How to Build HiFi Speakers for $1000 a pair - The Epic Speaker Build
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- čas přidán 4. 09. 2022
- #hifi #howto #epic
Ready to build a truly Epic HifI speaker? One that can play the entire range of sound and not have to take up your entire listening space? Watch me build the Epic HiFi Speaker Build. This Epic speaker gives you an F3 of around 30hz and extends all the way up to 20hz, without taking much space up at all. Take a look at exactly how to build one of these.
📝 Build Plans: toidsdiyaudio.com/product/epi...
🌍Europe and Germany, buy the parts here: bit.ly/38JPt5o
🔊Parts Used:
(2) Epique 150HE-44: parts-express.sjv.io/7mNqgQ
(1) CSS LD25X: parts-express.sjv.io/MXLzeo
(2) Passive Radiator: parts-express.sjv.io/QOQOLo
🧰Tools Used:
Glue: amzn.to/3tSFlDE
Drill: amzn.to/3nQHmMS
Wire Crimper: amzn.to/3nPxwdU
Glue Brush: amzn.to/3rF9K5H
Clamps: amzn.to/3CYdHtE
🔥 Where to Buy Speaker Parts and Kits:
US and Canada: parts-express.sjv.io/jW7oZb get 5% off with code TOID
UK and Abroad: bit.ly/3skOGRJ
Worldwide: Amazon: amzn.to/3aPhKYD
Car Speakers/ Home Audio and electronics: howl.me/cg5oP9UKd1Z
🏠Get Whole House Audio:
Arylic: bit.ly/2wFUUQ4
🍿Theater Seating
Valencia Theater Seating: bit.ly/3Jbagjm
📄Speaker Plans: toidsdiyaudio.com/shop
🎙️Sound Advice Podcast: anchor.fm/sound-advice8
🎧Buy Audiophile Headphones: howl.me/cg6GDjmAHzS
🆓Get it with Prime - Free for your first 30 days: amzn.to/326cZqe
FREE Audio Books for 30 days from Audible: amzn.to/3a7lBS9
👋Connect with Me:
www.toidsdiyaudio.com/forums
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Patreon: / 123toid
Disclosure: This channel is viewer-supported. When you buy through links on my site, I may earn an affiliate commission. I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. - Jak na to + styl
I just wanted to add a comment. I finished the speaker build several days ago and they are truly impressive. Great highs and amazing bass. I have CSS TD1s which I think are very good but they are not even in the same category with these speakers. After about 15 hrs. of break in they just get so much better. The best way I can think of to describe them is have you ever listened to a song and the sound is so great you cant help but smile? That's what these to to me on many songs. Great speaker build design.
ISNT THAT AMAZING !!!!
A little trick for you when you're using water borne varnishing, water it down 20% water 80% varnish & then flow it on with a piece of stockinette rag made into a pad, build up 5 coats, then flat back with 1200 paper then build up the finish until you're happy with it, I'm a french polisher with 34 year experience, I'm just being picky, great video man👍
Really good video. Cool backdrop too on the thumbnail pic! I'm glad that you're making another video where you can go into more detail for us folks that really want to see the guts of the build -- I'm really looking forward to that! I can only imagine what this mini-beast of a speaker sounds like cranked up! This was a treat for Labor Day!
It took a few months to get the final components from Parts Express but it was worth the wait. The speakers enclosures were completed during some time off between Christmas and New Years and the cross overs over a couple of evenings after work. I am very happy with the results. I chose walnut veneer over MDF with solid walnut faces and they are beautiful to look at in addition to sounding great.
I really enjoyed the step-by-step videos like these not often you find people willing to do the work themselves these days.
I love these videos, these give me many ideas and some motivation to try and build speakers
This was very therapeutic to watch. Loved it. Thx.
Great design! Solid execution. A reasonably sized speaker with LF extension. No sub needed.
Oversizing the front baffle - great advice there. Nice build. You're making me want to get back to wood working again.
