem Wind or an ESL design that makes for a good, aesthetically pleasing conversation piece as well as providing solid sound.

Try
Linkwitz Lab - Loudspeaker Design
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/

Nice suggestion, but I didn't think Linkwitz had any designs that could be built for <$2k.

Try
Linkwitz Lab - Loudspeaker Design
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/

Nice suggestion, but I didn't think Linkwitz had any designs that could be built for <$2k.
The Linkwitz "Pluto" for sure. Maybe the "Phoenix" too. Driver prices and availability might change things. And whether you include the price of the multi-channel amplifiers.

Wow- how long has this thing been going for? I owe this thread for getting me into so much as far as DIY. I mean, the experience and confidence building my speaker set got me interested in Home Improvement DIY, as well as Wood Working. So thanks!

Anyways....

Funny thing is- I built the fronts and surrounds for my Audax set, and I never have gotten to finally getting the Center done- even though I have the parts. The fronts image so well, I don't notice the lack of the center.

But anyways, as I just noted I built the Audax set. I love them, and I really should finally finish the center. However, I'm not happy with the finishing results I got the first time. I veneered the fronts and surrounds with Mahogany, but the stain wasn't as even as it should have been, and the lacquer finish has some runs in it. Now I can try to refinish them, but I don't know how likely it is that I'll be able to take the finish off without damaging the veneer.

I also am thinking of selling the speakers and making an entirely new set. So, if I go that route, I have two questions.
- How much do you think the speakers should go for, if I sell on Ebay or Craigslist?
- What are some options as far as high quality designs that perform as well or better than the Audax set? I'd build another set of the Audax if they were still available....

Thanks!

With lacquer you can always just sand it smooth, and then spray some new lacquer right over the old. It will melt/blend right into the old lacquer with no problem. Now of course, that won't help you much with the uneven stain, but if it's not real bad I would just let that go and fix the runs in the lacquer finish. If the runs are not real bad and you don't sand all the way back down to the bare veneer, you might even be able to smooth it out enough with just some light sanding on the runs with some 400 or 600 grit wet/dry paper, followed by some fine rubbing compound.


As for other DIY options, this is the one I'm going with from the HTGuide forums. It's certainly not cheap to build though, as far as crossover parts costs go. But it also uses the really nice Parts Express pre-built cabinets. I have bought the cabinets already, and unless you are darn near a expert woodworker, it would be hard to make them any better yourself, the fit and finish on them is top notch. And when you factor in their relatively low cost compared to buying a bunch of MDF along with all the all the cutting and gluing, veneering, staining/finishing, they pretty much are a absolute bargan to boot! Of course you could also build your own cabinets to use instead of using the pre-built PE ones, but my guess is that you would not save much if any money at all by doing so. And maybe even up spending more.


http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=27218

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=26574&page=1&pp=35

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=27625&page=1&pp=35

As for other DIY options, this is the one I'm going with from the HTGuide forums. It's certainly not cheap to build though, as far as crossover parts costs go. But it also uses the really nice Parts Express pre-built cabinets. I have bought the cabinets already, and unless you are darn near a expert woodworker, it would be hard to make them any better yourself, the fit and finish on them is top notch. And when you factor in their relatively low cost compared to buying a bunch of MDF along with all the all the cutting and gluing, veneering, staining/finishing, they pretty much are a absolute bargan to boot! Of course you could also build your own cabinets to use instead of using the pre-built PE ones, but my guess is that you would not save much if any money at all by doing so. And maybe even up spending more.

Jon Marsh, one of the guys building those speakers is located about 30 minutes from my house and probably within 10 minutes of where I work. Amazing.

John,

How much is the Modula kit?

If one wanted to build their own cabinets, are there dimensions available? I really liked the Audax kit because building my own cabinets made it feel like I was getting more for my money. Also, I liked the ability to customize the look of the cabinets as well.

Thanks!

Just copy the size of the PE cabinets if you want to build your own cabinets. Or you could even make some size changes if you keep the total internal volume the same as the PE ones. You could also change the height or depth or even both, as long as you keep the internal volume the same, but you should try and keep the front baffle width the same. Because if you change the baffle width, then you probably would also need to make some changes in the crossover design to compensate for it.

