Best size(s) for reusable speaker cabinets / knock-down cabinets

[Steve Lee]

^ exactly.

[jhollander]

I think if I was to only build something that was to be repurposed or go in a standard cabinet I would lose interest very fast. dlneubec and I has the discussion that if we couldn't build something new and interesting we would not enjoy the hobby.

[Steve Lee]

For me, having a reconfigurable cabinet is so I can get the design/speaker combo right 1st then put what works into and interesting, expensive, time consuming cabinet.

It is still very interesting when you look at it from that perspective, isn't it?

[rpb]

At some point, you design for the room, and location of the speaker in the room. For me, I'll never be happy with any speaker that is positioned close to a wall. A pair of 6.5" 2-ways in ported 1 cu-ft boxes will get the job done nicely in my living room. Larger speakers will work even better, but tend to dominate the look of the room, which is OK, except that I usually make plain looking boxes.

[Steve Lee]

Absolutely correct which is why I chose the cabinet that I had (1.2 cu ft gross) 8" W X 32" T X 13" D.

This will work in my living room for mains on either side of the TV and in my drumming room in the basement - internal volume is easily modified smaller to accommodate different drivers as needed.

[a4eaudio]

jhollander - my problem is that I am new to the hobby and 10 to 20 years behind you and Dan. (dlneubec I recently found a 2008 post "Simple DIYable Waveguide testing (dome tweeters)" that did something I am experimenting with now.) I have designed one speaker and am still voicing my second. I am trying to accelerate the learning curve - in 20 years I won't be able to lift tower speakers and won't be able to hear above 9Khz.

My idea of reconfigurable cabinets are NOT unfinished MDF prototype boxes. I plan on piano gloss white, piano glass black, curved zebrawood satin and curved bubinga gloss. They will look good, but obviously I can't experiment with different shapes. I have some ideas that do require a unique cabinet, but I also want to simply experiment with different driver combinations. I have found (like almost everyone else here) that it is easier to buy drivers than to build speakers, and now I have a basement full of drivers that I'd like to play with but it takes forever (for me) to build cabinets.