I remember reading a post ( that I can't find anymore) where someone mentioned building a audio system that sounds like a $2000 system for around $200.
I was wondering if anyone here has made a diy audio system to go with their diy projector.
I was thinking it would be neat to build a surround sound system out of car audio parts...

I will be building one once I finish my projector.

How are you planing to go about it?...What speakers would you use?
And I wonder....could you set up an htpc as a receiver?

yes you could potentially....

you could use this
http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/mce-amplifiers

as the amplifier to drive your speakers but the you would need a DVD decoder that decodes 5.1 digial to 6 channel analog.

No need to buy those, you just hook up the HT receiver to your sound card, if I were to use an HTPC the way I'd hook up the speakers by using a Sound Blaster card that comes with an optical input.

sorry I should have reprhased that.... I meant if you did not want a receiver at all.

Personally I will always use a receiver as then you have a lot more options and connectivity as well as Dolby Digital decoding

FWIW I think DAZZZLA has built his own tower speakers and posted something about it once? But you mentioned a "system" and not "speakers".

Actually with the X-fi sound cards you can do both DD 5.1 EX and DTS ES.

I'm building my own speakers, but it won't quite come in under $200 for all of them.
I'm using Tang Band full range drivers from Parts Express and putting them in folded, tapered quarter-wave pipe enclosures like this. It will probably cost me just over $200 for five of them, once you include breakers, binding posts, MDF, etc.
I have all the parts for all five, and I've finished two of them (at least to the point where I can listen to them: they're still not pretty) and they sound pretty good, but a little bit bright. I think they even sound better than my Infinity SM-62's, though they don't have the efficiency or power handling capability. It will be cool having five matched speakers for the surround system.
I'm sticking with my Infinity powered subwoofer though. I don't think I can beat it without spending a lot more money.

dd decoding to analog without causing problems on playback? I have tried it on the Audigy and Audigy 2 and both sucked for DVD playback when decoding dd to analog using the setting under audio HQ.


Glad to hear the speakers you built are sounding good. I have been wanting to build my own for a while now but havent got the motivation to yet. I was going to start with the su though and build a sonotube sub. but with lack of tools it made it hard

Oh I see, didn't realize they had those problems....

Well...I said system, but I was doubting I could build a receiver....Well...maybe it is possible...but I doubt it's even worth the trouble.
If I was to build towers with car speakers...would that hook up fine to a receiver? Funny...I'm a musician and I know almost nothing about home or car audio.
I do know that one is supposed to be better than the other when it comes to dd 5.1 and dts....I want to say it's dts...

DTS is far superior, way less compression. It's been debated for years as to which is better but if you put in a movie that supports both and compare them, believe me, DTS sounds more "real". Oh about the car speakers, not really sure, although I don't see why you couldn't....

If you are a real audio expert, then I say go ahead and build your own setup.

My two cents are that you cant go too cheap on audio. At lest for me, my ears are more picky than my eyes. The projector I have going looks great to me, but its the whole experience that blows me away. My sound is freaking awsome and I havent invested that much.... I run two Paradigm Focus speakers for the front ($350 a set), and a hand me down set of polk audio for center and surround (you could probably find these around $100 used as they are over 7 years old) My sub is a polk audio 100W POS (well i cant say that.. it sounds good.. but the stats are less than impressive) I have a yamaha receiver (parents hand me down) but actually they are running off of a crappy sony amp right now (yamaha is in living room). So basically my whole sound setup is about $650 give or take and everyone who has wathced a movie in my room has been floored. Its also important to set up properly. I messed with delays, levels, etc. for a few hours till everythign sounded the best.

Again, the last thing I want to do is stifle any DIY attitude. I just wanted to let you know what I have going , and that Im very happy with it.

TQWTs will typically unload at some point below the enclosure frequency, ... which is probably what you are are seeing

i wouldn't suggest using car audio components for HT purposes. the reasons are many but to name a few:
1. they are usually overpriced
2. not enough or not accurate) T-S specs available
3. many car audio co-axials drivers are designed for free air mounting (stiff suspensions, small magnets) which is not what is required for a driver designed to fit in a box
4. atrocious cross-over designs in most co-axials using LOW quality parts

hope that helped

1. Mostly true
2. If you buy trash speakers, they usually don't have the T/S params. They usually give you enough info to build an enclosure for them.
3. Again, if you buy trash speakers, expect this. Most mid-high end stuff is made to work with infinite baffle, free air, with an aperiodic membrane, or a sealed chamber. Magnet size doesn't mean anything by the way. Some of the best sounding car speakers are called Dual Mags by Kenwood. They use a neodymium motor and are super shallow.
4. Most coax speakers don't have a cross-over at all. Coaxials usually throw a cap inline with the tweeter to keep it from blowing up.

The MAIN reason that someone inexperienced with speaker design shouldn't use auto speakers is because of impedance issues. Auto speakers are usually 4ohm each whereas home theater speakers are usually 8 ohm.