As far as total costs go for the Modula, I can't say for sure as I don't have all the parts yet. Plus I am still thinking of getting the Hi-Val drivers even though I already have a full set of the Dayton's. Which is why I don't have all the crossover parts yet, as the crossover design is not finalized for a build with the Dayton woofers yet. It is possible that there may be a BOM posted somewhere there that also may have parts pricing.


OK, I went back and checked, there is a BOM for the Hi-Val version build on the first page of the first link I posted. (post # 7)
And like I said, not cheap at $495. Just for the drivers and crossover parts to build one speaker.
And that does not even include the price of the cabinets. Or the cost of MDF and such to build you own.

There are also many other speaker designs there, that are also lower cost to build.

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=11321

BigguyZ,
I still use my Audax set and really have no immediate plans to change them. However, they are an older design now. I started on a set of the Dayton RS TMWW speakers last spring. I bought all the parts and the cabinets are almost complete. I got busy with other demands and they are still sitting in my garage, I plan to finish them this spring. They are also posted on HTguide:
http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=15323

They are much bigger than the Audax fronts, but you may be looking for something bigger. There is also a matching center channel posted. I'll be using mine for 2-channel

BigguyZ,
I still use my Audax set and really have no immediate plans to change them. However, they are an older design now. I started on a set of the Dayton RS TMWW speakers last spring. I bought all the parts and the cabinets are almost complete. I got busy with other demands and they are still sitting in my garage, I plan to finish them this spring. They are also posted on HTguide:
http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=15323

They are much bigger than the Audax fronts, but you may be looking for something bigger. There is also a matching center channel posted. I'll be using mine for 2-channel


I checked out that thread, noticed our very own Joe L posted in there about the Analine dye...

Anyways, I'm not a big HT guide fan, as it's not very accessible, IMHO. But if I understand everything clearly, these designs are done by the users of the forum and are not a part of a standardized kit like the Audax was? The thing I liked about the Audax kit was that it was designed by a well-known speaker designer and that the kit had well-documented plans. Also, I could order the crossovers pre-built from Madisound...

But, at this point I'm thinking I'll just try to refinish my Audax set. Are the Modulas good for music? MAybe I'll make a set of those as a second pair, or make 'em and sell'em for fun. Or sell my Audax set after I build the Modulas. but either way, the Audax's are staying for now.

Z,
Nothing wrong with refreshing the Audax speakers. Like I said, I still use mine and don't have any plans to change them. You are correct about the designs at HT Guide being by the members. Like you, I appreciate the fact that Dr DAppolito designed the Audax. There is a lot of guess work when building some of the speakers over at HTG.

Been a long time since I checked back in here. Looks like I waited a little too long as the Audax TM025f1 tweeter is no longer available. Does anyone know if the TM025F7 is a direct substitute? Or has someone designed a different crossover so it can be used. I tried searching with google and this thread but haven't been able to find anything.

Thanks!

Lee

The TM025F9 is the exact same tweeter, as the TM0251 is. Except for the fact that the flange is a different shape. It has a "truncated" flange instead. But unfortunately you probably would have a even harder time finding those. Looking at the specs and output graphs of both the TM025F1 and TM025F7, they electrically look like it might work as a swap, at the worst it may take a bit of tweaking of the crossover parts. But the TM025F7 is quite possibly going sound different even if the crossover needs/and is optimized for it, seeing as how it is a titanium dome tweeter and the TM025F1 is a fabric dome. But it also might be your only good option, as it probably would be a lot easier to make it work and sound good, even if it takes some reworking of the crossover. Compared with trying to find some other brand of tweeter that may or may not match up any better, not to mention you would probably have to rework the crossover even more even if you did find something else in another brand.

Been a long time since I checked back in here. Looks like I waited a little too long as the Audax TM025f1 tweeter is no longer available. Does anyone know if the TM025F7 is a direct substitute? Or has someone designed a different crossover so it can be used. I tried searching with google and this thread but haven't been able to find anything.

Thanks!

LeeIf you are repairing an existing speaker that uses the Audax tweeter, you might try contacting the vendors listed on this page: http://ldsg.snippets.org/vendors/audax.php to see if they have any stock, even though they no longer have them listed on their web-page.

If you are thinking of building the Audax HT Series, I would not advise it "at this time." At the time it was designed and many of us built the series, it was one of the better choices. At that time Audax sold to the DIY market. Since then, they stopped selling drivers to DIY'ers, shut down their US based (english) web-site and have gone on to sales to commercial manufacturers only) As you have found, the drivers are hard to find these days.

