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DIY Speakers and Subwoofer Projects

DIY Speakers and Subwoofer Projects

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Speaker and Subwoofer Projects and kits. For those who are new to Loudspeaker and Subwoofer building, take a look at our recommended Hi-Fi Audio Drivers. Near the bottom of this page are the older speaker projects that use drivers which are dnow iscontinued. For speaker transducers see our page on DIY Audio and Speaker Building Books Questions and discussion about speaker building are always welcome in the DIY Speakers and Subwoofer forum.

Last update: 1 September 2014

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DIY Speakers and Subwoofer Projects

The speaker projects are listed chronologically. For more DIY projects, use the navigation menu on the left side of the page.

Fostex FE206En in Back-Loaded Horn Speaker Cabinets Fostex FE206En in Back-Loaded Horn Speaker Cabinets - 1 September 2014  Australian Flag    NEW! 

Once again Mark tries on the Fostex FE206En high sensitivity fullrange driver, but this time the end result is a large elaborate back-loaded horn loudspeaker. The speaker cabinet plans are from the FE206En driver datasheet. The horn loudspeaker cabinets are made from 21 mm thick pine plywood and use a single FE206En fullrange driver and no crossover. Australian beeswax is used on the outside of the horn cabinet and heavy cedar oil was applied to the mouth of the horn. The sensitivity of the FE206En driver is greater than 96 dB / 1W / 1m, so the rear-loaded horn speakers are very well suited for use with very low power tube amplifiers. Mark reports that the horn speakers can draw an extremely accurate soundstage, sound excellent and have lead to a whole new listening experience with Paris, a 2.5W 6EM7 SET amplifier.

Cobies - Cheap Open Baffle Speakers Cobies - Cheap Open Baffle Speakers - 11 July 2013  USA Flag
Bruce shares his Cobies - Cheap Open Baffle Speakers. This open baffle speaker project is simple to build and uses low cost speaker components. A pair of these open baffle speakers can be built for $150US. The project was inspired by the "Big Air" open baffle system by Jim Strasser. The crossover point is 3600 Hz and the speaker system sensitivity is 93 dB / 1 W / 1 m. Bruce indicates that the speakers have an excellent overall sound but cautions that open baffle speakers systems are "bi-polar" and not for everyone.

Fostex FE103En DIY Bass Reflex Bookshelf Speakers / Nearfield Monitors Fostex FE103En Bass Reflex Bookshelf / Nearfield Monitor Speakers - 14 Apr 2013  Canadian Flag
Gio has put together a small bookshelf / monitor speaker project using a single inexpensive fullrange speaker driver. The enclosure is a 6.9 L bass reflex cabinet tuned to about 95 Hz that follows the speaker box plans included with the driver datasheet. The loudspeakers use a single Fostex FE103En fullrange driver with no crossover circuit. The speakers work well as nearfield monitors and combined with a subwoofer the speakers can be used for home theater duties.

Fostex FE206En Double Bass-Reflex Speakers Fostex FE206En Double Bass-Reflex Speaker Project - 17 September 2012  Australian Flag

Mark has put together his second set of the Fostex FE206En double bass-reflex speakers. The speaker box plans are from the datasheet that was supplied with the drivers. The loudspeakers use a single Fostex FE206En fullrange driver and no crossover. The sensitivity of the drivers is about 96 dB / 1W / 1m, so the double bass-reflex speakers are well suited for use with flea and low power tube amps. The two chamber box design extracts good bottom end from these low displacement drivers. The speakers will be used in a home theater so for a non-reflective finish the speaker enclosures are painted with a undercoating paint for a stipple like finish and flat black paint. Mark reports that the speakers are an excellent mate for use with his 2.5W 6EM7 SET amp.

Ion - DIY 2-Way TMM Tower Speaker Project Ion - DIY 2-Way TMM Tower Speaker Project - 5 September 2011  USA Flag

The latest DIY speaker project by Adam is a great looking pair of ported tower loudspeakers call Ion. The Ion tower speakers are a 2-way design that uses a Tang Band 25-1372SC titanium dome tweeter and a pair of 6" Audax HM170CO mid-woofers in a TMM configuration. The 2-Way crossover uses a 3rd order Butterworth filter at 4 kHz with an impedance correction circuit. The nominal impedance of the speakers is noted at 4 ohms and the frequency range is about 60 Hz to 20 kHz. The enclosure is made of MDF and solid oak and each tower weighs about 60 lbs. Adam reports that the Ion speaker build is his favorite so far - "The Audax HM170CO woofers produce very warm natural tones up through the upper midrange. With the TangBand 25-1372SC tweeter the highs are crystal clear, detailed but far from harsh." The cost of the Ion speakers will be about $900 US and no doubt will also require plenty of hours in the shop as this is a challenging enclosure to build.

DIY HiVi Research Swans M1 Speakers DIY HiVi Research Swans M1 Speakers - 16 April 2010  Canadian Flag - [External Link]

A DIY version of the HiVi Research Swans M1 bookshelf speakers put together by Daniel. The speaker enclosure uses a pair of ready made curved Dayton Audio 0.38 ft^3 with a black piano gloss finish. The HiVi Research drivers used are the F5 (5" bass / midrange) and the RT1C planer tweeter. The crossover used is from the Swans M1 but Daniel used hound wound inductors. The cost of the speakers was about $550CDN and an estimated 55 hours.