Great vid bud! Relaxing and inspiring at the same time!🙂
Those totally look epic. I love that wood.
Excellent. Thank you for doing these projects. Every time I pick up one of my DIY speakers it is very apparent the quality feel compared to what I have invested. Even something as budget as Paul Carmody's Classix2, feel, sound and look high end.
I think my pinnacle high-end speaker would be a freak 15" monkey coffin 3-way, somewhere in the 89-93 db sensitivity range. It would be for those times where you just get tired of puny drivers and want something that absolutely hammers.
Loved this video . Want these speakers
Right tools for the job= nice tight corners and joints . Nice top shelf job 👍
These speakers look impressive! Thanks.
You should look into a flush trim router bit for all the overhanging panel edges.
Way faster than sanding them flush.
Also wipe the excess glue with a wet rag to cut down on cleaning after.
Looks awesome! And I agree, I like a good full range bookshelf speaker
I agree that they look great. But I don't know if I'd consider these a "Bookshelf" speaker. They are quite large. Moreso a "standmount" speaker.
Really well done and good choice of drivers
That walnut is gorgeous- good choice
Beautiful build
Killer Build!!!
beautifully-made video!!
Those are pretty badass 😎👌👌
Nick, that is a great router table. Ball screws and linear guide rails. Very very nice. I'm jealous.
Those speakers are beautiful. At some point I absolutely have to buy your plans for these and build them.
All the best to you and yours - Kevin.
Thanks Kevin. I had to upgrade. This is a CNC4NEWBIE. I'm overall very happy with it. Although, I might need to resurface the waste board 😂
@@Toid Good tools are worth crying over the price. I'm happy for you that you are making good use of your investments. Today, I'm continuing building a pair of all steel "pan and tilt" wall mount brackets for my new Emotiva B1+ side surround speakers for my budget 5.1.2 system.
Please have a great day!
Awesome job! You should really seal the MDF board before painting it tho, way easier to get a good finish on the paint. easiest way of sealing is 50/50: water/glue
Or shellac/sanding sealer
Great build and project brother
Awesome job Nick! I love those speakers! Something to consider. If you put down a sandable primer base and hand sand before you go over it with the high gloss you’ll get a much better finish. Using a automotive spray gun will get you an automotive quality finish.
I really appreciate that tip! Thank you!
👊🏼
I am an idiot brother. All primer is sandable. I just ran through the comment without thinking. You have to put a primer base down first, then the primer filler bass. That is what’s Sandable to a fine finish. Sorry Nick 👊🏽
Just use Nason 2k Primer and a spray gun. Walmart sells a nice budget spray gun for $35 made by good year. They are actual better than the Harbor Freight counterpart.
A mini spray gun would suffice.
Nice! Good looking and well done:)
Thanks!
Nice ! 👍
Really nice build. If you leave extra material for routing or sanding, make sure you center the front baffle with shims or something! Also let the glue set for a good long time. I left a vintage sewing machine base for a week. It was walnut veneer on birch or something. I might leave the walnut unfinished, it has natural oils in it. Tung oil darkens it so much.
if you brush wood glue over all of the mdf surfaces and then sand it back to a smooth surface you can then paint without the mdf sucking up a lot of paint. Those are some nice looking speakers! I'm still using a pair of Shamrock Audio SE-2's I built years ago. I'm sure they are outdated now but they sound so nice and natural. Thanks for the video!
Great build! I will totally be building these as my first DIY set so I bought your plans, but you really should include way more details as a part of the plans for some of us beginners or just general info in the plans:
-For this build, why did you swap the tweeter polarity?
-What gauge wire is running between all the speakers and the crossover? What is the minimum you recommend?
-Are there any pre-built crossovers that would work for this build (to meet the specs needed) on the market? If not, why?
-I bought the plans, but no pictures of your finished crossover on the build included? Kinda sucks.
