Looking for some inputs / suggestions on DIY

[hitechah]

Hi guys, i recently had the opportunity to check out the monitor audio silver - 2 and was impressed by its soundstage and midrange "celine dion - heart will go on". The problem is that these are a tad too expensive, i think i was quoted a price of around 2L for silver 2 + marantz pm 8005 amp, although this wasnt a final price im not sure what is the market rate for this as i just went in for a preliminary view.

I have decided to build DIY speakers, so i have found the dealer for importing drivers and parts - theaudiocraft and found someone who makes speaker cabinets etc as well.

my budget is close to 1 Lakh, including the cost of the amp. max 1,25,000. i am a noob at this whole audio, so im going by what sounds good to me i.e. monitor audio silver 2 is the benchmark.

i went online did a bit of research and found that there are quite a lot of brands which offer raw drivers. i have not finalized a design but i am planning on building a MTM configuration? its called i think.. so thats 2 x 6.5" drivers with a tweeter or maybe 8"

can you guys give me suggestions as to what i should be looking at, i have these brands in mind :
-sb acoustics
-scanspeak
-seas
-lowther
-tamphany
-zaph audio

from what i know most speakers are manufactured in taiwan / china, since budget is not a big constraint i think 1L is a plentiful budget for DIY, im inclined towards getting european speaker drivers.

it would be great if you guys could provide a bit of an insight.

thanks

 

[GeorgeO]

Ive built speakers in MT and MTM using Scanspeaks and Focals, both European high end drivers. Midwoofers sourced from the US are not cheap-a set of four will cost you $600-700 and good tweeters will be $300-350. What about shipping and customs. Crossover components are extra, and enclosures will also cost a bit. So do some research on the components, you may find that a top notch MTM might end up costing more than your budget.

Some sites of interest are:

Madisound, Zalytron -look at their kits.
I built a SS MTM from Bamberg audio and documented my build on this forum, you may want to search for it and read up a bit about how I went about it.

 

[hitechah]

Ive built speakers in MT and MTM using Scanspeaks and Focals, both European high end drivers. Midwoofers sourced from the US are not cheap-a set of four will cost you $600-700 and good tweeters will be $300-350. What about shipping and customs. Crossover components are extra, and enclosures will also cost a bit. So do some research on the components, you may find that a top notch MTM might end up costing more than your budget.

Some sites of interest are:

Madisound, Zalytron -look at their kits.
I built a SS MTM from Bamberg audio and documented my build on this forum, you may want to search for it and read up a bit about how I went about it.

Thanks for your reply. I actually have someone who imports these in bulk or can get them imported so customs is not a big issue, I would get a 1-1 cost from USA ex if they cost 500per pair in USA then I pay 500x exchange rate here. That taken care of, I think a mtm with scanspeak drivers should be possible. I will stick with a reputed design from zaph. Hoping to use some nice parts for the crossover. Let's see how it works out going to talk to the guy today will update here what range of prices of different products he can offer.

I don't know why but I think better full range drivers + tweeters in a bookshelf monitor would be a better trade off than a mtm because of the crossover involved, since I don't have a lot of expertise in designing crossovers and a decent crossover will cost quite a decent bit of money I may even go for a floor standing monitor. Whichever way it goes will update you guys.

 

[keith_correa]

If you are going to build any of Zaph's designs then the crossover is already designed by him so your concern of designing a xover is baseless. And before building Zaph's designs, read the writeup carefully. His builds are often designed to be placed a particular distance from walls - it'll be mentioned in the writeup.

You've got a budget of a lakh but you're worried about the cost of inductors, capacitors and resistors in a crossover? Amazing!

A decent crossover will cost money for the components, period, but "decent" money? What is your definition of "decent"?

if they cost 500per pair in USA then I pay 500x exchange rate here.

You may need to rephrase that.

 

[hitechah]

If you are going to build any of Zaph's designs then the crossover is already designed by him so your concern of designing a xover is baseless. And before building Zaph's designs, read the writeup carefully. His builds are often designed to be placed a particular distance from walls - it'll be mentioned in the writeup.

