Why Build Your Own Loudspeakers?

Good question. I think there are different reasons for building your own loudspeakers.

Better sound-quality for less money. Obviously, you can't beat mass-market loudspeakers priced below $100. But if you desire better sound quality and can't or don't want to spend more money, building a speaker is the only way to go. And remember, for surround or home-theater you even need five or more loudspeakers. Because you invest your own labor and avoid typical retail margins, there's more money left for better drivers and crossover parts.

Consequently, you get a better sounding speaker!

Pssst...here's another little secret every speaker manufacturer doesn't want you to know: even off-the-shelf loudspeakers were assembled by hands and NOT by machines.

Freedom to customize. A commercial loudspeaker doesn't necessarily perform best in your living-room. Depending on the dimensions of your room and the cabinet size, you may have to make minor or major compromises in speaker placement that could result in not so desirable sonic perfomance. Or maybe your wife doesn't like the way they look? If you build your own loudspeakers, you have power to control all the aspects of the build-process including sound and appearance

Having fun! Ok, let's not forget that building your own loudspeakers is actually fun (for some it has even become an addictive hobby). Imagine listening to your favorite CD's from your own speakers, built by your own hands.

  

And you'll never forget the moment when you hook up your new speakers and hear them play music for the first time!

Why did I choose to build my own speakers?

My primary motivation was getting much better sound quality for my money. After more than 10 years of living with my old and rather dull-sounding speakers, I wanted something better. Countless trips to local hifi stores and dozens of listening sessions with different speaker models, also the ones that cost as much convinced me that my audiophile desires could not be completely satisfied given my budget constraints.

I was frustrated but needed to make a compromise. Finally I settled with a pair of loudspeakers in the $3.500 range from a well known manufacturer. I still believed I had gotten a good deal.

The speakers played nicely in my living-room but I was still dissatisfied. Low frequencies could be a little bit punchier, midrange less aggressive...I knew what I wanted but realized again that I would have to invest much more to achieve significant improvements.

How I became obsessed with DIY

One night I accidently stumbled across an old catalog from the 80's advertising DIY loudspeaker kits. Their claims made sense. With labor accounting for a majority of the total costs, why not invest my own time instead? And I wasn't interested in fancy brand names either. Neither was I interested in co-financing marketing or distribution expenses of a loudspeaker manufacturer. All I wanted was a great sounding speaker with high-quality drivers and a decent finish.

I decided to look for a kit because I was lacking the necessary experience and measurement tools to develop my own speakers.

Following some research, I contacted Manfred Zoller, legendary creator and inventor of several Focal speaker kits for help. With more than 25 years of experience, he was the best person to contact.

He designed a fantastic three-way loudpspeaker using ribbon-tweeters that is completely customized to my musical taste and room dimensions.

To make a long story short, I sold my commercial speakers to have cash at hand for my DIY-project.

Describing the sound of my loudspeakers

I was overwhelmed when I firstly connected those speakers to my hifi system. Resolution, imaging and bass response are among the finest I have ever heard from loudpspeakers at any price. Needless to say that I'm thrilled with the results. And I even had money left over from the sales proceeds of my old speakers.

 

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