You often need to swap the tweeter polarity, I honestly haven't done a speaker that doesn't have it expect 3 way. Because of how crossover works its usually necessary to change the phase of one of the driver.
@@wadimek116 It’s necessary because most passive crossovers are 2nd order (to keep it cost effective) but, this gives you a +/- 90 (180) degree phase shift at the crossover point between the two drivers. This would normally give quite a deep notch in the response at crossover if the drivers are wired in phase and is actually a good figure of merit for the crossover and driver response. However, because most designs fail to include a setback for the tweeter to time align it with the woofer you don’t get the maximum notch depth. If it sounds like I’m trying to keep the notch, I am. In others words, I DON’T flip the polarity of one of the drivers with a second order crossover design. I do get a notch but, because the drivers are in phase everywhere else but in the crossover region the response of the system is superior in the time domain, i.e. the impulse response is superior. Listening tests have found this to sound better than the flatter frequency response but, compromised impulse response polarity-flipped design. All too often the only thing that many care about is the frequency response but, there’s more to a crossover and a system design than just the FR.
P.S. You can avoid this dilemma and compromise by using a 4th order crossover design which gives +/- 180 (360) degrees of phase shift at the crossover. If you also do a tweeter setback or a time delay then you’ve got a design that doesn’t have to trade off frequency response for impulse response. You’ll have much better speaker design.
hey did you ever get it all working?
@@ObsfucationHey O, do you have YT channel? I'd watch.👍
@@Obsfucation best explains about crossover I have ever read.
Awesome btw
Hi, I am new to your channel. Great territorial, I built my own loudspeaker cabinets about 40 years ago, And they are transmission line one 8” inch woofer, 100w @ 8ohms Peerless, and Tweeter, Peerless. I did have a printout of the frequency response but I’ve lost it they sound amazing especially when I play something that has been played from a very very end audio system my speakers seem to come alive. Approximately 5 foot in height 18 inches deep and about a foot wide, They are a copy of something that was designed back in the late 70s . So it might be worthwhile even experiment with a transmission line type cabinet only smaller something similar to what you have just built.
I am a retired specialist joiner Cabinet maker , There is some special cutters that you can get that allow you to cut something at 45° but with a finger joint in it but you have to be very precise making your panels the right size so when you assemble your cabinet they lock together on the corners.
Good luck , I enjoy the video, look forward for new one. Phil from the moulin France.
Also, thank you for sharing the information
Looking at the frequency response there is a peak at around 160 hz, that means you can make a half cubic feet bigger enclosure to avoid that coloration in the upper bass and also roll off would move from 43 to 35 hz
I saw your build of those, "Do I need a subwoofer", build.
The ones with the amps built in the back.
I think it was Kirby that you did that with.
Joint adventure.
This design is awesome. I currently have two pair of these with the side woofer like Def Tech.
I'm gonna add an amp for the woofers. The top half is an ATM of another company that I definitely love.
Great video
Nice job
Entertaining and informative video
If I'm not mistaken, you putted two subwoofers into the same enclosure... I've noticed that the drivers have 2 coils each, and this structure is specific to a subwoofer. With passive radiator, the bass must be crazy good! 😉 Interesting choice! 👍
I was skeptical at first. $1000 for speakers you build yourself is a hard pill to swallow but now I get it. Great video! Subscribed
Store bought speakers will cost nearly 10 times as much as a properly done DIY to have equivalent performance. They might have a better look and feel, depending on how good at finishing work you are lol. But a $5000 pair of speakers at a shop is really just a $500 pair in a pretty package. DIY is really the only option that makes sense, buying any speaker new from a store is just a huge rip-off.
These would be great for a small home theater front speakers. I wonder what recommendations you have to complete these with a center and surround speakers.
I will love to try and build this.
Epic!
A work of art.
Thank you!
Very very cool
Nice, I'm thinking of building these.
Not a big fan of butt joints, I go tongue and groove cut with the dadoe head on the table saw.