You've got a budget of a lakh but you're worried about the cost of inductors, capacitors and resistors in a crossover? Amazing!

A decent crossover will cost money for the components, period, but "decent" money? What is your definition of "decent"?


You may need to rephrase that.

Haha yes I am a bit worried because seas drivers are not cheap here, so if I have a lakh to spend approximately 15,000 goes in making the cabinets a decent crossover would cost close to 15k for pair ? Which means I have 70k to play around with for drivers. Planning on looking at seas drivers.

What I mean by that was that I won't have to pay cartage and customs.

 

[doors666]

keep in mind that an mtm will usually result in 4 ohms speakers.

 

[Naturelover]

Corrson (better known as Acoustic Portrait) have just announced that they will be offering a Scanspeak MTM floorstander very soon.
This model has been recently bought by another FM, aurobindosaha who has lovingly documented his journey.
http://www.hifivision.com/speakers/64154-love-story.html

I would strongly suggest you check these out. Acoustic Portrait has a beautiful sound. There are several on the forum, me included, who own their products.
Acoustic Portrait is an Indian brand based in Bangalore.
They have a matching amp as well.

 

[hitechah]

thank you guys, but today was a pretty disappointing day. met with the part supplier had a long discussion on DIY projects, and im of the opinion that im not going into DIY anymore, instead i am setting aside 75-90k for integrated amp + speaker combo, most probably a bookshelf monitor with 8" driver or floorstand speaker.

so why i dont want to do DIY is because i dont know what the end result speaker is going to sound, and sound is very important for me. im probably a bit fixed in my head about what is good sound, so i know what exactly i am looking for.

can any of you follow members help me out with these ?

1. where can i find a multibrand setup like yamaha + marantz etc with dali etc. in delhi, which has a nice place to hear them out completely.

brands i am looking for
a. dali
b. wharferdale
c. monitor audio
d. any other brand you might want to suggest.


what i am looking for :

a. crisp and clear high and mid, 2khz-16khz the mid should be extremely clear,
b. nice bass reponse so that it can be felt but doesnt muddle or subdue the other spectrum

would love to hear your feedback!

 

[krell]

Speakers are most significant part in chain. if i were u, i will put my maximum savings to buy speakers.amp upgrade comes to later.

 

[hitechah]

Speakers are most significant part in chain. if i were u, i will put my maximum savings to buy speakers.amp upgrade comes to later.

because i am new to this, i dont want to spend more than this for a one time set-up atleast for 5-10 years, so there is no question of an amp upgrade later. I will probably go for a full new hi-end system 10 years down the line.

its a little difficult justifying the costs of high-end audio with hard earned tax paid money.

 

[regeHA]

Look at KEF. Good speakers and good value for the money. They aren't exorbitantly priced in India compared to US prices. Marantz and Yamaha go well with them.

MA is good, I've the popular RX8 series and they are excellent value for what they cost.

Sonodyne is good among Indian brands.

You can also consider someone into DIY making a pair of speakers for you. We've a few on this forum, do check with them too.

 

[hitechah]

If you don't mind can you tell me what price you bought the rx8 for ? After reviewing Dali today zensor 3,5,7 and epicon 2. I am thoroughly convinced that tower is the way to go, but somehow the ma silver 2 keeps coming in my mind I cannot find something equally matched to that. So I'm thinking of giving another look at the whole ma range again but price is a concern I cannot spend more than 75k for the speaker under any circumstances, my conscience doesn't allow and since I am new to this I have a lot to learn. The other problem is that I'm not sure whether I will get a decent discount on ma in Delhi. The other problem I am already facing is how do I get the dac in my amp to be the workhorse. The only possible way I am looking at this is via using my Mac or running it through airport express toslink but even that is apparently limited to 96khz. i don't want to spend extra for a dac, since a decent dac will be pretty expensive, id rather buy a higher end amp with integrated dac.