If you are thinking of a DIY effort for your theater today, there are better alternatives where the drivers are currently in production and available.

Check out the "Missions Accomplished" sub-forum on htguide.com for some great alternatives. http://www.htguide.com/forum/forumdisplay.php4?f=39

Joe L.

If all else fails you might try Solen.ca. They are in Canada about a 15 min drive from my house. I checked their web site and that tweeter is still listed there. I am sure that they would ship to you.

http://www.solen.ca/v1/

solen@solen.ca

Good luck, regards Bill

If you are thinking of building the Audax HT Series, I would not advise it "at this time." At the time it was designed and many of us built the series, it was one of the better choices. At that time Audax sold to the DIY market. Since then, they stopped selling drivers to DIY'ers, shut down their US based (english) web-site and have gone on to sales to commercial manufacturers only) As you have found, the drivers are hard to find these days.

If you are thinking of a DIY effort for your theater today, there are better alternatives where the drivers are currently in production and available.

Check out the "Missions Accomplished" sub-forum on htguide.com for some great alternatives. http://www.htguide.com/forum/forumdisplay.php4?f=39

I agree, if he already has everything else in place and just needs only the tweeters and crossover parts to compleat them, that then hunting down the tweeters or even getting a alternative for them is probably worthwhile. But if he is starting from scratch with nothing, where he is just getting ready to start buying everything now for a speaker build. Then there are quite a few better options out there now, and with easy to find parts. As mentioned, the htguide forums has plenty of very good designs to choose from and in many different price ranges and sizes. And that if starting from zero, the Audax setup is probably a very bad choice to go with anymore now.

If you are thinking of a DIY effort for your theater today, there are better alternatives where the drivers are currently in production and available.

Check out the "Missions Accomplished" sub-forum on htguide.com for some great alternatives.
Joe L.

It looks like the tweeters may indeed be still available through Solen. I'm waiting on their reply. I can get the other drivers and have all the instructions plus the wealth of information in this thread. But if there is a better option around the $600 price point, I'm all ears!

Lee

It looks like the tweeters may indeed be still available through Solen. I'm waiting on their reply. I can get the other drivers and have all the instructions plus the wealth of information in this thread. But if there is a better option around the $600 price point, I'm all ears!

LeeI have not priced any DIY effort for a while now, but all are more expensive than just a few years ago because copper prices have gone through the roof.

If you are looking for a wealth of information in a thread, look here: http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=15323

As I said earlier, much better drivers to start with, still in production, better engineering... and a huge community of builders to ask questions of if you ever get through reading their DIY thread. It is so huge there is a synopsis thread pointing to to posts in the main thread :eek:
http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=22393

If that set of HT speakers does not suit you, there are many others in the "Missions Accomplished" forum on htguide, and within your budget. You will probably end up spending as much or more for crossover components as you will for the drivers themselves. Reading through the threads will give you a mini education in speaker design. It is a LOT more involved than picking the drivers and using a pre-made crossover IF you want exceptional results. These guys are picky... and we all benefit from their collective knowledge. Many of the drivers are Parts-Express brand, and they are an AVS sponser.... so I suggest you support them.

Whatever speaker design you decide upon, it will probably still be better than 95% of anything you will find in a local Circuit City or Best Buy. In fact, I don't think they have anything even close to the Audax HT class, and it is nowhere near the Dayton RS Series class from what I've read.

Joe L.

Been a long time since I checked back in here. Looks like I waited a little too long as the Audax TM025f1 tweeter is no longer available. Does anyone know if the TM025F7 is a direct substitute? Or has someone designed a different crossover so it can be used. I tried searching with google and this thread but haven't been able to find anything.
Thanks!
Lee

I used the TMO25F7 in mine (same as WayneJ's on PE's "Project Showcase").
http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/audaxhtproject.html
It's a great performer and available at PE for ~$20 each.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=276-154
One small change is to omit the Capacitor C5 in the MTM mains (which rolls off a high-frequency rise in the TMO25F1 tweeter response to produce an overall flat response), when using the TMO25F7. Everywhere else it can be directly swapped in.

I still don't have Jon Marsh's WMTW center built even though most of the parts are sitting here. What that says is that the Audax center is doing a great job with a quad of Modula MT's on front and surround duty - and I'm waiting for drier, warmer weather to work outside.

