The most fun you can have in audio is DIYing your own speakers


You don't have to make the best speakers on earth, or most expensive, and you don't have to become an expert in the tech, but in all my years in audio, I have to say DIY is the most fun and educational. For me, speaker building was a lot more fun than electronics (amps, pre's etc.) 

Lots of great sources for complete kits as well as paper-only designs. Speaker building is also a great thing to do with your kids. I highly recommend it.

Best,


Erik
erik_squires

Showing 1 response by teo_audio

Another source for the pro player and in Canada, is... McBride:

https://mcbrideloudspeaker.com/home.php

As for the 10:1 markup thing, it does not exist. You start putting your true costs on the line for making a speaker and selling it to people, with all, I mean all of the steps required to do so and the imagined ratio quickly collapses.

As a single builder you don’t have to see those, location, infrastructure, labour, transportation, packaging and so on costs. It looks like a high number or ratio --- when it really is not. Not by a long shot.

If it was 10:1 there would be a lot more speaker manufacturers out there.... or world class speakers would cost a lot less to buy. No one leaves such money lying about without taking advantage in some way or another. Market forces have reduced pricing to as low as it will go and below that -- lies financial collapse.

Just like all other ~100 year old evolved markets. These arguments are as old as the audio hills.

In essence, please, build your own speakers and have fun doing it. But don’t falsely create the atmosphere that derides the manufacturers of quality audio speakers --as being some sort of rampaging profiteering takers of advantage. It’s simply not true. :)   The market has adjusted itself to a sharp mean over the past near 100 years of loudspeaker design, manufacturing, and sales.