how to build speakers??

[dsantamassino]

hi everyone,

Will someone post up if possible step by step how to build 6ft tower speakers?? also how to make the enclosures and everything else i need. What parts and how many parts do i need per speaker from radio shack?? I'm starting with a pair of speakers first.

also how would i build an center speaker, pair of surrounds and an 8" sub woofer?? My Uncle said he would help me if i get the info.. Please reply back ASAP. thanks everyone..

[N. Abstentia]

I wouldn't even buy a roll of tape from Radio Shack, much less raw speakers. If you have no experience with speaker building or crossover design, now may not be the best time to learn. The first set I built spent 2 years in the tweaking stage! But if I were you I'd forget Radio Shack and start here:

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=29

[Bryan]

Try posting this in the Tweaks, Mods, DIY forum here. That being said, what is your budget? Why do you want a 6' tower speaker? Why go through Radio Shack? You have a much broader selection through http://www.partsexpress.com. Look into the DIY AR.com speaker. I believe Ed Frias was the one who came up with the original design and he frequently posts in the other forum. IMO, the simplest and best solution for you now is the Rocket/Kenwood combo I posted in the HT forum.

[dsantamassino]

I wouldn't even buy a roll of tape from Radio Shack, much less raw speakers. If you have no experience with speaker building or crossover design, now may not be the best time to learn. The first set I built spent 2 years in the tweaking stage! But if I were you I'd forget Radio Shack and start here:

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=29

Thanks but i noticed that was a part store. May you please tell me exactly how to build speakers?? forget about everything else. Just a pair of speakers.. maybe a sub as well but forget about the center and the surrounds. I can come back to them later..

[dsantamassino]

Try posting this in the Tweaks, Mods, DIY forum here. That being said, what is your budget? Why do you want a 6' tower speaker? Why go through Radio Shack? You have a much broader selection through http://www.partsexpress.com. Look into the DIY AR.com speaker. I believe Ed Frias was the one who came up with the original design and he frequently posts in the other forum. IMO, the simplest and best solution for you now is the Rocket/Kenwood combo I posted in the HT forum.


alright i copy/paste my post there.. about about $1,000 bucks or more for building 6ft speakers. I want them because i think they would be nice to have but i need to expect my room mates. Im sharing room and board in a home.

[N. Abstentia]

I think you might be better off with Bryan's suggestion.

[sc03979]

I would have to agree with bryan. Seems like alot of hassle for a bedroom.

[dsantamassino]

I think you might be better off with Bryan's suggestion.

but i rather build myself speakers. More fun.. May you write me a guide and what parts i need to build the five speakers plus the 1 sub??

[N. Abstentia]

Well, the link I posted will give you all that. You need to buy the parts before you can build the speakers. You need cabinets, woofers, subwoofers, tweeters, crossovers, wire, damping material, ports (if you want them), grill covers (if you want them) and some sort of finish for the cabinets. It's all right there.

I'd suggest buying a good enclosure design software to figure out exactly what you want.

[dsantamassino]

Well, the link I posted will give you all that. You need to buy the parts before you can build the speakers. You need cabinets, woofers, subwoofers, tweeters, crossovers, wire, damping material, ports (if you want them), grill covers (if you want them) and some sort of finish for the cabinets. It's all right there.

I'd suggest buying a good enclosure design software to figure out exactly what you want.

I didnt see any step by step guides on how to build the five speakers plus the sub. All i seen was about ordering parts. Is there any free enclosure design software??

[This Guy]

Do you have any idea how much is involved in building a speaker? Somebody can't just tell you what to do. It takes a lot of studying on crossover design, cabinet making/design, and knowing what drivers to choose. If you go out and buy $1000 worth of parts and just put it all together, A bose speaker will likely sound better than it. Start with a cheap speaker like the BR-1 or other kits they have at partsexpress.com. It's cheap and you can get your feet wet in speaker building. There's so much more to speaker building then you apparently believe and all that money would be wasted if you didn't take your time and learn about speaker design. Partsexpress sells a few books on it if you want to buy one of those.

