Speaker kit is better choice

[JT120]

After hours of reading I now realize I should have paid attention to those who recommended purchasing a well planned kit over trying to spec my own, lol. While I have access to a full wood shop and all the box building talent (my son who is in furniture business) I don’t think it makes good economic sense to attempt a one time build from scratch and end up with poor performance. I didn’t know the difficulty of matching xovers to drivers and thought it would be as easy as matching impedance, a crossover point and db roll off. I admire you guys who have put in the time and have the knowledge to design and build great sounding speakers from the ground up! At least I will be able to enjoy building some cabinets😃

[Kustomize]

Good thing you did!

so what kit have you decided?

[fpitas]

At least you realized early on, before you have hundreds of dollars of drivers etc.

[JT120]

At least you realized early on, before you have hundreds of dollars of drivers etc.

yes I’ve already got a couple of financially challenging hobbies 😃
Looking at Solstice, Amiga,Critton css, Revelator or a Satori kit.

[OldGuy69]

yes I’ve already got a couple of financially challenging hobbies 😃
Looking at Solstice, Amiga,Critton css, Revelator or a Satori kit.

OK dumb question, I searched on Critton and didn't find any matches, where are you finding these? realize there's a huge list of projects pinned in the forum, I'm new and also not looking to spend a ton of time on this I'm renovating my house and wife would not understand building my own speakers from scratch at this point!! I do have most of the tools and handy enough but agree I don't need to re-invent the wheel. In fact I was looking at some skinny towers like the Dayton T652 w AMT tweeter for my HT application (have a 12" sub). I have some old classic polk 12a's but they are alas too wide for space I have and wife doesn't like the big look.

Anyone have comment on the T652? I realize its not a terribly efficient design and not with deep bass, but I have a JBL sub I repowered with the Bash 300w amp and its very good on low end so that's not a problem. It looks so inexpensive I wonder if its really what I need, although the tweeter reviews are great. Hmm...

[djg]

CSS Criton. (sp).

[John Wright]

Unfortunately, for self-assembly, you need to take into account too many factors that you cannot understand if you are a beginner

[Chris Roemer]

very vague

[fpitas]

Honestly on your first speaker project, just choose something that seems reasonable without sweating every last detail. Once you get deeper into this hobby you'll figure out what you like and don't like in a speaker. You may then design your own to satisfy yourself, or at least have a good idea what to look for in a kit. And people modify kits all the time (such as crossover tweaks).

[Threadbare]

I learned the same lesson. But before I did I wasted money buying misc. drivers that will never work together to achieve the result I was wanting. I finally gave up the struggle with free design software that I would never understand and followed the advice to go for an established design. I went for Paul Carmody's Tarkus and it has given me a far better result than I ever hoped. I smile every time I look at them knowing how good they sound with my choice of music.

[invaderzim]

Another thing to ask yourself is if this is the start of a long term hobby or a one time speaker build. Do you want something to cut your teeth on or something to keep and listen to for the next decades? I didn't realize before I built my last speakers that they may be my last build and now I wish I'd gone even higher end.

[Threadbare]

The trouble is that all the while we are chasing upgrades and bright new ideas, our hearing is slowly going downhill so we are chasing improvements we can't hear.

[dld]

The trouble is that all the while we are chasing upgrades and bright new ideas, our hearing is slowly going downhill so we are chasing improvements we can't hear.

Did you just dig up this thread to kick us old guys in the juevos?

[tktran]

Yeah you’ll have plenty to do with building your first kit.
Building crossovers,
mounting drivers correct wiring discovered what you’re like. I don’t like about the speaker how different rooms affect the sound.

if you cooking for the first time should you follow a recipe, or do you just cook whatever you feel like? Be kind to yourself, follow the recipe. You may or may not even like it (much). And that’s ok.

[mikejennens]

I'm a fan of Paul Carmody's designs. You'll get a great bang for your buck with anything Paul designs. Also, if you do a Google search, you might be able to find the PCBs for the crossovers. PCBs really simplify things. You might want to check with other members about the PCB, if you find one, just to make sure it is worth getting.

[PWR RYD]

invaderzim brings up an excellent point. Jumping into this I knew I would be building more than one pair (never thought it would be dozens) so investing in some more wood working tools and measurement gear was a no brainer for me. If I knew it was only going to be a pair or two I would have just built some full kits or cobbled together something from proven and published plans like Curt and Jim's Statements.