Lee, if you've got the rest of the parts for the Audax HT system, go for it!:D

Here's how mine turned out:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=8551815&postcount=2420

I indeed bought everything from PE and substituted the F7 for F1 tweeter. Cost for all the components and stuffing $660. I bought my projector last week as well. Now it's time to get to work! I can't believe that I lurked on this thread from the beginning and now after all this time, I'm finally going to build them. I did come out the closet for one post about half way through. Thanks for the crossover change info Technimac! Solen only had 1 F1 left, so I had to go with the F7.

Lee

Good luck to you on the build. Post some pics when you can. Pay close attention to the center channel crossovers. I mis-wired mine at first and had no midrange. I figured it out and am still happy.

Thanks Jeff! I've got 3 kids the ages of 5 and under, so progress will be slow. I plan on laminating cherry verneer plywood to MDF to make the carcasses the correct thickness everywhere. I may use cherry verneered MDF for the sides, back, top and bottom. Got make a trip to local woodmart and decide.

Lee

Just noticed that PE's newest flyer has all the Audax speakers needed for the HT project on sale. This includes the TMO25F7 that can be used in place of the TMO25F1. If anyone is interested in starting this or even in picking up a few "spares", this seems like a golden opportunity.:D

Here's the link:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pdf/flyer8c/015_pe8c.pdf

Lee, if you just bought a whole bunch of Audax drivers and paid regular price, maybe give PE a call and see if they can do something (like giving you a credit on your account) for you. :cool:

Still enjoying my Audax/Modula MT system!
~Bruce

Is this thread dead? I haven't been on AVS in a couple of months. I have a set of speakers (Dayton RS TMWW towers) I started building in April, 2007 and today, I had to move them in the garage to get to something else. I realized I haven't been on AVS in a while. I swear I'm going to finish them and post pics.

Not dead, just taking a little nap....

Hi everyone. I know this thread is inactive but I was hoping to get a question answered.

I am pretty sure I will buying a speaker from Rick Craig at Selah audio, and I am torn between driver choices. One one hand, I want the nice detail of the magnesium seas drivers, on the other hand I want the nice warm sound of the revelator sliced paper cones. I've been searching trying to get a grasp of people's general tonal feelings about the seas excel drivers, whether it be warm or cool. I am afraid the magesium will be to analytical, however I've heard that the detail they provide makes the realism factor quite high. I know I like the paper in the revelators as I have a set of sapphire xls.

The other factor is ribbon vs dome. I don't like that some ribbons are fragile and susceptible to pops and such from electronics, as I watch NESN alot and they've always got technical problems with sound that create alot of cracks and pops. I want the "magic" of ribbons but the reliability of domes basically. And I've only got 2 grand to do it.

I basically copied and pasted this from the selah thread but was hoping maybe more people would see it here.

Thanks for your help.

I know Rick is a respected speaker designer, but I've never heard any of his designs. I know one guy who has posted on this very thread that is also a designer of some really nice speakers and that's Jim Salk. He also uses ribbons and I believe Seas drivers. His site is: http://www.salksound.com/

I used to have ribbon tweeters and really loved them. Unfortunatly, when I wanted to make a center channel and rears, the tweeters were no longer available, so I went to an aluminum dome instead for all speakers.

I never had a problem with pops or anything from any electronics or electrical issues (the wiring in our condo was not good).

FYI, the ones I had were Matsushita (Panasonic) and they were purchased back in 1993 or 1994. Ended up selling them to a guy online who was making a line-array with them and needed another 20 of them!

Something that might interest readers of this thread, concerning TM025F1 tweeter availability:

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=203899

Meniscus webpage appears hammered right now...

-Dan

I never thought this thread would have become the monster it has when I started it way back when...

I've built my LCRs, 4 surrounds and 2 giant subs. Loved it all.

Now looking to build some small 2-ways for the living room, maybe for outside. Anyone seen plans for exterior speakers?

what's even stranger is that the views are very close to the number of replies

I'm looking for some speakers to build to accompany my turntables for DJing. Does anyone have suggestions?

I'm looking for some speakers to build to accompany my turntables for DJing. Does anyone have suggestions?

Yep, these might work well for you. But you would also need to find a suitable replacement for the two discontinued hammer drivers in the first one.
http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/indexn.cfm?project=Blue

Here is another one, but it also was originaly designed with a driver that is now discontinued.
http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/indexn.cfm?project=Smithereens

However, finding a pro driver that may work in the place of either designs discontinued parts, may be possible if you match specs up and find one that is similar to replace them.