Biscuits would work as well, keeps everything from sliding around in gluing.
Dowel holes punched in with the very nice CNC router you have would work as well.
I have done the solid wood baffel, painted/laminate sides as well, its a very nice look.
I would very much like to see a video on building the crossovers, as the electronic part of the deal is my weak point.
You have the best DIY audio channel out there, hands down.
Yeah, with a CNC on tap dados make it super easy to assemble. Although I can definitely understand going this route to make it more accessible to the average Joe that wants to build these
Thanks for showing the sanding that is required after cnc work. Most people think you take it off the cnc and bam its a totally finished product lol. That cnc4newbie machine looks stout. I wish they were around before I got my machine they are priced a bit more reasonably than the avid. Although I have only good things to say about my avid. no issues in 4 years.
I completely agree. Thanks for mentioning this. and I'm happy to hear you are so happy with your Avid. I've only heard great things about them.
This has lit a fire under my ass to get moving on my 7” Epique build. Super stoked to see how low you were able to tune them!
Saw these speakers in the Parts-Express contest and voted for them.
Thanks Dan! I thought you might like these 😁🤣
Really cool this video, I used to do this kind of work by hand, Yea I am 81 and in the 50's and 60's we did not have this sort of equipment, nevertheless nice work and excellent video...........
These are cool and all. And your test are great.
Would love to she you send in some of your speakers for 3 party evaluation.
Yeah I would love to see Erin test some of these DIY speakers out.
What did you use for speaker foam/filler? What is the best material to use, generally speaking?
interesting, would it be possible to change one of the Epique woofers to the 7 inch model? would it be possible bring it to a 3 way speaker?
I like the clean design, also the new style to bring the speaker into the right light. I guess there is a space in the url for the midrange speakers. I already build the Dina’s from you. Can try to compare the epic’s to the Dinas? Thanks
Holy moly! You are a true craftsman. Beautiful speaker build.
Have you been challenged to design speakers/subwoofers to provide 140db with a built in amp? I have an active dual 18” sub and was curious if you would take on the challenge?
Of course I would pay you
Build plans: toidsdiyaudio.com/product/epic-hifi-speaker-build-plans/
Technical Explanation: czcams.com/video/BGcHDx2qckk/video.html
Want to know more, all on the Forum: toidsdiyaudio.com/forums/discussion/epic-hifi-speaker-build/
I want to build something like this emulating the Philharmonic BMR towers. Using Epique woofers and radiators, BMR and some kind of Planar / Ribbon / AMT Transducers. Or should I grab the CSS to add just a little sizzle up high. Thinking of possibly going active and making a matching Rule Breaker type version for a center channel.
I really wished you had discussed something about the distortion of those woofers and the crossover point in your build video.
yup. I agree
I was thinking the same thing when I looked at the TSP's of those drivers. Also I wonder what crossover points were used. One other thing to add is the difference in efficiency from tweeter to woofers.
The thd is really low on the epique drivers out to 4k. But I'm not sure about imd and stuff like the Doppler effect
@@blakebrockhaus347 It cant be too good at higher volumes. That's why you should if possible leave the bass to the subwoofer.
@@buka9330 that's the point of this build though, is to still be able to have that low base without having a full subwoofer. If you're limited to space/ wattage, sometimes you just got to do what you got to do.
I'm certain that this build would measure (sonically) much better with the tweeter in the center.
very cool. i bet they sound great. I would love to do this but i don't have a shop or tools. Where did you get the walnut front piece? is it possible to get a pre finished cabinet anywhere?
I'd love to see this with the 7" versions and perhaps an AMT rather than a soft dome
The walnut is just beautiful, the best. I've been considering using oak stair treads which are a full 1" thick and would allow large radii to be used to minimize diffraction. I assume that the tweeter could be crossed low enough to deal with the cone breakup of the Epique mid woofers. These must be kick butt party speakers. Great project.
