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Noob speaker builder

F

FastD

New Member
Hello all, I just recently joined this forum and have enjoyed reading through many a thread. I am looking for some suggestions. My current surround sound system consist of Bose AM10 for the front and AM3 for the rear. The speakers are about 12 years old and I would like to replace them. I like the idea of putting some together and have been looking for proven kits.

I recently came across the GR Research web site and was wondering about there speaker kits. Has anyone on here built one of their kits. What kind of quailty as compared to a parts express or Madissound speaker kits. I am looking to to a LCR and Rear Surround match set.

I also saw rhis kit from North Creek :

http://www.northcreekmusic.com/WhatsNew.htm second from the bottom

Echo SYSTEM (One pair of monitors, one center, and one pair of Towers) ...$549 per system. ON sale for $499.00 Any advice on this Kit

Any other proven DIY kits I should look at?


Any input would be aprreciated

Todd

Thanks for your input
 
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GR Research is good stuff :) They have a dedicated forum over on Audiocircle if you're interested.

The PE and Madisound kits are also very good.

That North Echo kit seems to have a little higher rolloff than I'd be comfortable with (at least with a mono sub). Welcome to AK, as well! :thmbsp:
 
Jim thanks for the welcome. From the threads I have read through the forum members here seem very supportive of on another.

nclh77 Are you referring to all the manufactures that I mention or one specifically?


Ray I am located in Memphis Tn are ther any Diy 'ers in the area?
I would like to hear some speakers other that going to BB.

thanks for the responses.
 
FastD:

The drivers all appear to be good stuff, looks like SEAS and maybe some Vifa, Peerless stuff.

The first speaker I saw on the site you posted reminded me of PSB's Status Silver. That was a great speaker. The use of ribbons also indicate also pleased me.

I think this company may just be a group of people who like speakers and are producing some good stuff. Now of coarse, no one carries stuff that good anymore so they end up going direct to customer like many companies are going. Don't think you will find this stuff at Best Buy.

If I were in the market for some speakers not, I would not hesitate to give these guys a call.
 
I think that one you should look at very closely is the Exodus Audio "Kepler" kits. Superb sound that isn't remotely embarrassed by speakers costing many, many times more. One heck of a speaker, I even built a pair myself.

Rather that me ranting, here's a review done by Soundstage! magazine:

http://www.soundstage.com/diwhy/diwhy200804.htm

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
FastD said:
Ray I am located in Memphis Tn are ther any Diy 'ers in the area?
I would like to hear some speakers other that going to BB.

thanks for the responses.
Click to expand...

You might try contacting Urizen. He's in that neighborhood and has some DIY back loaded horns that are really nice (Madisound BK-16 kits). He doesn't have Indignias yet, but only because he hasn't heard them. Give him a week and he'll be ready. :)

Ray
 
TerryO said:
I think that one you should look at very closely is the Exodus Audio "Kepler" kits. Superb sound that isn't remotely embarrassed by speakers costing many, many times more. One heck of a speaker, I even built a pair myself.

Rather that me ranting, here's a review done by Soundstage! magazine:

http://www.soundstage.com/diwhy/diwhy200804.htm

Best Regards,
TerryO
Click to expand...
Those Kepler mids look to be pretty good. Bl2 technology begs the question if DIY cable is hooked up with Adire, by any chance? I'd sure like to try that 18" Maelstrom sub.

The North Creek Exodus line seems to be a good choice, as well. I've heard very good things about the silk dome tweeter used in that series. Never had the urge/timing to get ahold of them.

If this is your first speaker build, a kit is definitely a good choice. Building and sizing cabs, choosing drivers, and trying to design networks can be insurmountable to some beginners. The results can be less than spectacular, as well. Good luck with whatever route you choose, building your own is about a 10 on the self-satisfaction scale. :yes:
 
westend said:
Those Kepler mids look to be pretty good. Bl2 technology begs the question if DIY cable is hooked up with Adire, by any chance? I'd sure like to try that 18" Maelstrom sub.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Big Snip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click to expand...


Westend,

The Kepler mids are excellent, IMHO.

Dan Wiggins (formerly of Adire) holds the patent and licensing rights to XBL2, although he didn't take part in designing this driver.

Kevin Haskins of diyCable/Exodus Audio actually did the driver design and he turned to a friend to do the initial prototype of the Kepler. They decided to use a Peerless HDS tweeter and a L/R 4th order crossover in the prototype and after some lengthy tweaking /voicing the result was the Kepler.

I'm not at liberty to divulge the name of this "friend", although he is considered exceedingly handsome, very intelligent (although there is some debate on this) and an exceptionally talented boatbuilder, woodcarver, writer and Historian. He does, in short, exactly match the person depicted in the "Prophesy!"
:yes::no:

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
One other thing you may want to consider as a multi-channel first time build are single driver speakers using fullrange (more like wide range) drivers. There are a number of single driver companies out there, however I am kind of partial to Fostex since they are the only ones I have any experience with.

I started out with a pair of 4" Fostex FE103E drivers (the latest versions), then upgraded them to a highly modified pair of 4.5" FE126E's, now known as FE126eN's since they were modified by a gent named Dave, which is owner of Planet10-HiFi.

The nice thing about the Fostex drivers is they are fairly inexpensive, are good quality, sound pretty good stock after about 200+ hours of break-in, and are pretty efficient allowing decent output with minimal amplifier power. I'm running mine to over 100dB with a small 5 watt digital amp!

Just a thought.
 
I am very pleased with my Audio Nirvana 15" full range speakers that i recently built.The Audio Nirvana full range are also available in the smaller 6.5",8",10"and 12 all of which are possibilities for you.I have also built a pair of the 6.5" micro monitors and they sound very nice.
 
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