[dsantamassino]

Do you have any idea how much is involved in building a speaker? Somebody can't just tell you what to do. It takes a lot of studying on crossover design, cabinet making/design, and knowing what drivers to choose. If you go out and buy $1000 worth of parts and just put it all together, A bose speaker will likely sound better than it. Start with a cheap speaker like the BR-1 or other kits they have at partsexpress.com. It's cheap and you can get your feet wet in speaker building. There's so much more to speaker building then you apparently believe and all that money would be wasted if you didn't take your time and learn about speaker design. Partsexpress sells a few books on it if you want to buy one of those.


I dont have a credit card.. I will be opening a checking account soon which will give me a debit card.. Is there any step by step sites that will teach me what i need to do to build speakers??

[This Guy]

You can't just learn everything about speakers in a day bud. There is no one site that will tell you everything you need to know to build your own speakers. If there was, everybody would be hoping all over the idea of building their own. A lot of people don't have the time/need in learning all the quirks of a speaker, so they buy them. Go to the partsexpress.com discussion board, they'll help you out. it's called "ask the pros" on the left side of the home page.

[markw]

You might want to LURK at the forum at http://www.partsexpress.com. Likewise, you might want to LURK at the forums at http://www.madisound.com.

The reason I say lurk is that if you simply barge in there with an attitude like "tell me everything I need to know about building speakers in 5 minutes", you'll either be ignored or laughed off the site.

There's more building speakers of any quality than simply building a box and slapping speakers in them. By lurking at these sites, you'l getan idea of what's entailed.

P.S... here's a hint for ya.. .think kits.

[Lensman]

Building speakers is easy. Build some boxes out of particle board, cut holes, and throw some drivers in them.

Building GOOD SOUNDING speakers is an incredibly involved and complicated process. Highly regarded giants in the audio field have devoted their lifetimes, large sums of money, and extensive research facilities to doing this and still don't always get it right.

THIS DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T DO IT.

But you need to be aware that there's more to it than cutting holes in wood and screwing speaker drivers in. Among other things, you need to have a good basic knowledge of electronics, an ability to use a soldering iron, better-than-average carpentry skills, and for best results, test equipment to determine if the final result is performing as it should. You should also have a basic understanding of how sound is generated and propagates before you start - even if you're just following someone else's project directions.

This is not to discourage you, building speakers can be a lot of fun. But a basic undertanding of what's involved is critical before you begin. I'd hate for you to think there's nothing more to it than some basic carpentry, then go out and spend $1,000 and a ton of time building something only to be dissappointed to find it sounds worse than something Best Buy sells for $29.95.

You should read up on the subject before you start to give you better idea of what's involved and help you decide how to choose the best type of speaker project to get what you really want. There are reasons why there are so many different sizes, shapes and types of speakers, with different numbers and types of drivers that do different things.

David Weems has written a couple of books that provide good introductions into the field as well as basic projects. Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0071348743/qid=1096577137/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-8061292-2355002?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Like N. Abstentia mentioned, Parts Express is one of the best (and most affordable) places around for ordering quality parts. Here's a link to a DIYer that uses their parts and provides plans for building his projects:

http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_files/default.htm

Parts Express also offers some decent speaker projects. You can simply buy the required parts and cabinetry pieces and follow the instructions to build the speakers yourself. If you don't plan to study up first, you should seriously consider starting with one of these as your first project. Though as stated above, knowing some basics could help you choose different projects more in-line with your listening preferences.

Best of luck.

[toenail]

Find yourself a copy of The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook. This will tell you most of what you need to know.

[alumpkin]

Back in college, a fellow electrical engineer built his own HT subwoofer with 2 15" subs. Not only did the thing rock the entire house, it was as big as a coffee table. It was really cool though, so I feel ya when you want to build your own. But there were two key things with the sub he built though that you need to know:

1. It was EXTREMELY complicated. To make it sound right, he did a decent amount of math to calculate the enclosure size and the port hole sizes and also how the enclosure was interally constructed (you really have to perfect the size of the internal volume and the size of the port holes). And as he explained to me, choosing the materials of all the components of the subwoofer factored directly into his calculations. And of course once he designed the box, he had to build it perfectly... with no air leaks and everything perfectly flush. So I definitely agree with others in this thread... you need to have some good carpentry skills.

2. It was quite costly. Because he wanted a good sounding subwoofer, he made sure to buy good materials - especially the enclosure and the subs themselves. In my opinon, most people build their own speakers because they thoroughly enjoy it and not to save money.

