In a budget of 10 to 15k for drivers alone, what's the best sounding stereo speakers we can build ???

Naveenbnc

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Hi guys... For around 15k, we can buy Boston acoustics A26 or Taga Platinum One. For around 12k we can buy Taga S90SL.

BA26 are bass heavy, while Taga Platinum has excellent clarity and resolution @ that price.

Any way... In a similar budget of 10 to 15k (for drivers and crossovers alone ) what is the best sounding stereo speakers we can build ???

Can you help me choose drivers and tweeters please?

I'm open to all options .... A single FR per channel ....or a tweeter + Bass driver ....or a FR+ Bass driver.... Any combination is fine.

IL spend extra money for wood and labour.

But for drivers and crossovers, I have to limit under 10k or 15k max. Because some good products are already available in market.
We have to build something better in that budget.
Availability of drivers is a huge problem.
Any suggestions will be a great help.!!!

Thanks in advance
Naveen
 
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Just to add...I understand The word "best sounding speakers" is subjective.

Lets say I want to build something that gives good vocals, good highs and good bass.

Now...don't tell me good bass, vocals, and treble are also subjective :D:D:D:p:p
 
As you are into DIY, I would suggest Tymphany TC9FD18. Very famous and affordable FR driver. Pair should costs you around 4K.

Build F.A.S.T with supporting 8" woofers and you will be surprised by the sound. Plenty of designs available in Internet for this FR driver.
 
If good sound is the goal, you could try building a Nola Brio Trio bookshelf or Linkwitz LXMini clone. Both will need good amount of measurement, dsp crossover and patience.
All great sounding designs have one thing in common and that is narrow directivity to 1khz or lower. What this means is that either
a) Use a big driver to control directivity from highs to lower than 1khz, this is one reason why many good designs use 12" fullranges or something like that.
b) Use a smaller driver and achieve narrow directivity by wave cancellation like dipole and cardioids etc

The above ones I mentioned are cardioids and they can be placed very close to the front wall. In such designs other things are less important since the improvement bring are miniscule in comparison to the improvements brought by directivity.

Different drivers (but good ones) can be used than the ones used in the above designs but note, its a fairly complicated build.
One has to start with the target SPL, bandwidth and directivity and then figure out the drivers needed to achieve that.

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/236290-uniform-directivity.html
http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2011/02/understanding-directivity-plots.html
 
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Consider Amiga by paul carmody now the components are available here
https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/diy/amiga
I am unable to focus and read this article properly...:(
the two girls at the end of the page are distracting :rolleyes: (just kidding :p:p...)

Dear kannan ... thanks a lot for the article. Im glad i came across this Amiga design. They gave almost all the details needed.
I liked the statement in the last "But gosh, for a HiFi boutique sound on a pawn shop budget, the Amiga is hard to beat."

They also mentioned Dayton RS180 woofer is not so easy to handle.
So it needs to be designed carefully. Il check where I can get these woofers and tweeter in India. Thanks again :):)
 
As you are into DIY, I would suggest Tymphany TC9FD18. Very famous and affordable FR driver. Pair should costs you around 4K.

Build F.A.S.T with supporting 8" woofers and you will be surprised by the sound. Plenty of designs available in Internet for this FR driver.

sounding very nice :):)
And most importantly .... its available locally .... and affordable !!!
you won't believe i really got fed up calling suppliers only to get an answer "unavailable" or "order in bulk"
thanks a lot for sharing .... so you are suggesting 2 way with this driver and another 8" driver.
That is doable for sure !!! I didn't understand what you ment by FAST though .....
 
just let me add a little more clarity to my requirement .....

Earlier I built FR bookshelfs with FOSTEX drivers.
They sound beautiful, but they are rated at low power (watts)
They are good in low and medium volume but cant go loud and powerful.

