[RoadTripper]

I probably should know this but can anyone point me to manufacturers selling kits for building single driver speakers?

I have a wood working friend who wants to tackle a project and I am thinking the electronics portion would be easiest if we are talking about a no-crossover solution.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[Russell Dawkins]

The Hawthorne comes to mind, although it's not strictly a single driver it is pretty simple - only one hole per baffle.

http://www.hawthorneaudio.com/drivers.htm

[Daygloworange]

What I'd recommend is that you search DIY sites. There will be plans there I'm sure, or at least dimensions for enclosures for a particular driver. There is no kit to speak of. It's just a driver and a box.

There are plenty of full range drivers. But the thing is to find a combination that works well. There are a lot of folded horn designs using Fostex drivers, and if you go on the Open Baffle forum here at AC you see tons of stuff on the open baffle speaker experiments with the Visaton B200 driver. Some guys I believe run it full range, while others run a simple network.

A little bit of googling on the internet and you'll find tons of stuff.

Good luck!

Cheers

[Gordy]

The Audio Roundtable has a lot of speaker info as well, link to the single driver forum... http://audioroundtable.com/SingleDriverSpeakers/ 

[JLM]

I'm confused.

Is the friend an accomplished wood worker?  If he is and wants a challenge, I'd look towards rear loaded horn designs.

Is he looking for easiest possible kit?  Parts Express sells prefinished boxes with removable blank front baffles.  If you can't find the right size, just fill the extra space with damping material.

Bob Brines sells 4 single driver speakers as plans only, pre-cut MDF panels, unfinished cabinets, or fully finished.

[gary]

I've got to recommend my speakers, Bastanis Prometheus. They're quite not single-driver speakers, but you get a lot of the single-driver advantages without the compromises because they have a broadband driver that runs from 100Hz to 10kHz, a tweeter (the crossover is just a single capacitor so electrical assembly is cake) to handle the highs and two woofers in sealed enclosures for tight, clean bass. The kit is damn expensive, but well worth it IMO as these speakers are pure magic when paired with the right amp and source as evidenced by the Blue Moon award from 6Moons and lots of other great reviews.

Bastanis also has two simpler speaker kits that are less expensive and easier to build, the Dragonfly and the Hornet, although I haven't heard either of them.

Gary

[halo]

I know someone that just completed these (http://www.hammerdynamics.com/) and shortly after doing so he sold off every pair of speakers in his "closet" including a pair of Innersound Eros Mk II's and a pair of Sound lab A-3's.

He said:

"My new Hammer Dynamics speakers are a simple two way passive crossover and are 98db efficient. Bottom line, these are the best speakers I have ever had and they will run with a 2watts/channel amplifier. They are at their best with SET amps."

Good luck in your search 

Cheers!

[JLM]

Everything I've heard or read of the HammerDynamics has been either love'm or hate'm. 

The box is poorly braced.  The styrofoam noddles sometimes blow out of the port.  Reflections of the backwave off the inside of the cabinet are audible.  I heard one at an audio gathering that the owner had modded repeatedly trying to get it to sound right and it was easily the worst sounding speaker there (against 2Pi, and $20 8-inch Pioneer extended range with Piezo tweeters in homebrewed TWQTs, The Horns, etc.).  The owner had even basterized his amp trying to make a good sounding combination.

But others like them.  They have good specifications for the price.

[Kevin Haskins]

Although I've never built one, Fostex offers plans and Madisound sells the drivers/plans to build the enclosures.    Crossovers are not that hard though and I wouldn't choose a loudspeaker based upon the fact that you don't want to build the crossover.   Most of the kit suppliers offer built crossovers if you don't want to assemble them.   I know Danny Richie of GR Research does and I've put together my share of crossovers for those who lack the desire to learn the skill.    It isn't hard so I wouldn't let it dictate which designs to consider.   

[RoadTripper]

My friend is exactly that, a very good woodworker who is looking for a new challenge. He hasn't done any veneering yet and this may be his chance. I actually have Bob Brines' plans for your speaker, JLM, but I am desiring to employ not the Fostex AlNico but either the Hemp or the Visaton B200. So, I don't know if the Brines' cabinets will "work" optimally right off with different drivers.

I have been looking around at e-speaker.com and have spotted a rear loaded single driver design that looks promising. What I would really like is to try an open baffle design along the lines of the Auditorium 23 SoloVox. But I am sure that those plans are not ever going to be available.

Thanks for all the suggestions.  My friend is serious about this project. Even though I brought it up to him a year ago, he keeps coming back to it and he seems ready to give it a go. I don't know why he wants speakers and I doubt that he knows that he will end up with such good ones, since he doesn't even own a stereo at this point.

[Midnite Mick]

How would the CSS drivers (wr125,fr125) compare to these as single driver options....excluding sensitivity of course?

