DIY Speakers and Subwoofer Projects
DIY Speakers and Subwoofer ProjectsDo-It-Yourself (DIY) Speaker and Subwoofer Projects and kits. For those who are new to Loudspeaker and Subwoofer building, take a look at our reccomended DIY Audio and Speaker Building Books. Near the bottom of this page are speaker projects which never made it off the drawing board and older speaker projects that use drivers which are discontinued. Questions and discussion about speaker building are always welcome in the DIY Speakers and Subwoofer forum.
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DIY Speakers and Subwoofer Projects
The speaker projects are listed chronologically. For other types of DIY projects, use the navigation menu on the left side of the page.
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Ion - DIY 2-Way TMM Tower Speaker Project - 5 September 2011  NEW!
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. |
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DIY HiVi Research Swans M1 Speakers - 16 April 2010  - [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. |
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Tang Band D4-1 DIY Back Horn Speaker Kit - 10 March 2010 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. |
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DIY Seas Speakers in a Granite Speaker Box - 8 January 2009 
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. |
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Jordan JX92S DIY Bass Reflex Tower Speakers - 13 October 2008
Gary has put together a fantastic looking pair of Tower Loudspeakers. The loudspeakers are based around the very well regarded Jordan JX92S Fullrange drivers. The enclosure is a simple ported bass reflex type with a volume of about 1.3 cubic feet. The speaker box is constructed out of Baltic birch plywood and finished with maple and walnut veneer and tung oil. Gary reports that the Jordan JX92S can deliver a lot of bass which is uncommon for fullrange drivers of this size. The speakers sound great, open, tight, fast and image like crazy. They can also handle all types of music without any signs of strain. |
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DIY Swans Tempus Bookshelf Speakers - 25 September 2008 - [External Link]
Daniel Bolduc has put together two sets of Swans Tempus Bookshelf Speakers following the HiVi Research Swans Tempus Kit instructions. The bookshelf speaker uses a HiVi Research F6 Mid-woofer and a HiVi Research TN28 silk dome tweeter in an open-air housing. 1" thick laminated maple is used for the enclosure and finished with four coats of transparent spray lacquer. Daniel reports that the speakers are sounding great - "Bass frequencies are deep and clean while the highs are well balanced." |
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Parts-Express.com - Project Showcase Index Check out the Parts-Express.com - Project Showcase Index for a wide range of DIY Loudspeaker projects. The showcase 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. |
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DIY HiVi SP10 Subwoofer Project - 25 August 2008
Adam has put together a nice looking active diy subwoofer to match and compliment his diy home theater tower and center speakers. This subwoofer project uses the 10-inch HiVi SP10 subwoofer driver in a bass reflex enclosure. The HiVi SP10 subwoofer is one of the most massive 10" subwoofers available today and weighs over 28 lbs. A 500W plate amplifier from O-Audio delivers power to the subwoofer. The enclosure is constructed using MDF and the finish is a black oil based epoxy paint and red oak trim. Adam reports that the subwoofer delivers smooth, tight and accurate bass. |
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HiVi Center Channel Speaker - 25 August 2008
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. |
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Fostex FX120 ML-TQWT Speaker Project - 5 May 2008 
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! |
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Fostex FX120 Bass Reflex Bookshelf Speakers - 25 February 2008
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 nearfeild monitor. |
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DIY Zigmahornets Speakers with Fostex FE103E Driver - 7 November 2007
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. |
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DIY Hi-Vi 3-Way Tower Speaker Project - 10 September 2007
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. |
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Tobler-ONE: Jordan JX92S ML-TL DIY Speakers - 9 May 2007 
Francesco has put together an elegant Mass Loaded Transmission Line (MLTL) loudspeaker enclosure for the Jordan JX92S fullrange driver. The enclosure cross-section is trapezoidal and thus it lends itself well to corner placement. The narrow baffle and corner placement result in a high WAF, while not sacrificing the low frequency response. To match the room decor, the enclosure is constructed from beech plywood. The result is an aesthetically pleasing loudspeaker with great sonic qualities. |
DIY Loudspeaker Projects with Discontinued Drivers
The following DIY Speaker Projects use drivers that are now discontinued:
- DIY Fostex FE167E Bass Reflex Speakers - 19 October 2008 - [External Link]
- DIY Fostex FE127E Bass Reflex Bookshelf Speakers - 29 February 2008
- K-502 Tube Amplifier Kit and The DelSol Speaker - 5 April 2007
- DelSol - DIY Bookshelf Speaker Project with Aura NS3-194-8E Fullrange Driver - 5 January 2007
- DIY Fostex FE127E Sealed Bipole Speaker Project - 13 November 2006
- DIY 10" Ported Subwoofer Project - 1 November 2006
- DIY Fostex FE127E Sealed Bipole Speaker Project - 19 June 2006
- BD-Pipes - DIY Tower Loudspeakers with Radio Shack 40-1197 Fullrange Speaker - 4 February 2006
DIY Loudspeaker Designs on Paper
The following DIY Speaker Enclosure Designs have yet to make it off the drawing board:
- Lyeco LY401F Double Bass Reflex Enclosure - 27 March 2007
- Lyeco LY802F Aperiodic Tower - 17 December 2006
- Lyeco LY802F Sealed Tower - 11 December 2006