speaker kits

ok chaps has any one of you built some decent speakers ?
I have been looking at a few although not particulaly cheap they sound like they may be very capable once finished. My woodworking skills are quite reasonable although i'm no cabinate maker but are they realy worth the effort sound quality wise
i fancy these
called the thor
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/english/index_hifi.htm
or maybe


not cheap I know but any one with experience in speaker building and who knows the pitfalls i would love to hear you views
thanks

 

I've built the CT 145 [with slight mods] These are great kit speakers......

 

I've built quite a few kits in the past. The company I've had most joy with are IPL. I built 2 of their kits and was pleased with both.
I've now moved away from box speakers and gone to OB and planar speakers, they do it for me but don't suit everyone.

Kev

 

The Thor can be bought from http://www.seas.co.uk/ for less. The Euro companies quote the price for a single speaker, if you hadn't noticed that already.

I've most of the bits for one of the Alcone kits that you can see on Strassaker and have a good reputation but I need to find the time to build them.

 

hi Kev
do you mean omni directional like the shahinians ?
I demmed some once and i was quite taken aback not sure wether or not they where fantastic or just different.Certainly made me sit up and listen mind

 

no i didn't realise that the price was for 1 speaker gulp!
that makes them rather expensive

 

Count me in as another IPL kit lover. I have the S3 ribbon kit (not the latest magnesium one) and think it's wonderful.

 

Planar speakers

No for planar speakers I mean e.g. Quad ELS57 which I have heard many times and despite their limitations I still consider them excellent. Another example is the range of Magnepan magnaplanar speakers one of which I still own but is in the back room, probably sell them in the near future.

OB speakers are open baffle i.e. they have no box behind them, speakers are on a front baffle plate on a stand. They are severely limited to bass response which must be equalised to get a flat response. In my room I'm getting down to 30Hz. Benefits are an uncoloured midrange, which is common to planar speakers, with excellent dynamics. I've not heard any box speaker, IB, TL, vented or horn which can match an OB for transparency. YMMV of course

See http://www.linkwitzlab.com for more info.

Kev

 

another thumbs up for ipl's - checkout my sig for the build diary i did when i made my pair.
they aren;t for everyone but i find them very easy to live with, detailed with good bass response in my room - they do boom a bit but no where near as much as the b&w's i had before.

 

Nice to see you citing SEAS. The factory/head office is not far from where I live in Norway.

 

Has anyone tried making the IPL subwoofer kit or know what it sounds like?

 

Another thumbs up for IPL I've been happy with my S3tlm ribbons for a few years now, well until recently when one of the drivers got damaged by small fingers
I noticed IPL now sell magnesium drivers and different ribbon tweeters compared to the Legend acoustic in mine
Has anybody tried the newer ones yet? If I replace my damaged aluminium driver with a pair of the magnesiums I may as well change the tweeter too if the newer one is better

 

Sorry to hear about your damaged speaker, Leo.
I haven't heard the new magnesium kits, I guess your best bet is to ask Ivan=)...seems a shame to not use the legend tweeter still, though....unless his new one is lots better, of course ( in which case it must be bloody orgasmic) =)

 

Thanks Dick!
I am a bit gutted but never mind
The Legends do sound very good imo yet I've never seen them in other speakers or for sale anywhere else, I wonder why Ivan does not sell them anymore