Garage amp

Ian F wrote: In reply to ProDarwin: Computer speakers with a remote sub?

Drive them with the Lepai amp? Don't most computer speakers have built-in amplifiers?

4-ohm is the desired speaker for the Lepai? Can I just use a couple of 5 1/4" car speakers?

In reply to ProDarwin:

anything above 89db sensitivity should work 'swimmingly'

~quak~

I love my pair of Overnight Sensations:
http://www.parts-express.com/overnight-sensations-mt-speaker-kit-pair--300-706

If you're looking for cheap and new and not DIY:
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-b652-6-1-2-2-way-bookshelf-speaker-pair--300-652

There were some cheaper ($100ish) Pioneer speakers that people were pretty impressed with too.

I have an old Sony shelf system (that I bought way back when I still had a paper route in middle school!) in my garage right now. When it was new, I had it in my bedroom. It's pretty beat up now (CD drawer no longer loads or ejects CD's, cassette players don't work, etc) but it has a remote and an aux input, and is LOUD. I bet you could score something similar cheap at a yard sale or thrift store. They don't take up a ton of space, and they are easy to set up.

In reply to scardeal:

Those overnight sensation kits have been out of stock for at least 6 months now. Unless they sell out the instant they get more available? I don't check daily, but every couple months I've looked and they're out of stock. I was going to build some for my back patio, but went with another, free solution. Thanks to the previous owner for some of their crap they left in the attic, I got some decent Philips bookshelf speakers.

• Lee

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

Huh. Didn't notice they were out of stock.

DIYSoundGroup and Meniscus Audio have some good kits too. I've got a Statements Monitor kit from Meniscus that hasn't been unboxed yet. The stands I'm making for them are giving me fits.

monoprice sells a 3-way 8" for ~60$ at 88db sensitivity, and its look reminds me ALOT of a budget yamaha 3-way i knew of a while ago.

seems tough to beat...

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10904&cs_id=1090407&p_id=8251&seq=1&format=2

I think the woofer for the Overnight Sensations is out of production. I have a set of speakers built from designs from the same guy that created the Overnight Sensations and I like them a lot. That said, the Pioneer BS22's I have are excellent value for money as mentioned above for $100 anywhere. If I was building specifically for the garage I might try to find some 6.5" marine coaxial speakers and put them in some kind of box that won't absorb moisture and doesn't use damping material inside like foam. I'd probably rather have BS22's and just treat them carefully though.

I checked a certain big box store (that has 'Best' in their name) and they had some nicely spec'ed Klispch KB-15 book self speakers for $199.

scardeal wrote: In reply to bigdaddylee82: Huh. Didn't notice they were out of stock. DIYSoundGroup and Meniscus Audio have some good kits too. I've got a Statements Monitor kit from Meniscus that hasn't been unboxed yet. The stands I'm making for them are giving me fits.

Learn me more about these DIY kits please! What are the advantages over an off-the-shelf speaker? Any chance the lower priced kits (if they exist) are any good? Any chance of finding a DIY quality sound-bar for a tv/theater system?

ProDarwin wrote:

scardeal wrote: In reply to bigdaddylee82: Huh. Didn't notice they were out of stock. DIYSoundGroup and Meniscus Audio have some good kits too. I've got a Statements Monitor kit from Meniscus that hasn't been unboxed yet. The stands I'm making for them are giving me fits.

Learn me more about these DIY kits please! What are the advantages over an off-the-shelf speaker? Any chance the lower priced kits (if they exist) are any good? Any chance of finding a DIY quality sound-bar for a tv/theater system?

http://www.parts-express.com/project-gallery-speaker-project-cynosure

I haven't built this, though I have heard good things. It inspired me to the point that I designed my own with different speakers, and sized to fit my entertainment center. Mine was to be a Left Center Right configuration, and borrowed someone else's crossover designs. I understand crossover design to the point of confusion. Mine never made out of Solidworks though. SWMBO is very, very, very anti speakers, that she refers to as tacky and clutter; it became a "pick your battle" moment, so I've got some tiny KLH satellites "hidden" serving as my Left, Right, and Center now. Some day I'll have in wall stuff, that she can't see, and they'll be as big and bad ass as I can fit in the studs. I kind of need to quit renting and buy a house first.

• Lee

In reply to ProDarwin:

I haven't really seen any DIY soundbars. I've seen lots of "boombox" builds which could be used as a soundbar, I guess.

With DIY kits, you usually have to build/finish the cabinet, assemble the crossover and wire up the speakers. In many cases I've seen that the kits start around ~$150 a pair. With solder, paint, wood/MDF, etc. you might wind up around $200 a pair.

DIY comes into its own around $200/pair. I build a pair of the Overnight Sensations for about $150. They would probably beat a $300 pair of commercial bookshelves. For comparison's sake, I have a pair of Polk TSI300s. They're a lower end tower. The Polks have a little better bass extension(maybe 10Hz lower), but the Overnight Sensations sound much better. When new, the Polks retailed for something like $200 per speaker, so $400 for a pair. For that price, now, I would instead build a pair of Speedster towers and blow those Polks out of the water.

On a higher end, you can build a pair of Statements for ~$1100-1200. They're a huge tower (60" or so). They often compare favorably to multi-thousand dollar pairs of speakers. I think the revised "Statement II" has just been announced with a better midrange driver.

Anyway, because you do most of the labor, you can generally get more value for your money.

There are lots of highly regarded designs with kits available.

I took an old plastic toolbox and cut out openings for four car speakers I had laying around. Screwed on some grills so they don't get banged up. Mounted a 12V battery inside with a SONY head unit I pulled from a car I was scrapping. Hooked it up to a house light switch so I can simply flip it on and off, and have an externally mounted spring antenna I (you guessed it) had laying around. It cranks loud, has an 1/8" input jack for anything I want to plug in, and pretty damn good AM/FM sensitivity.

Its sorta-portable (the car battery weighs a bit) and will run for 2 days straight on a full charge. I keep a little $20 battery maintainer inside to charge it when there's a power cord handy, but having it portable and self-powered for when there's no 120VAC available is awesome.

Here I am doing my best "80's booombox on the shoulder" take with it at a LeMons race:

Dude! That's rad!

codrus wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Digital amps that don't have digital inputs piss me off.

"Class D" is still an analog amplifier, it's just one that works in the same fashion as a switching power supply and which may have a digital micro controller managing it.

Oh. Class D. I see "digital" and think Class T.

For $100 budget, you want to hit CL.

And for garage speakers, you want vintage-y box speakers.

Cerwin Vegas get really loud. So do Polk Monitor 7/10s.

Infinity makes some big nasty box speakers too. And Technics.

Basically, if they look like a 90s dorm fridge, they'll rock the garage.

If you want classy, better sound, and bookshelf size speakers, you can usually get Paradigm Titans used for $100-$150.

Polk monitor 5s would do as well.

So I bought the lepai. I'm a little shocked and waiting for the other shoe to drop. This thing works like a champ. At 1/2 volume, pushing four speakers (two SP105 infinity's and two polk in ceiling 7") it's plenty loud enough. $20 on Amazon. I keep thinking this is a standby until I get a real stereo, but the truth is, I can't see replacing this.

Will you ever doubt me again?

How could I!