DIY Passive Monitor Kits; Recommendations

I like both Madisound
www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/welcome.php

& Gr research
gr-research.com/

You could probably find something at parts express too, but the above both seem to get good reviews on home audio forums. Good luck with the build

troels is good stuff, these are the proAc knock offs i'm building.... paper n pulp 8)
www.troelsgravesen.dk/Studio101.htm

You did not specify how much you'd like to spend... That really would define what you can get. Also, the 3 way might be an attractive idea if you'd like to use a dome midrange. The 2" might be sweet. Or you could go with a 3" midbass and cross at some 200Hz on the bottom and some 4KHz on top and bring the crossover points out of the most sensitive ear ranges. You could not do that with a 2" dome.

The problem is with 3 way you will probably get quite a large volume, which would not work the best for near/mid field you specify.

If you interested in Amphion one 15 then you probably like Aluminum sound--nice, crisp, and clear. Look at Zaph's design:

zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker17.html

Uses the same (as it appears) Seas L18 as Amphion and probably similar tweeter (Amphion just has a wave guide). Excellent, well documented design, which will perform very well. For 1/8th of Amphion price those would be just as good.

Of course, you could get into Seas magnesium Excel drivers and fancy tweeters, but then expect pay premium. You could also try to spot a pair of NHT XLS series monitors which used magnesium Seas W15's and be done with shopping for monitors for quite awhile. I have a pair with Zaph crossovers (originals were going with DSP amplification). Those are truly magnificent little wonders, which can be found for quite cheap (you will need to be patient--I spent over a year looking for those). I paid for mine $500--the price they were put on close out sale when the company went out of business--not bad price at all for something which is truly some of the very finest monitors ever made.

Best, M  

What are you looking for exactly, a kit where you buy the parts and assemble? Or are you looking for a good speaker at a cheap price but you're willing to do some work?

My monitors probably cost me around 600$ to make, but I made my own boxes and wired my own crossover, without any kind of PCBs or anything, but building a solid box is no easy feat.

Bang for the buck Zaph SR71 kit !
Solen has a nice Volt kit, very similar to Quested h108s but with a much more expensive tweeter.

The bad news is I haven't seen the Madisound box stocked in a while!
The Crossover upgrades are worth the $ but ask Chris Savart about his project !

Hey,

I took one of my paradigm 5se's apart and measured everything.  Essentially I have two rock solid older enclosures pre cut for front mount 7 and 3 inch drivers with a 2x3 front port.

I have emailed madisound and solen and asked for recommendations for SEAs drivers and a crossover.

I'll keep you posted but essentially it looks like for maybe half the price or less of the new amphion I could buy top of the line drivers  and roll my own.

I would honestly love some amphions but landed in Canada they are like 3 grand cdn.

I am very pleased with Jim's work on my amp but shipping to CA and back cost more than his mods  Not his fault, I just mean as usual gear can chew through money quick so I appreciate people suggesting the roll your own option on the monitors by getting some really good drivers and cross overs.

I must be more old school than I care to admit, as part of me was never happy with my fancy pants adams but as soon as I plugged in the adcam  into my old paradigms I really liked the sound.

More later !

No, I went with a port rather than passive radiator.  I don't like some of the problems designers have with passive radiators.

The recess of the tweeter isn't for time alignment alone, it's for the waveguide, which helps evenly disperse the tweeter emissions so there is less beaming.

You can calculate the time offset into the crossover values when you design it.  I don't believe recessing the tweeter is a necessary thing.  It's all based on what you want from the design. 

Tweeter material is the same as any other material, each one has pros and cons.  Harder materials like aluminum or beryllium have less flex, and less distortion, but can have strange breakups and could require higher order crossovers.  Soft materials like silk can have some flex with more distortion but a more pleasing harmonic profile and a much smoother frequency response, and a much simpler crossover.  

There's also paper, plastics, fabrics, diamond, ceramic diaphragms, etc...  Each one gets chosen for some reason..

These speakers:

www.ebay.com/itm/NHT-Now-Hear-This-XdS-2-Way-Satellite-Accoustic-Suspension-Speaker-Ex-Cond-LNIB-/181853271007?hash=item2a574cb3df:g:sOkAAOSw0JpV5OQO

with these crossovers:

zaphaudio.com/XDS.html

Will make you the best monitors money can buy.

Best, M

Nope, wasn't looking for a radiator.  I was speaking against them.  I'm firmly pro-port!

 Yes, this is correct. Originally they were designed to work with very expensive xdA DSP amplifier. Those speakers use very expensive Seas Excel drivers. The design was so good that Zaph made a crossover for them. 

Best, M

I saw this... zaphaudio.com/XDS-crossover.gif

...but have no idea what it means. Haha.