A friend of mine built his entire home theater system using auto audio components and it sounds incredible. Don't let naysayers dissuade you

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speaker

Does it cost $2,000?
No.

Does it sound like a $2,000 system?
No.

For a $250 system does it rock?
Hell yes!!!

I just bought this setup for my bedroom and am very happy with it. For a setup that cost $250 I am very impressed.



peace

Those are indeed excellent speakers, and they do sound better then a $2000 system, from Bose that is.

Haha sooo very true.

Blows the Blose right out of the water....hehe


peace

Why is it that so many people come down on the Bose products ? I seem to hear it all the time. Is it because their stuff is overpriced ? I like the sound of the bose, no problems with it at all. But for the price, i'm with you, i'd buy that logitech system first.

cheers,
gs

Here is the link that always get thrown into the Bose bashing ring:
BOSE Acoustimass - Better Profits Through Marketing



peace

This article explains exactly why Bose is a horrid company that makes horrid speakers.

thank for the link SIMJEDI. It's a good read. Dare I ask it... you wouldn't happen to have a link to another opposing view point ? Have you ever considered changing your name to LINKJEDI... you always have the best links to peoples questions. Thanks again.

blake, thanks for the thought, i just have a hard time with reading through the profanity. this is certainly more of a rant than a review and it's hard to take anyone seriously when they need to drop the *f* bomb, sh**, A**, etc... to make their point.

cheers to you both,
gs

BOSE.COM


Hear from people who actually bought Bose:
AUDIOREVIEW.COM



peace

Gotcha, well stated. I just posted that link because it kinda gives a brief run down of why they suck (yah more of a brief rant). Guess I should have chosen someone with better choice of wording. Oh and I just read that article SIMJEDI posted as well, great read, haven't read that article in a while, almost forgot about it. It is also undoughted proof that Bose is aweful, I love this quote.... "Bose reps require that a store's floor plan has to place Acoustimass/LifeStyle systems in separate areas with their own displays far away from other speakers."

Do yourself a favor and pick yourself up some real speakers from a company like Klipsch. As the guy that wrote that article says, "In the industry, "BOSE" is considered an acronym for "Buy Other Sound Equipment"."



Golden man, golden!

For what it's worth...

I did build my own amplifier system. In fact, it was DIY audio gear that I was looking at first, and the projection was a sidestep for me. Most of my sound projects are based on Rod Elliot's schematics, which can be found at Rod Elliot's ESP pages. He has some excellent amplifier projects, which produce sound quality comparable to some very high end amps.

What I like most about it though is that it's configurable the way that you want it. Say you want to bi-amp your speakers. No problem. All the components that you need can be made with the schematics on the site. He also sells PCBs for many of the projects, but you have to find your own components, for the most part.

It's not necessarily much CHEAPER than consumer level equipment, but the kinds of configurations that you can come up with are completely unavailable in commercial offerings. Hey, kind of like a LL projector!

My original projector had 6 amps in it, for 5.1 sound. I was going to install 3 more with crossovers to bi-amp the front 3 speaker setups, but then I sold the projector, with the amps installed. (It went to a friend who is on disability, and in a lot of pain daily. I sold it for less than the cost of the parts, basically for just enough to finish getting the parts for my pro lens build.)

The original statement was actually that a $2000 system could be built for around $600. I would like to know of some good DIY sites to get some knowledge of how to build these, so if anyone has them, please post away.

DIY speaker building has quite a few camps in it. There are some who are going for lowest price and others who want the ultimate sound. Google a search for "DIY Speaker Building " and prepare to be dazzled. There are some talented folks out there. There are also companies that specialize in speaker kits. One of my favorites is PartsExpress. They offer a really good selection of component speakers and some kits that they have designed themselves. Start there. They have a gallery of user designed projects and some plans etc...

Speakers can be a bit of an art and each design is really subjective. Passionate fights erupt over various crossover designs and baffling techniques, but in the end its all great fun. I have seen speakers made out of floors, PVC, and even cement. Its very similar to PJ building. The variations are tremendous.

It can be a bit overwhelming at first, so just browse for a couple of weeks. Decide what you want then start your search in earnest.

SamuraiJack

SJ....Once again...you prove you are the man!

Well, I have been recently looking into DIY speakers. Here is a great forum for speaker building. The people over there seem to be really friendly. It reminds me alot of this forum. HTGuide The speaker building section is in the DIY Missoin Possible forum

You definately need a seperate receiver to actually power the speakers. An HTPC will not be able to put out sufficient power to drive an entire home audio system. Think about this: Most home audio systems quote 500-750W of power or more, yet the power supply for most PCs is in the range of 350-550W. And a good 2/3 of that or more will be needed to power the PC alone. Heck, my 2.1 system for my PC uses an external power source. You can, however, get a sound card with an optical out and hook that directly into your receiver. That's what I'm going to do on mine (I have both parts, just haven't worked out the optical out for linux yet).

