Built your own speakers ?

I have built about twenty pairs of speakers over 30 years, from folded corner horns to hemi-spherical satellites to transmission line towers, using KEF, Peerless, Vifa, Altec-Lansing, Electrovoice, Radio Shack, Phillips brands of drivers. No, you cannot surpass the quality of what any decent speaker manufacturer can produce in their factory. Yes, you can make pretty good speakers at a fraction of the cost, if you enjoy woodworking and tinkering. You can spend a lot of time and a fair amount of money to gain a lot of satisfaction at having made something yourself. Try a standard kit from Madisound or North Creek before attempting your own design. The more you read before you start, the better off you'll be.

Mine will be better than you think.

Carl , You are truely multitallented , Builds speakers and reads minds . Just a pun , no offence intended .Care to elaborate ? There is also another thread in Tech Talk .FBI.

I have tried to build my own speakers as well using Dynaudio drivers. It took years and lots of tinkering. I was never satisfied. I thought I could make them sound even better each time I played with the cross-over and box. I spent more time playing with the design than listening to music. After a few years and much frustration I bought the North Creek Rythmn speakers and I am again listening to music not frustrating myself with speaker design. If you do not have an excellant understanding of electronics and are skilled in cabinet making and have software to design x-overs and lots of time and patience, do not do it! Buy a good designed kit!

I've only built a sub but sure learned lots from the experience. My next project is my fronts and I'm only looking to spend around 1600. If you take the approach that the saving from dyi going into the parts, I'm sure you can build as good a speaker as commerical. Very good drivers can be purchased from manufactures ( I heard vr 4's. Geez they don't make their own drivers). Crossovers? Parts are made by other people. Enclosure? Material again made by other parties. I am leaning towards building the BESL 2.4 using Seas Excel drivers. Not cheap but will be a very nice speaker. Again I'm looking to spend less than 2 grand. The story may change if your spending megabuck, but I my price range you can do just as well as a commerical company.