Read the book and be cautious
Quote:
Originally Posted by nice_tie36
I'm going to give it a shot at building my own
speakers. I've never done it before, but you'll never learn anything new if you ...
It is possible to build great speakers but the more you stray from the established designs, (such as you find at Solen or Madisound), the trickier the process becomes. Any good book on the subject will make that clear enough. Much of the complexity has to do with the cross-over networks, but box design and sizing is an issue too.
For designs, click the "Design" tab at Solen: http://www.solen.ca
I'm not sure what you mean by "crappy" speaker brands at Parts Express -- they sell various leading manufacturers, e.g. Scan-Speak, Vifa, Morel. These are among the best in the world.
Solen carries these and other leading brands, e.g. Seas, Eton.
MDF is probably the best material. It has very low resonance for a given thickness; (use 3/4", or 1" for large cabinets). Also, MDF cuts very smoothly with standard power tools.