A few months ago I decided to end all the fuss with my 7.1 Pioneer Elite HT Receiver and DV47A DVD/SACD/DVD-A player and a houseful of speakers.

My audio system now consists of a Sansui Amplifier AU-777 from 1967. I have bookshelf speakers and a sub hooked up to it. I run my DVDs from my Sharp laptop via a Audigy 2ZS Notebook soundcard. I also run my music collection from an external harddrive through the sound card then external DAC for critical listening. I am using an optical connection. The card is capable of 7.1 and has an excellent signal/noise ratio.

I do not miss my Elite setup. I have been around and owned various high-end systems and decided that enough is enough. For me, the discrete surround channels while neat, did not necessarily add to my overall experience of watching a movie on my big screen. I get plenty of enjoyment, from my 2.1 setup.

It is not DIY, but hifi on the cheap by repurposing stuff I already had.

Thats what I did with my speakers. I found a pair and then stuck with em. When I sold stereo, it wasnt uncommon for me to swap speakers every couple of months. About three years ago, I took out all my sound processors etc and went straight down to all digital connections and 2 peripherals. Its been pretty nice.
I kinda miss my LaserDisk player, but they have been replaceing the rare prints with DVD's.

Sometimes its good to just go back to the basics.

+1 for partspexpress.com

visit the forums too.

Also adding a thumbs up for parts express, great service, fast delivery, awesome selection, fantastic prices. Right now, they are selling their Bash series Subwoofer Plate Amps at ridiculous prices. I bought the 500 watt Amp for 150.00, it normally retails for 300.00. I will be hooking up 4 15" Subs together and am playing around with putting the subwoofer array directly in front of the couch/seating area, underneath a coffee table for full exposure...hoping that the high power, and direct placement will result in bigger booms...

I wanted to use my htpc as a 7.1 receiver, but is this not possible for quality DTS?
What is a good setup? I was thinking of using a decoder and then a set of amps instead of getting a receiver, but I don't know if that would be cost effective.

How much does a gainclone cost to build (7 or 8 gainclones)?
or would I just be better off getting something like this: Sony reveiver from ebay

Then 7 timbre matched speakers and a subwoofer.
I don't want to spend that much, but I won't compromise, much.

I have a X-FI series Sound Blaster card and i have no problems with dolby.

I want to play Xbox 360 Gears of War. I want the htpc to have a digital audio in, and a 7.1 out. Do you do this with no problem?

I love my Bose

if youre playing digital media on the computer, theres no delay. If youre using the computer as dolby decoder(digital audio in), there will be a slight delay. Maybe 1/100th or 1/200th of a second.

Is that all? I went and bought a frickin receiever for nothing!!! (it was <100$ w/ 7ch amped)
This guy's post is what scared me: (maybe I just didn't understand it right)



Can anyone clarify, shed some light, or elaborate on what the problems are that Nintari is speaking of?

Some of the Audigy series have "clipping" problems when they are doing full scale DVD playback. Its actually a problem caused by timing between the Audio and Video tracks and the fact that the cards are resource hogs. Your video will appear to drop sound, thus the card is blamed. Some less intensive cards will manifest the same thing to a lesser degreee with symptoms like choppy video, dropped frames or the famous "Perfect play for 30 seconds-pause-Perfect play" effect. Most annoying. If you want to avoid it you can just pass the DTS through your signal to your amp and let it do the talking. The problem can be remedied by adjusting the cards synchronization solution or by increasing the latency on your PCI bus.
There is a program out called ReClock which will provide a new clock reference to your video card and keep the audio in synch. Its a DirectX plugin. For every different board there is a different solution when it comes to an Audigy. Despite this, I still have mine and its been rendering me theater sound going on five years now.

I'm using an Audigy 2, and output a digital signal to my receiver to decode. No problems at all. My receiver is actually easier to configure sound modes with than the creative software (which I'm not overly impressed with). Plus I found out that in order to output more than 2.1 with the analog out you have to buy a $15 cable from creative to get 5.1-7.1 out. Digital out worked for me- and it saved me buying a goofy cable from creative.

I actually use an old LIVE! from Creative ( made for Dell ) in my PJHT system. Funny thing is the card will pass DD in a stereo stream to my receiver via the analog SPDIF. Not really certain why, but it does. I let the receiver do the work from a basic 2 speaker stereo setup and it works great. I get the nice blue DTS bar from my stereo and it happily processes the tracks.

Another thing that might catch your fancy are the newer DDL cards. Same basic functions except that they have onboard chips that will upconvert any signal in realtime to DD. It seems to work well and while you cant get blood from a stone, you can at least break it into 7 channels and get a little definition out of bad tracks..

SJ

Um... "Analog SPDIF" ?!

SPDIF is Sony/Phillips Digital InterFace.. By it's very definition it's a digital format. I'm guessing that what you mean is that you're using the coax and not an optical interface, right?