Hi all,
I finished my Audax HT set a little over 2 years ago. I have enjoyed their quality very much. However, last night I was watching a PVR recording of a Discovery program when I noticed a slight buzz coming from one of my front LR speakers. When I inspected the speakers I noticed that the small dome in the middle of the 6 1/4 inch speakers all four of them had what appears to be dimple on the center dome. It looks as if someone had poked them their finger but that is impossible here. To my old ear they still sound OK and the slight buzz never came back.

Has anyone else experienced such a problem? What could possibly cause this. I never drive them real hard and all the other speakers are normal.

Can anyone help?

Sorry for the long post. Regards, Bill

I experienced that with the mid speaker on my CC. We moved to a new house in 2004 and I noticed that there was a buzzing/rattling in some of the dialog. Our speakers are behind a screen wall but I was at least alert enough to install an easy access door to get back there. The cone of that mid driver was actually cracked. I had also bought a couple of extra drivers for spares and made the swap. I haven't had any trouble since but I know these can't last forever. I was very careful moving those speakers but assumed I or someone else had caused the damage...but maybe I didn't.

Thanks for the reply Jeff. Based on your reply I guess we were just unlucky. IMHO to have four speakers fail at once is an incredible coincidence but I guess it can happen. I will look into replacing them but they still sound OK and there is no more buzzing. Thanks again.

regards Bill

I'm looking for some speakers to build to accompany my turntables for DJing. Does anyone have suggestions?

Earl Geddes Nathan or Abbey.

Compression driver, oblate spheroidal wave guide with Earl's pattented foam plug, 10 or 12" pro-sound woofer, sealed so it's easy to integrate with sub-woofers. The wave guide polar response matches the woofer at the cross-over point. Baffles are cut with a 1" round over for diffraction.

Good for 120+ dB average.

I remember reading on the first page of this thread that a poster said unless you are doing it for fun, you can't compete with some of the bang for buck speaker companies in quality for the money you put into parts alone on DIY projects. Is this still viewed as a general truth? It is mostly for fun? Or can you actually produce speakers that blow away the bang for buck brands like Salk, Totem, Swan, and ID brands?

I remember reading on the first page of this thread that a poster said unless you are doing it for fun, you can't compete with some of the bang for buck speaker companies in quality for the money you put into parts alone on DIY projects. Is this still viewed as a general truth? It is mostly for fun? Or can you actually produce speakers that blow away the bang for buck brands like Salk, Totem, Swan, and ID brands?

Totem and Swan are considered "Bang for buck" brands? I would say bang for lots o-bucks. Once you start getting into the Revel, Wilson range, I don't know if you can really justify the sound based on price issue and I think Totem is near there as well, aren't they? I get more satisfaction from using lower-end products and getting great results through acoustics in the room than spending as much as a car on a pair of speakers. But that's just me.

Totem and Swan are considered "Bang for buck" brands? I would say bang for lots o-bucks. Once you start getting into the Revel, Wilson range, I don't know if you can really justify the sound based on price issue and I think Totem is near there as well, aren't they? I get more satisfaction from using lower-end products and getting great results through acoustics in the room than spending as much as a car on a pair of speakers. But that's just me.

I may have picked the wrong brands... they are out of my league as well.

So let's say ID brands, and other reasonably priced ones like Quad hifi.

Same question as above.

Let's take the room out of the picture for this question & say in both cases you work on room treatments, EQ, etc, to maximize the sound you get from the speakers.

I may have picked the wrong brands... they are out of my league as well.

So let's say ID brands, and other reasonably priced ones like Quad hifi.

Same question as above.

Let's take the room out of the picture for this question & say in both cases you work on room treatments, EQ, etc, to maximize the sound you get from the speakers.In general, not counting your own time spent in labor, a properly engineered DIY speaker will be equivalent in sound quality to one costing two or three times as much.

If you pay yourself for the time spent in construction, you will spend more for DIY, as you cannot pay yourself a low enough wage to compete with an assembly line.

If you enjoy woodworking, and are handy with tools, then DIY might be for you. If you are not as handy, you might consider a "kit" with parts precut and ready to be assembled.