The tweeters can, of course some of that has to do with the fact that the woofers themselves don't have bad cone break up until very high in the frequency range. Believe it or not the Tweeter actually determined the crossover more than the woofers on this build. Which I'll go into more detail next week when I do more of a technical breakdown. Here's a great technical review on the woofer if you're interested. audioxpress.com/article/test-bench-the-e150he-44-5-5-full-range-subwoofer-from-the-dayton-audio-epique-line
@Good Goat
You can get Walnut stair treads as well if you look hard enough. ;)
@@bbfoto7248 - Thanks, I live in the Chicago burbs and there is a store, Owl Hardwoods, and they would be a good starting point.
Can also just glue multiple sheets together to get the Thickness you want. I have 1.5" thick baffles made of two 3/4" pieces which are easier to find.
Wow, thats change all my speakers proyects, its a very good bass performance por the size. i have two question, it's possible add a push pull configuration ? and how much power you need to move this speakers decently ?
Thanks for share.
If you're talking about having the woofers in the push pole configuration the answer would be no. But these speakers actually ended up not needing much power to power them. I used an smsl ao200, which is rated it at 90 Watts by two and had no issues powering them at all.
Hi Todd, You are doing great work for DIYers. I want to build 9.2.4 home theatre system. Can you please suggest DIY Kits(including cabinets) from parts express for LCR, Subs, heights and surrounds. Thanks in advance.
Great video. Nice to watch someone with talent. Have you considered GR Audio binding posts. They would save a lot of work. Why don't you solder the connecters. Why don't you use a little thicker wire.
Cool build. Thanks for sharing the info. This is something I am looking at too, but with the Purifi drivers. I might not be able to use dual active though because these things are so expensive. Probably just a 6.5" with a passive. The big thing for me would be the ability to make a crossover for it that works well.
Can you maybe do a build with 3 way with 2 compression drivers, 2 8" woofers? Like a Klipsch legend look alike but with better response.
I’m seriously considering building these, look amazing, is there no parts list for crossovers though? Or diagrams to build it, am I missing where the link is. Please help:)
I would use dado's for the internal bracing... much easier to assemble. For cleaning up the edges a spiral flush trim router bit will be significantly quicker.
How does it compare with the 212? Which would be a better pairing with a 15inch subwoofer?
Great video Nick! I was looking forward to this because I have a few ideas on building maple face enclosures myself, but I wanted to do a live edge. I might have to pick up a set of those Epique's just to play around with.
A live edge would be very nice! If you really love bass the 7" has a "baffle step" basically built-in the response. You could get even more bass out of it.
@@Toid I'll have to check that out. I have the three 15" Atomic subwoofer enclosure I built and actually have a line on some NOS atomic 6.5's and tweeters to do a full Atomic home system.
@@mullinperformanceaudio5902 wow! 😲 That is insane!
I have a crossover design that calls out a 4.68mH for an inductor, do I use a 4.5 or a 5.0 air core inductor? Or go with 4.7
Iron core?
At some point I really want to try building bookshelves with the 7" Epique woofer and the 1.25" Peerless Corundum tweeter. Not sure if the tweeter can really handle being crossed low enough for that, but it'd be fun to find out.
A third order with that Tweeter you'd be surprised at how low you can cross it over. I think that would actually be a really good pairing.
You can try wavecor 30mm Tweeter or if highend price is not a problem best option will be bliesma t34 BE dome which can be crossed lowest I've seen.
@@datdudeinred and highest price!! Question is must it be beryllium??
@@thomasschafer7268 No. be is not required but larger size domes of other material will beam like crazy if not made from be.
what is necessary is I think the bigger the xmax & ofc diaphragm size [for a tweeter] the lower you can cross it but I don't understand how bliesma managed to get such low xo aka fs with lowest mms as fs is inversely proportional to fs.
@@Toid Nick any thoughts of designing a larger bookshelf with the 7" epique? Would be very very interested for in such a plan! Maybe a DINAC v2?