Mike

[Gordy]

This link to Tone Imports http://toneimports.com/auditorium23/a23Solovox.html has another link at the bottom of the page to an American Wired review of the Solovox complete with some construction pics    Perhaps your friend could deduce the approx. dimensions from there?

[audioferret]

How would the CSS drivers (wr125,fr125) compare to these as single driver options....excluding sensitivity of course?

Mike

I just built two sets of CSS speakers, The HT3 by Raw Acoustics and a FR bookshelf using the FR125 - based on a design on Planet-10 HiFi.  Both are really great speakers.  Don't let the crossover scare you.  If you screw up a speaker cabinet, you need more wood.  If you need to adjust a crossover, just re-solder.

-AF

[Russell Dawkins]

Here's an interesting open baffle kit:

http://www.supravox.fr/anglais/kits.htm

and another:

http://www.visaton.com/en/bauvorschlaege/2_wege/829/index.html

either could be a worthwhile project.

[JLM]

Seminarian,

Don't know about the Hemp, but Brine's opinion (his interpetation of the specifications) of the B200, like many "full" range drivers, is that it's really just a big mid/tweeter.  Interestingly I recently ran across, and sorry can't remember where, someone trashing the B200 in comparison to the F200A.  Don't know, I've never heard a B200, but obviously has been an A/C favorite among the open baffle fans.  I agree with Bob though, that the F200A is about the only truely full range driver available.  BTW, Tomek from Wisconsin uses F200As in open baffles and loves them in a small room.

Another extended range driver to think about is the Jordan 92S.  About $350/pair (blame it on the weak U.S. dollar) gets two 4-inch aluminum foil drivers of average efficiency that have been around long enough to be called living classics.

Last I knew Decware offers plans for some interesting speaker designs too that might challenge your friend.

[TIC]

Hey Jeff,

I was at that audio gathering with you and I agree that the Hammer Dynamics were not good. Not good at all!

Enjoy,

TIC

[TIC]

Here's a cool DIY project: (Disclaimer, I bought the pair reviewed in this article)

http://www.hempacoustics.com/Review.pdf

This 1 hour DIY project using the HempAcoustics FR8.0DIY driver displaced my long term Reference 3A MM DeCapos. I wasn't in the market for a speaker when I heard these. However, at the DIY price, they were superior to the very popular DeCapo in every way.

Here's what I would do (and am planning to do when I get my act together): Build the quicky DIY project described in the article. If you love them and want to squeeze out even more performance, build a purpose built cabinet for these fantastic drivers.

BTW, I think it cost about $600 for the drivers, factory cabinets, port tubes, etc. The high end Omegas using a similar (if not the same) driver are selling for $1800 factory direct. I'm not saying my DIY Hemps are as good as the Omegas, but I'll bet they are in the ballpark and cost 1/3 the price.

I really like these speakers.

Enjoy,

TIC

[yeldarb]

The Madisound Kit is the BK 16.  This is a frontloaded horn with a Fostex 165 and pricy supertweeter and network to keep lows out of the tweeter.  Cabinets are 11 ply baltic birch totally KD and unfinished.  I built these (need lots of clamps) and have been very happy.  I have them hooked to a Norh 9 watt per SEP amp and my DVD / TV.  I have also played DVD through my Ack! dac into system.  The speakers are very natural sounding and dynamic.  Takes a bunch of break in but it is worth it.  I am also now using a PE Dayton Titanic 10" sub with these and pretty much have full range for movies and loud rock.  I figure max of 105 db -107db, which is loud enough(ymmv).  The BK will take more power than I have.  And you can buy just cabs and use other speakers but combination may not be optimal.

Work of caution.  If you buy these, read assembly sheets carefully and pay attention (don't work tired).  Back panel is doubled and if you are a real dumbass you can glue one panel in upside down.  Carpenter's glue is stronger than you think and after 15 minutes of cure time, Madisound will sell you a new single cabinet.   

[JLM]

To really challenge our woodworking friend, someone should find the K-horn design (27 pieces, all with compound angle cuts).   

yeldarb,

Thanks for sharing your mis-adventures.  I built dedicated mass loaded transmission line woofer cabinets many moons ago from plans and only years later realized that one was an inch wider than the other.    

I heard the BK-16 years ago and felt (with my old ears) that they needed a sub more than a tweeter.  Nice little speaker.  When you get ambious you should try moving the drivers into TWQT, ala Terry Cain's Abby design (the tuned quarter wave pipe can be bent over so you don't end up with a 7 foot tall speaker).  I've them them (they use the same driver) and sound very nice for small ensemble stuff.

TIC,

Yes I remember you from the 2002 Caintuck Audio Fest.     I read the Larry Moore project too.  I reminded me of an old console design (full range driver in an open back box).