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**MagicO309d** · 02-25-2010, 03:01 PM

Re: My turn!!

Doesn't everyone deserve such a thing?

What's your musical taste, 2-channel or HT, what equipment do/will you have, big room, small room, normal volume, or virtually unlimited headroom?

**Dirk** · 02-25-2010, 03:06 PM

Re: My turn!!

Originally posted by jerrald View Post

After more than 10 years of helping others (family/friends) I have decided to do something for my birthday next month.
I want to build a pair of speakers with NO regards to cost. I feel I have more than earned this.
I am drawing on the vast knowledge, experience, and opinions of anyone who wants to comment on what they would do for themselves. Suggestions for line array, bookshelf, floorstander, with/without built in subwoofer are welcome.
The amount of feedback and suggestions will determine the length of time to build.
I will let this run for at least a week and see how it goes.

Good for you! Welcome to the fold! Here's your robe; the kool-aid is over there.

Going "cost is no object" is an interesting thing around here. The point of diminishing returns hits pretty hard and fast, so while it's good that you don't have to concern yourself with a hard budget, I think that means that you can (and should) concentrate on building the pair of speakers that fits your goals. To my mind, these should include:

1. Preferred aesthetic. Should these be small, ultra-high end, monitors with a sub tucked away? Or will they be full-range towers with a modest profile? Or will they be MASSIVE line arrays, stretching from floor to ceiling? Will they be all curves and sloping baffles?

2. Purpose. What kind of music do you listen to the most? Will it be a dedicated 2-channel, music only system, or will you be planning for home theater duties as well?

3. What is your room like? Different speaker alignments work better than others, depending on your room.

So think about those three things and we'll see what comes next.

**Angaria** · 02-25-2010, 03:08 PM

Re: My turn!!

If you don't mind the cost, an straightforward way to lower distortion is to amass drivers. There's a Scan-Speak 18WU8741T00 & RAAL dipole line array that I think Rick Craig did that would fit the bill. If you don't want a line array, I'd vote for the various AE woofers, and maybe a set of the GR OB servo subs.

**Pete Schumacher** · 02-25-2010, 03:11 PM

Re: My turn!!

Originally posted by jerrald View Post

After more than 10 years of helping others (family/friends) I have decided to do something for my birthday next month.
I want to build a pair of speakers with NO regards to cost. I feel I have more than earned this.
I am drawing on the vast knowledge, experience, and opinions of anyone who wants to comment on what they would do for themselves. Suggestions for line array, bookshelf, floorstander, with/without built in subwoofer are welcome.
The amount of feedback and suggestions will determine the length of time to build.
I will let this run for at least a week and see how it goes.

Jerrald, with money no object, I would say to get yourself a ScanSpeak Revelator 5.25" mid, the Dayton RS28F or better tweeter. Then round out the lows with the sub of your choice.

I've got a project going using the RS28, Scan mid and Dayton RSS315HF-4.

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=215703&highlight=RSS315HF

**critofur** · 02-25-2010, 04:08 PM

Re: My turn!!

Don't go with simple 3/4" MDF cabinets then.

I mean, you can use 3/4" MDF if you want, but add damping, and extensive bracing. I prefer Baltic birch myself, though, if I could, I would use stone filled cast resin or multi-layer metal with damping materials.

Even the "higher end" DIY designs don't seem to put much thought into making great enclosures. They might use pretty veneer, but, you can put frosting on a mud cake if you wanted :P

**robwest** · 02-25-2010, 04:13 PM

Re: My turn!!

Don't suppose you'd be interested in a pair of Bose my neighbor is trying to sell?

**jerrald** · 02-25-2010, 04:19 PM

Re: My turn!!

I listen to music more than watching movies.
I listen to a balance of blues, light jazz, smooth R&B (old school), some classical, and soundtracks (Hans Zimmer, James Horner, etc), and some techno (DJ Baby Anne, Enigma, etc).
I like power tracks sometimes ("Games and Escape" - Apocalypto, "Barbarian Horde" - Gladiator, etc).
So it would seem that I will need something that can handle dynamics without too much distortion. Hmm, sounds like a line array will be my choice.
As far as the new array from Rick, I forgot about that one. I'll go back and check it out.
Room size is pretty much standard size- my house was built in 1954. Even though the room is a standard size I still like to get a little loose with the volume!!