Then I built Ahuja 12" Full range.
The best part is .... they are high sensitive and high dB.
Any basic avr or low power amp can drive them easily and very loud.
They sound excellent for some specific kinds of music, but not suitable for Rock, fast beat, and latest bollywood, tamil, telugu kind of music.
They suffer from narrow HF dispersion. Audiophile kind of slow music and guitar sounds are simply superb. But fast beat songs lack detailing. (Yet to experiment with phase plug)

So with those two experiences, the basic requirement is as follows:
1. it would be ideal to build some speakers that can handle any kind of music reasonably well.
Particularly latest fast beat music. Basically an all rounder in a budget.
2. It would be great if they are high sensitive and high db, easily drivable.
3. Should be able to go decently loud for a 15 x 15 room.
4. Would be great if they work as fronts for movies as well (just a hope)

(i understand ... there will be comprises in some areas .... but any suggestion will help a lot !!!)
 
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If good sound is the goal, you could try building a Nola Brio Trio bookshelf or Linkwitz LXMini clone. Both will need good amount of measurement, dsp crossover and patience.
All great sounding designs have one thing in common and that is narrow directivity to 1khz or lower. What this means is that either
a) Use a big driver to control directivity from highs to lower than 1khz, this is one reason why many good designs use 12" fullranges or something like that.
b) Use a smaller driver and achieve narrow directivity by wave cancellation like dipole and cardioids etc

The above ones I mentioned are cardioids and they can be placed very close to the front wall. In such designs other things are less important since the improvement bring are miniscule in comparison to the improvements brought by directivity.

Different drivers (but good ones) can be used than the ones used in the above designs but note, its a fairly complicated build.
One has to start with the target SPL, bandwidth and directivity and then figure out the drivers needed to achieve that.

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/236290-uniform-directivity.html
http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2011/02/understanding-directivity-plots.html
I dont mind using 12" full rangers. Space is a constraint though .... so any design that can be placed somewhat near to walls is a bonus.
Thanks a lot for the links .... I will go through in details :)
 
this time ... i don't want to hurry ... I will be patient and build something simple, and sounds good.
with so much help from seniors like you ... I hope this is possible
thanks a lot !!!
 
I didn't understand what you ment by FAST though .....
FAST is "Full Range Assisted Subwoofer Technology". Technically its a 2 way but with FR + Subwoofer in an enclosure. Most of the FR are good handling 150Hz and above so having an assisting subwoofer in the same enclosure to take care of low end is called FAST. In this, subwoofer is usually crossed anywhere between 150Hz to 300Hz. @Ravindra Desai has done this already using 12" Ahuja and 12" Iwai sub and you shall look at this thread for reference. Plenty of FAST designs available in diyaudio.com too. People do say that integrating Sub with FR passively is challenging but DIY is all about facing challenges. So, do try this.
 
If your budget permits I can suggest good drivers which can beat any 5 lakhs speakers.
But my current target is to build the best i can, in a target budget.
i dont mind spending some more if they are really worth trying.
Any suggestion on drivers please ... I can use those in a different project all together.
 
FAST is "Full Range Assisted Subwoofer Technology". Technically its a 2 way but with FR + Subwoofer in an enclosure. Most of the FR are good handling 150Hz and above so having an assisting subwoofer in the same enclosure to take care of low end is called FAST. In this, subwoofer is usually crossed anywhere between 150Hz to 300Hz. @Ravindra Desai has done this already using 12" Ahuja and 12" Iwai sub and you shall look at this thread for reference. Plenty of FAST designs available in diyaudio.com too. People do say that integrating Sub with FR passively is challenging but DIY is all about facing challenges. So, do try this.
i have gone through Ravindra's thread more than 10-20 times... but couldn't map that the design is nothing but FAST.... :D:D
 
What is your maximum budget?
this is getting scary now :cool::D... I know i can get decent drivers from Beyma for around 6 to 10k
stocks are unavailable right now ....

Since you are asking .... lets say 10-15k max for each driver if i end up building an awesome speaker. Can't go beyond that.
 
If your budget permits I can suggest good drivers which can beat any 5 lakhs speakers.
give your driver suggestions please .... if not for me... any one watching this thread will be able to benefit.
I learned most of the things from others threads :D
 
I can suggest but again few will say your budget is 10-15 K and I have suggested something which is much more.
:D:D understood ... and you are right too ... !!
in this particular project i am not going to deviate in terms of budget.
I will build something under 10-15k for drivers period.

Later on... I may build something expensive too ... I can't say that now ...
Its ok if you feel this is not the right platform to share that info .... I understand ur point ... :):)
 
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