Good work ! But... How did you adjust the passive radiators? And also, is the box empty? No wool or anything else inside??? Nor any information on the characteristics of the crossover... Are they written on the plans?
These speakers look great, and I learned a lot about the details of building them. Just a question: any particular reason for not placing the tweeter between the woofers, in an MTM config?
This is probably a 2.5way speaker rather than a 2 way like an MTM would be. MTM would also have vertical lobing issues
@@mitsuracer87 MTM exists exactly because it has minimal vertical lobing. Its problems are in horizontal plane. Anyway, I read in the meantime and found out why MTM is falling out of favour. Short answer: more complex, more expensive, harder to design properly.
nice work. one point, the bottom driver should be rolled off to avoid phase issues as the time arrival will be off with that driver playing up so high. i think anyway. ntl gorgeous
I have a paradigm center speaker cc490 with 2X 5 1/2 drivers. Could I just buy these epique speakers and switch them out or do I have to mess with crossovers?
How much power can these handle? If I threw 500w each speaker at either 8 or 4omhs would that be safe?
Very cool video. How good do they sound compared to other builds.
What’s your opinion on doing this build with 1 woofer and 1 passive radiator
The Dinas evolved is quite Epic of a speaker.
New Yanky work shop of speaker builds. Love it
That's a huge compliment. Thank you!
Would the Epique 5.5" and 7" be good a good combo for a tower 3-way speaker?
id love to see the measurements of this speaker on and off axis
Very nice 30hz that's deep for such small drivers
Hi, First of all thank you for a good video session. I have a living room which is roughly 23 feet x 25 feet with vaulted ceiling. I would love to built three or four way floor standing speakers. the cost is not that much of an issue but quality of sound reproduction is extremely important. I listen to philharmonic orchestra, classical and sometimes classical soft rock music. My problem is I do not have a CNC cutting machine but I can do assembling, wiring or painting. I need an absolutely hi end design that I can buy all components or schematics with all relevant information. I listen to tube amplifiers.Can you please recommend me any kit or a design. My apm delivers 30W. Thank you.
I am a home theater nut! I wonder how these would sound if you used them for all surround and front stage. I also shop PE myself and have done a few projects with speakers from them. What did you use for crossovers? I didn’t see any links to that.
Would you ever consider making the enclosures or at least cutting them for others? Obviously for a fee +shipping/materials.
Kitchen guys or cabinet makers can cut it for you mate, just draw it up properly and ask your local bloke to feed it into the CNC. It’s not much work for those guys and the materials are cheaper for them too. They can also do things like laminate the completed cabinets in your choice of finish to save having to paint them
1. Man Sieht Er ist kein Profi , trotzdem gut gemacht . 2. Ordnung und Sauberkeit am Arbeitsplatz ist das A& O .
I always see you sanding edges.. do you not have a flush trim bit? I love mine
Late to the party on this build, but what does the crossover look like? Are there any photos or video anywhere on how you built it? I bought the plans, is it literally just glued to the backside of the terminal cup? I’ve never built one before so sorry if this seems like a dumb question.
Awesome speaker build the walnut looks great thank you
Did you ever get to use the full 200RMS x2 of the Woofers ?
What kinda wood seal did you use?
The sensitivity of these woofers are pretty low
Please can you elaborate a little more on your crossover design? 😊 your Freq response looks very good.
Hello, Happy Holidays !! 1) Could you suggest another compatible tweeter for this project ?? I live in France and the CSS , which is great, is expensive too ship plus VAT !! Also, would Oak, for example be useable as a baffle ? Thanx, Bill from Northeastern France !
Question, I’m no wood worker. U use butt ends on all connection points. Is that stronger?
With dual 4ohm coils and two drivers is this a 4 ohm speaker? Is that bad for an amp rated at 8ohms?
A dual 7 inch version with a 3 inch dome mid range would be my perfect speaker right now
those 5.5 woofers look beastly