[Kenneth Patchen]

Hello, and my apologies if this isn't the right circle for this question,

Would anyone know of. D.I.Y kit for a speaker comparable to the Italian S.A.P Trios? The design intrigues me. Description follows.
There is a pair on US AudioMart right now but I'm specifically interested in a comparable kit. Any help?

Cheers,
Kp

"The Trios are mid-sized bookshelf boxes, medium-high efficiency (92db), sporting five drivers: a horn-loaded piezoelectric supertweeter (devoted, in company's thoughts, to reproduce most of the ambience signal), a 5-cm paper tweeter, also loaded with a wooden "Tractrix" horn, two circa 13-cm full-range self-produced drivers with Alnico magnet and "Comtex" (something derived from polypropylene) membrane, and, for the lower frequencies, a passive driver placed on the rear panel. All active drivers are extremely light and fast.

They are sold in selected and matched pairs, thus warranting the highest performance possible. Where necessary, a crossover with only precious oil-and-paper capacitors is used, and it must be noted that the crossover does not work in the mid frequencies, as - according to the producer - a cleaner, more coherent and natural midrange is the result. The cabinet is made of betulla multi-layer wood, aged for at least three years, measures 26x52x32 cm. (WxHxD), and weights 8 Kg. The connectors for the cables are made of solid copper, and there's another connector placed slightly under them, which is used to ground the drivers' baskets.

The impedance is 8 ohm, and the maximum recommended input power is 50W RMS. They are hand made, and the price is lit. 7.850.000 (Euro 4.055) the pair. This particular kind of loudpeakers is, usually, the best to couple with modestly powered valve amplifiers, and the Trios, in fact, were designed to be an optimum match with the Anniversary. I'll do the listening test keeping in mind this factor, giving separate judgements depending on the loudspeakers used."

http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649089433-sap_audio_trio_italys_most_musical_speaker_mint_in_mahogany_super_rare/

http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/ele/4245899403.html

[Letitroll98]

Yes Ken, wrong circle, thanks for asking.  Lets move it over to "Enclosures" where you'll get a better response.

[simoon]

I am pretty up to date on all the various kits available out there, but I have not seen anything too similar.

The Fusion-8 from Diysoundgroup is about the closest there is in a prepackaged kit. It is designed by a very well respected speaker and crossover designer in the DIY world, named Jeff Bagby. Jeff Bagby helped Jim Salk out with several of his designs.

http://www.diysoundgroup.com/waveguide-speaker-kits/fusion8-mtm-kit.html


Your best bet would be to post on the Parts Express Tech Talk forum.

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/forumdisplay.php?2-Tech-Talk-Forum


Not only does Jeff Bagby post often, but several other highly respected DIY speaker designers post there as well. Names like: Curt Campbell and Jim Holtz of the 'Statements' and 'Finalists' fame, Paul Carmody of the 'Tarkus' and 'Overnight Sensations' fame, John Krutke of 'Zaph' Audio, the designer for GR Research (I apologize for not remembering his name), Dennis Murphy,  and others.

There are many knowledgeable people there to help out.


EDIT: I am so embarrassed  Of course Danny Richie is the the designer of GR Research!

[Kenneth Patchen]

Thanks Letitroll. And thanks Simoon. I'll look at the Fusion-8 and I'll post again on Parts Express. Very helpful suggestions. Cheers, kp.

[Danny Richie]

Okay, I'll tell you a funny story about those speakers.

Many years ago I was doing some design work for a guy that was launching a new company. It was Epiphany Audio. A year before he exhibited at CES himself, we were at CES visiting rooms so he could get a feel for what was out there. It was his first CES. So he was getting his feet wet.

So we walk into a room that was exhibiting with those speakers. There was an oriental fellow there in charge of the room that spoke very broken English. We listened very briefly. It was very non-impressive (to be nice). The oriental fellow was quite proud though and wanted to tell us something about the system but really only told us the price of the gear. As if we would be wowed by hearing such a great low price. In his broken English he simply motioned to the amps on the floor and said "Amplifiers $10,000" and then motioning to the speakers he said "Speakers $5,000." As I walked out of the room past the speaker I quickly responded "How much for those tweeters?" He just smiled and said nothing.

After we left the room my client freaking out says to me "You liked those tweeters? !!!" "No", I told him. I just wanted to see if in the same voice he'd proudly say "95 cents, because that's what you can buy that tweeter for at Parts Express" 

Revealed my client said, "Oh thank God, I thought the guy I just hired to do my design work had a tin ear". 

All day we would jokingly ask, "How much for those tweeters?" 

[Stuart]

Okay, I'll tell you a funny story about those speakers.

Many years ago I was doing some design work for a guy that was launching a new company. It was Epiphany Audio. A year before he exhibited at CES himself, we were at CES visiting rooms so he could get a feel for what was out there. It was his first CES. So he was getting his feet wet.

So we walk into a room that was exhibiting with those speakers. There was an oriental fellow there in charge of the room that spoke very broken English. We listened very briefly. It was very non-impressive (to be nice). The oriental fellow was quite proud though and wanted to tell us something about the system but really only told us the price of the gear. As if we would be wowed by hearing such a great low price. In his broken English he simply motioned to the amps on the floor and said "Amplifiers $10,000" and then motioning to the speakers he said "Speakers $5,000." As I walked out of the room past the speaker I quickly responded "How much for those tweeters?" He just smiled and said nothing.

After we left the room my client freaking out says to me "You liked those tweeters? !!!" "No", I told him. I just wanted to see if in the same voice he'd proudly say "95 cents, because that's what you can buy that teeter for at Parts Express" 

Revealed my client said, "Oh thank God, I thought the guy I just hired to do my design work had a tin ear". 

All day we would jokingly ask, "How much for those tweeters?" 

Just classic Danny,

You could actually say the same thing for a lot of ridiculously over priced speakers out there