**MagicO309d** · 02-25-2010, 04:24 PM

Re: My turn!!

Originally posted by critofur View Post

Don't go with simple 3/4" MDF cabinets then.

I mean, you can use 3/4" MDF if you want, but add damping, and extensive bracing. I prefer Baltic birch myself, though, if I could, I would use stone filled cast resin or multi-layer metal with damping materials.

Even the "higher end" DIY designs don't seem to put much thought into making great enclosures. They might use pretty veneer, but, you can put frosting on a mud cake if you wanted :P

I've always wondered how a sandwich of this stuff: http://www.homasote.com/products/440-Soundbarrier.aspx would work inbetween two panels of baltic birch myself. I haven't ever seen anyone use it but a low density layer between two hard layers is proven acoustic science.

At this point for me, I'm thinking that maybe an "unlimited" headroom, point source speaker could be the ultimate. Maybe some sort of driver configuration like this could be a starting point: http://www.hemagazine.com/KEF_Blade

**Zilch** · 02-25-2010, 05:34 PM

Re: My turn!!

Pretty clear what I would build, 'cause I just did:

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?p=1624578&postcount=22

**Phil_RC_1** · 02-25-2010, 06:41 PM

Re: My turn!!

Originally posted by jerrald View Post

I like power tracks sometimes ("Games and Escape" - Apocalypto, "Barbarian Horde" - Gladiator, etc).
So it would seem that I will need something that can handle dynamics without too much distortion,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I still like to get a little loose with the volume!!

Pic says it all!! (Just for some inspiration, check out the 41 pages at this link).

**mgrabow** · 02-25-2010, 06:46 PM

Re: My turn!!

Thats what I am hoping to do on my next project, but my wallet tells me I cant...

**MSaturn** · 02-25-2010, 06:50 PM

Re: My turn!!

You should definitely shoot for something dipole or omni - it might sound ridiculously simple, but running a pair of B&G's top-end line planars with some serious wooferage might work ..

**Pete Schumacher** · 02-25-2010, 08:43 PM

Re: My turn!!

Originally posted by jerrald View Post

After more than 10 years of helping others (family/friends) I have decided to do something for my birthday next month.
I want to build a pair of speakers with NO regards to cost. I feel I have more than earned this.
I am drawing on the vast knowledge, experience, and opinions of anyone who wants to comment on what they would do for themselves. Suggestions for line array, bookshelf, floorstander, with/without built in subwoofer are welcome.
The amount of feedback and suggestions will determine the length of time to build.
I will let this run for at least a week and see how it goes.

How big a cabinet can you handle? I forgot that you mentioned line array, and those are usually quite large.

Zilch's suggestion will give you the unlimited dynamics you'll need for those power tracks, but I was thinking going even larger.

Can you handle something that would house a 15" woofer, and require about 9 cubic feet? It doesn't need a huge footprint, as it could fit in the same space as a line array. An enclosure with internal dimensions of 15" x 15" x 70" will give you 9 cubic feet. If you were to mount the Acoustic Elegance TD15S in that box, and tune it to 20Hz with a 17" long, 6" diameter vent, you'd have a system that will hit 105dB at 20Hz with 100W input, and 113dB at 100Hz. Cross that woofer to a waveguide loaded pro tweeter at 1500Hz and you'd have one of the most dynamic full range two-ways on the planet.

If you wonder how a 15" woofer performs at midrange frequencies, check out the distortion plot below. Stunning.

**DoubleTap** · 02-25-2010, 08:57 PM

Re: My turn!!

Cost no object? That's a no brainer to me ...

RAAL 140-15D with amorphous core
Accuton C173N-T6-96
AE TD15

... and either draw up plans in solid works or pay somebody to do it so you can send it to somebody with a CNC machine for a Translam type construction.

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