Speaker Projects Gallery - Parts-Express.com - [External Link]

Check out the Parts-Express.com Speaker Projects Gallery for a wide range of DIY Loudspeaker projects. The Speaker Projects Gallery features over 50 DIY speaker projects that have been built by other DIY audio enthusiasts. Each speaker project includes complete drawings to illustrate construction of the speaker enclosure, crossover schematics, a full parts list and photographs of the finished speaker project.

Shown in the photo to the left is the TriTrix MTM TL DIY speaker project. For those who are not great with woodworking, the TriTrix is available as complete kit.

Tang Band D4-1 DIY Back Horn Speaker Kit Tang Band D4-1 DIY Back Horn Speaker Kit - 10 March 2010  Canadian Flag    KIT 

The D4-1 DIY Back Horn Speaker Kit put together by Tang Band is very simple to build, sleek looking and sounds great. The DIY speaker kit comes complete with all the parts and tools required (except for a soldering iron) to build a great looking, little rear loaded single driver horn speaker system. There is no cutting or finishing (painting / staining) required to complete the speaker kit. The small horn speaker kit goes together much like ready-to-assemble furniture. The end result is an attractive and compact horn speaker that sounds great and is fun to build.

DIY Seas Granite Speakers DIY Seas Speakers in a Granite Speaker Box - 8 January 2009  Slovakia Flag

Yes, you did read that correctly. The speaker enclosure for this project is constructed using 20 mm thick black granite! These wonderful looking bookshelf sized speakers were put together by Radoslav in Slovakia. The loudspeaker enclosure is a vented 15L design that is tuned to 45 Hz through the rear firing port. Drivers from Seas are used for this project. The Seas G17REX/P woofer is mated with the Seas 27 TFFC tweeter and a second order crossover network at 2.5kHz. The measured results show a very flat frequency response with very good low end extension despite the relatively small size of the speakers. Radoslav reports that the speakers sound fantastic, playing rock music aggressively and classical music with emotion. Great work Radoslav, these are the finest looking bookshelf speakers that I have seen.


HiVi Center Channel Speaker HiVi Center Channel Speaker - 25 August 2008  USA Flag
Adam has added a DIY center channel using HiVi drivers to compliment his 3-Way Tower Speakers. The center channel speakers contain a pair of HiVi F5 mid-woofers and HiVi SD1.1-A tweeters in a bass reflex enclosure. The enclosure is MDF finished with black oil based epoxy paint and red oak trim. Adam reports that the center channel matches very well with the towers.

Fostex FX120 ML-TQWT Speakers Fostex FX120 ML-TQWT Speaker Project - 5 May 2008  German Flag

Martin from Germany has put together a great looking pair of tower loudspeakers using the Fostex FX120 fullrange driver. The enclosure is a Mass Loaded - Tapered Quarter Wavelength Tube (ML-TQWT). As you can see Martin has done a bang up job with the speaker enclosure. His design was created using the MathCAD worksheets from Martin J. King. His speaker project includes a baffle step correction circuit. Martin reports that the sound is relaxed with a detailed midrange and good highs. He also indicates that the ML-TQWT enclosure gets good low end extension from this little driver. Great work Martin!

Fostex FX120 Bass Reflex Speaker Fostex FX120 Bass Reflex Bookshelf Speakers - 25 February 2008  Canadian Flag

My latest pair of DIY speakers is another fullrange design, but this time in a bookshelf sized enclosure. The enclosure is a simple bass reflex cabinet using Fostex FX120 fullrange drivers. The great looking curved enclosures are prefabricated and from Parts Express. The FX120 is a really smooth driver and I prefer it over the FE127E. This system delivers decent bass extension in a small sized room and it also blends in well with a subwoofer. The FX120 has great sonics and midrange. This relatively small speaker also works great as nearfield monitor.

Zigmahornets with Fostex FE103E Driver DIY Zigmahornets Speakers with Fostex FE103E / FE103En Driver - 7 November 2007  Canadian Flag

Barry has completed another pair of single driver loudspeakers. This time it is a nice looking pair of Zigmahornets. While the Zigmahornets were originally designed for use with the now discontinued Fostex FE103, Barry is reporting good results using the newer Fostex FE103E Fullrange Driver. In his short article, Barry shows us just how simple it is to build yourself a great sounding set of speakers even if you don't have a table saw at your disposal. Barry reports that the sound is clear and clean with very good bass response from such a small driver.

Hi-Vi 3-Way Tower Speaker Project DIY Hi-Vi 3-Way Tower Speaker Project - 10 September 2007  USA Flag

Adam has completed a fantastic looking 3-Way Tower Speaker Project using Hi-Vi drivers. The Hi-Vi F8 Woofer is housed in a bass reflex enclosure which is separate from a sealed portion that contains a the pair of Hi-Vi F5 mid-woofers and a Hi-Vi SD1.1-A tweeter. The sound is divided using a 3-way 2nd order crossover network. The enclosure is constructed from MDF and is finished using black oil based epoxy paint and red oak trim. I really like how the black and red oak compliment the yellow Kevlar cones of the Hi-Vi drivers. Adam reports that the sound is clear and clean with great bass response.

DIY Loudspeaker Projects with Discontinued Drivers

The following DIY Speaker Projects use drivers that are now discontinued: