Low cost speakers

Yes I had this drivers in a Betsy baffle. But for OB, please make sure you have enough space to accommodate it. Otherwise won't get the desired results.

@yogibear yes, further upgrade is needed for better low end, but they all gone!! My brother took over the drivers :D
 
@Hiten who could be of immense help on ideas how to execute it for minimal expenses. His builds are incredible vfm.
I have not built any good VFM or other speaker yet. for amps i could recommend chip amps or chinese class D amps. .

Speakers are different. All your diy efforts end in speakers performance. There are some cheap drivers on diyaudiocart. one will have to see drivers and search for any free diy build documented on web. some ND series tweeters are good vfm.
expectations should be kept low for cheap speakers. building box and buying drivers, designing crossovers is expensive. better to get wideband speakers of known parameters and build simple box. for box volumes and designing HFV members or diyaudio members will help. Least expensive I found are ready bookshelfs at doogesound.com. online prices are little more. No affiliation to the seller or anyone. listen and buy at your own risk. There are sound samples of doogesound on youtube. Yout tube is not recommended to judge SQ just to see they are working :p

regards.
 
The one brand that pops up in my mind is Dayton audio, moderately priced and we'll documented specs
 
Hi, I am just entering into this hobby. Can someone suggest a good active speaker for general music listening (Pop, soft rock, Bollywood music etc.) I have approx 220-250 sq ft area to fill but very limited space. I am planning to feed it through a raspberry pi streamer. Budget - max. 20-22K. Currently, I am looking at Sonodyne Alap & Bandish and even echo studio. Please help.
 
I have been using one from last 1.5 years and I am very happy with that
I am using Obage HT-303 and it's sound nice and neutral to my ears. I can't compare it to any high end device as I haven't used any. I have Onkyo HTIB and a Sony Midi system. Obage sounds way better than Sony midi system.

I've just ordered the HT-303 on amazon.
 
Another much ignored source for dirt cheap but good quality speaker drivers is the friendly neighbourhood car accessory shop. The young crowd these days keep changing/upgrading their ICE systems quite often and I have noticed that the older speakers are discarded or in most cases the accessory shop takes them giving a small discount on the bill. They often sell these off at low prices in the pre-used market. I have enquired and bought some speakers and stuff from these shops in the past. Some of these drivers (especially JBL, Pioneer, etc) are actually quite good and can be picked up for a few 100s. I have found the original 6 inch round frame twin cone full range drivers from Kenwood to be excellent and as good as Philips drivers in the same size bracket (standard fitting in Maruti Esteem, Baleno, etc from the early 2000s). Cabs for these can be easily procured from your friendly neighbourhood electronics street.

And then, there is the lowest cost option if you buy drivers from your friendly neighbourhood electronics street and have them mounted in cabs that can be procured from the same place. These days these low cost drivers are of better quality when compared to the old times and brands like bolton are back.

Here is an example of a 5 inch driver which i bought about a year ago for a TV repair project. Cost me about 150 bucks I think.

Speaker1.jpegSpeaker2.jpeg
 
Another much ignored source for dirt cheap but good quality speaker drivers is the friendly neighbourhood car accessory shop. The young crowd these days keep changing/upgrading their ICE systems quite often and I have noticed that the older speakers are discarded or in most cases the accessory shop takes them giving a small discount on the bill. They often sell these off at low prices in the pre-used market. I have enquired and bought some speakers and stuff from these shops in the past. Some of these drivers (especially JBL, Pioneer, etc) are actually quite good and can be picked up for a few 100s. I have found the original 6 inch round frame twin cone full range drivers from Kenwood to be excellent and as good as Philips drivers in the same size bracket (standard fitting in Maruti Esteem, Baleno, etc from the early 2000s). Cabs for these can be easily procured from your friendly neighbourhood electronics street.

And then, there is the lowest cost option if you buy drivers from your friendly neighbourhood electronics street and have them mounted in cabs that can be procured from the same place. These days these low cost drivers are of better quality when compared to the old times and brands like bolton are back.

Here is an example of a 5 inch driver which i bought about a year ago for a TV repair project. Cost me about 150 bucks I think.

View attachment 74720View attachment 74721
Those drivers look good. Are you still using them?

MaSh
 
True. I built a 5.1 out of micca OoO’s from Amazon. Paired with a marantz 5.2 AVR and Polk sub. Discreet and does the job
 
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Here is an example of a 5 inch driver which i bought about a year ago for a TV repair project. Cost me about 150 bucks I think.

View attachment 74720View attachment 74721
I remember Bolton from my college days. I built a cassette player amplifier from scratch and Bolton was the top end choice for me for speaker 😁. I couldn't afford it back then and went with Sweton to save ₹50 or so for a pair of 8" drivers.
 
Hi Reubensm,

If your brother restores CRT TVs, Can he restore one of mine? Panasonic TX-29P150X, 100 Hertz Progressive TV? I know I am taking the thread away. Sorry. But maybe PM me? thanks.
 
Hi Reubensm,

If your brother restores CRT TVs, Can he restore one of mine? Panasonic TX-29P150X, 100 Hertz Progressive TV? I know I am taking the thread away. Sorry. But maybe PM me? thanks.
Sorry for the non-thread related reply, I will PM you his contact info so please check with him. Success with CRT TV repair depends heavily on the 3 key aspects - (1) the picture tube should be working, getting a replacement is only possible if pulled from discarded sets, (2) the set has not been through the hands of Jugaad mechs (if the original PCB is danaged, the only option would be to replace the original PCB with a China kit) and (3) there are some key components like ICs, CRT tube base, Flyback transformer for which original spares may or may not be available.
 
I remember Bolton from my college days. I built a cassette player amplifier from scratch and Bolton was the top end choice for me for speaker 😁. I couldn't afford it back then and went with Sweton to save ₹50 or so for a pair of 8" drivers.
Yes same experience and journey here with a DIY stereo amp and cassette player, Bolton was the common choice for us enthusiasts on limited early 1980s pocket money. If one had the funds, one usually bought Philips drivers (that were available from pricey Philips spare parts and service outlets). For those who could not afford Bolton, there were various 'Delhi-made brands' that served the purpose, one such brand has HRC. I actually used their white paper cone 4-inch tweeters and 2-way cross over network board in my DIY speakers through school and early college. Listened to 100s of hours of 80s music on them. I still remember each tweeter costed Rs.15/- and the cross over boards costed Rs. 20/- each. Affordable for a student with Rs.5/- down to Rs.2/- (depending on whether it was the beginning or end of the month) per day as pocket money :). Great memories!
 
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Please share your hearing experience.
The speakers arrived and hooked up. There's a moderate hum on sub and hiss on sats which I guess is normal and gets subdued to a soft hum by fiddling with the 3.5mm plug at the pc end. This is primarily a bass-boosted speaker system and was overwhelming initially hence had to dial down the bass to make it listenable.
 
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