Unless you are ready for a crash course in engineering and acoustics, I suggest you consider a well-respected design done by somebody with lots of experience. (try the "missions accomplished" forum on htguide.com for many good designs) Do not purchase a "pre-built" off-the-shelf crossover. Any crossover must be designed for the specific drivers, enclosure size and volume, driver spacing, and relative efficiencies of the drivers.

Don't be surprised if the crossover components cost nearly as much as the drivers. A crossover will make or break a speaker.

With DIY you must consider the experience and tools used by the designer. If they show on and off axis frequency responses, and the response is reasonably flat, then you will probably be OK.

Joe L.

Well put Joe.

I would second everything Joe said. And add that DIY speakers is something that can take a whole lot of time, so make sure you have that time to spend as nothing should be done quickly as that's when mistakes are made. If you have more money than time, buy some speakers.

If you have more money than time, buy some speakers.

How about neither? :eek: :D

That was a good response though, Joe, thanks for the insight. Sounds like I will be sticking with my Quad hi-fi 7.1 system for the time being. In the future I'll probably push towards saving for one of the brands I mentioned in my post above. I'm not super handy. If I was though, it sounds like a great direction to take the hobby.

I dont think anyone has mentioned Occam audio http://www.occamaudio.com/ and even the Gini LS3/A at http://www.gini.com/

Hello Everyone, I'm going to be retiring my Audax LCR that I built in 2002 and replace them with RS TMWW towers and a Clearwave 4CC. I'm going to keep the LCR and the surrounds, but I do have two brand new AO170ZO woofs, 1 AP130ZO mid, two TMO25F1 tweets, components for one unassembled surround xover, one surround cabinet with xover in plain MDF never used.

I have finally finished my 9 speakers from North Creek Music, along with matching TV stand. Thought I'd share a few pics, if only to help keep this thread alive. :)

A couple more, showing the CC and stand a little closer, and a head-on shot in a final config.
These guys are sounding really, really, good, but after 5 years of dragging this project out, I'm really, really, glad to be done. :eek:

The sides are all pre-veneered Cherry ply, the end caps are solid Cherry, and the fascia are all hard white Maple, which was really tough to rout the 1" radiii on without tearing out big chunks. They came out pretty nice with a few minor blems.

But like I said, they sound great, so who cares? :D

moonhawk, those are beautiful! They really look good in the room and I'll bet they sound great.
jh

moonhawk, those are beautiful! They really look good in the room and I'll bet they sound great.
jh

Thanks, Jeff--those are Scan Speak D9900 revelator tweeters and 15S/8305K mids.

George short hand matches all components to very close tolerances. I built the surrounds and subs first, which have a little bit lesser components, and then the center, then the mains.

It is remarkable how much alike the high end front soundstage sounds like the surrounds, which I used as mains for a long time. Only much more detailed, with better slam and dynamics. But George voices all his speakers to sound the same, and he has done a great job here.

Thanks to all on this very long thread--It was a great inspiration to me to keep "Making sawdust"

May all your projects bring you much joy...

Moonhawk, thats a great set of speakers you have there, and also a very nice house. im loving the ceiling. great taste in gear also. I wouldnt say im jealous but im doing a little coveting right now. LOL

hope you enjoy it all for many years. :)

I thank you, sir. :)

Hello Guys,
Wow, this thread was so old, I had to check a box to acknowledge that it is an old thread. Is that a subtle way of saying it is now useless and obsolete?

I'm wondering if anyone is still using their Audax speakers. Mine front three are still in use. I power them with an Emotiva XPA3. My four rear speakers were retired and two were never even used. I had to get dipoles that fit into the columns. Mine are now around 7yrs old.
jh

I still have the parts to build the front array. Maybe next year....

Still using all five of them. There may be better out there but for me they are still OK.Bill

Still using all five of them. There may be better out there but for me they are still OK.BillI'm still using all 5 of mine also...

Joe L.

Hello Guys,
Wow, this thread was so old, I had to check a box to acknowledge that it is an old thread. Is that a subtle way of saying it is now useless and obsolete?


I would not say it's useless, granted finding all the parts to build a set now could be hard, due to Audax discontinuing many of the drivers, and also because of their decision to more or less get out of selling raw drivers to the DIY crowd. The age of the speaker design really means nothing, the fact is, it's still a very good speaker system. And it's very possible that someone could still want to build a set, and if they looked around enough, maybe even still find all the parts that are needed somewhere.

