So I've recently jumped head first into the world of DIY audio and I'll tell you what, I love it. It's been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in my HiFi hobby.
Now, that being said, when it comes to trying to make a piece that has the beauty of what Jim's stuff does... lets just say I have a very real and new found respect for a true craftsman. Even making a simple box with mitered corners is a lot tougher than it looks. I've watched Bob Villa and Norm Abrahms and thought "Psh, I can do that! How hard can it be?" Well it turns out, pretty dang hard! Just getting a corner with 2-3 separate pieces of wood to line up and have everything straight with no overhangs, gaps, etc can be truly maddening. It gets even worse when you're working with large pieces of wood that are required for speaker cabinets.
So anyway, congrats to Jim Salk on building truly beautiful products. If you've never tried it yourself, you really have no idea what it takes to build something of this quality.