But as people have said earlier, and I totally agree, if you want to try your hand at building your speakers, go for it and have fun. But keep in mind that it takes A LOT of work and knowledge to build really good speakers; the type of speakers with your budget you can go out and buy and garuntee you get what you want.

[BRANDONH]

Speaker Building
With Parts Express, you can find the materials and tools you'll need to make the best home or car loudspeakers — for a lot less than high-end manufactured speaker systems!

They have a big selection in all price ranges:

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=29

they have about 8 books on the subject here:

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&&DID=7&CATID=40&ObjectGroup_ID=72

for crossovers I had my custom made by Vertek/XTC they are great.
http://www.vertekxtc.com/

the technicians name is Guy Veralrud
his email: guy@vertekxtc.com

[KRiTiKaL]

6 foot speakers!? Wowie wow wow! Do you understand how much cubic air to move that is(unless your going with a thin cabinet)? How many speakers do you plan on putting in each one? Your talking about at least a 500w speaker. I got to say that is a "all or nothing" attitude. The only way to do this, is to go by everyones advice and start small. Learning through trial & error. There are so so many equations for a speaker. Start smart and keep it simple. Good luck just the same though.

[Woochifer]

As others have said, take your time and be patient. If you want to build something yourself without having to invest a whole bunch of time learning how you're supposed to design something, the kit route is a good way to go. Keep in mind though that a lot of kits cost about the same as a finished speaker. The kit just allows you to do some customizing.

Or you could just buy a prefinished enclosure and then buy the parts. In addition to Parts Express, Acoustic Visions sells a lot of enclosures for different applications.

http://www.acoustic-visions.com

For technical stuff, Adire Audio posts a lot of building plans for subwoofers and speakers. These are primarily built around drivers and parts that they sell, but their stuff is well regarded around DIY circles, so it's not like you're buying junk from them. I own one of their subwoofers, and in actuality, it actually costs less to buy the finished subwoofer than to buy the parts and find a prefinished enclosure.

http://www.adireaudio.com

http://www.adireaudio.com/TextPages/AppNotesPageFrameText.htm
http://www.adireaudio.com/TextPages/BangPageFrameText.htm
http://www.adireaudio.com/TextPages/PopPageFrameText.htm
http://www.adireaudio.com/TextPages/GrandPopPageFrameText.htm

[KRiTiKaL]

that http://www.acoustic-visions.com is a great site! thx wooch.

I am very interested in the bare bones system. http://www.acoustic-visions.com/~acoustic/products/complete_systems/budget/
sounds worthy.

[aimen]

N.ABSENTITA i just noticed ur pic contains american chopper ppl which i saw on discovery channel
r u by any chance one of them or just a fan of them or somethng

[aimen]

with 1000$ in hand u better spend time in reseaching and then spend
as u said u need steps, it seems u need no technical knowledge only steps
then here ya go
1. buys a tweeter, mid and couple of woofers
2. if drivers are not of same efficency, search on the net of its compenstor(L-pad???) its give u values and diagram
3. now dettermine x-over freqs
4. after tht search on the net for x-over makers, then the value in and they will tell u wt value resitor capacitors and indtutors u need and a diagram
5. now put this whole thing together in a 6 feet box
6 cut ports for ur woofer according to ur f3 need etc
7. u'll now hav wt is ussualy called a boomy speaker
i dont recomend this kind of hurry
take ur time
u need kicking speakers quick, then better not make ur on speaker design, get one from the net

http://www.wadsnet.com/~dtenney/

look in there for D27 or dayton 8 mtm, all in there is dayton, a decent speaker making company, might appeal to u as a first timer

or

http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_files/default.htm

ur gt in ther many designs from begginer to pros
if all u need is good sounding speakers then go for EROS but take ur tie b4
if u need just a speaker quick, go with some dayton which appeals u

http://www.loudspeakers101.com/CrosFrm3.htm
hmm the site aint working?!?!?!?!?!

http://www.madisound.com/

partsexpress.com

http://www.harman.com/wp/index.jsp?articleId=121
read some articale over here too

[Feanor]

Thank you, but I...
aimen did offer some useful advice. Building a speaker for scratch is no simple matter. Better to accept that fact!

[This Guy]

hahaha if u follow the links this guy gave us, it ends up bringing you to him posting in a computer hacker's forum where he asks how he cant hack into her computer and delete watever he said. haha