I blame Harman International for what happened to Audax. I've built the Dickason A651 and A652 designs in the past and been very pleased with those Audax designs. I figured that Audax drivers plus Mr. D'Appolito's design expertise would produce a winner. I regret that my life has not permitted me to take any speaker-building time for several years now (that's changing soon, however).

It now looks like they're going to shut down Studer (Switzerland), screwing Regensdorf in the process.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=172502908746&ref=mf.
I tend to get a little irrational about this sort of thing (sort of like boycotting Sony since the Oct-2005 rootkit thing surfaced), so I'll not darken my life with more products from Harman subsidiaries.

Anyway, thanks for the great thread - Dan

Wow, I had pretty much forgotten about this thread... and about how much time and effort I put into my Audax front soundstage. That was a while ago... must have been 5 years ago now? Time really flies. The speakers still sound terrific, and we enjoy them frequently. These days, with kids, it's mostly Kung-Fu Panda, Ratatouille, Cars, etc. Good stuff. Glad I went with this DIY design.

cheers

Lucky for me I have some spare tweeters, mids and woofs for these speakers! I had thought about building the huge clearwave 4cc (http://www.clearwaveloudspeaker.com/Dynamic/4CC.html) but, I think I'll just keep the Audax.

BTW Duaner, I still love your signature. That's the best of the two more recent (if they can be called recent) Earp movies.
Jeff

A couple more, showing the CC and stand a little closer, and a head-on shot in a final config.
These guys are sounding really, really, good, but after 5 years of dragging this project out, I'm really, really, glad to be done. :eek:

The sides are all pre-veneered Cherry ply, the end caps are solid Cherry, and the fascia are all hard white Maple, which was really tough to rout the 1" radiii on without tearing out big chunks. They came out pretty nice with a few minor blems.

But like I said, they sound great, so who cares? :D

Moonhawk, congratulations, they look great and I’m sure they sound great too.

Other than the sub, my Northcreek 5.1 system was built in the reverse order. My Vision Signature mains are noted on the first page of this thread back in 2002. I then built the center and finally finished the rears in March 2009. Since then I’ve built a 2nd Sub so I have the 18” Leviathan for the LFE and a 12” 2 cubic foot sealed Aurasound NS12-7094-4A handling under 80 hz for the mains.

Some pics are in the thread linked to below.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1122202&highlight=

Thanks George. Checked out your thread. They look really, really, nice.

And I know how good they sound. :D

Looking for plans for very high quality theater speakers. I'm not into design software, but rather looking for some plans that have been proven winners.

Anyone?

Ted

Try these: Digital Audio Speakers (http://www.home-speaker.net/digital-audio-speakers.html) and Speaker Plans. These are some pretty incredible designs. Very large. And heavy by the descriptions.



Or these: Mini Cube Speakers (http://www.home-speaker.net/mini-cube-speakers.html)

Seems like a decent site with some interesting plans. They don't have much selection though but I think the small speaker plans are actually free. Probably only good for a HTiB replacement or computer speakers though.

You might want to check out the following:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/forumdisplay.php4?f=39

I have built the NeoD CC's - they walk all over my 1991 vintage B&W 802's

Here is my build thread:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=34556

Many people are building the Statements for their Home Theater.

Also look here:

http://www.zaphaudio.com/

John has excellent designs.

Regards,
Doug

they are very beautiful! :D

mikal and Doug,
You guys may not have noticed this thread is 8 yrs old. This thread also started before there was a diy speaker forum. I am pretty sure that Ted designed and build line arrays for his LCR speakers years ago. The thread eventually turned into an Audax HT build thread. I built a set still enjoy mine to this day. The only problem is Audax basically quit selling those drivers to the diy market.

I started on a set of Dayton RS TMWW towers three years ago. I built the cabinets and then burned out on speaker building before I built the crossovers. All the drivers are still in there boxes. I suppose I need to finish them.

I've used these resources in the past. All seem pretty good. I don't think I saw all of them mentioned here so they might add to what everyone else has already said.

Digital Audio Speakers Page (http://www.home-speaker.net/digital-audio-speakers.html)

Madisound (http://www.madisound.com/kits/index.php)

And Speaker Building.com (http://speakerbuilding.com/) which may have already been mentioned.

Doug,
Nice Build! I seem to recall that the Neos cost in around $500 a pop. That is not bad considering the performance they bring. I wonder if Jon will ever get around to updating these with new tweeters.