Best Home Speakers; What do They have in Common? How Can You Get Yours?

They should have an authentic 'live and graceful sound' that is captivating.

They don't sound 'fast' or 'slow' or have an overly detailed treble.

They just sound real!

The Instrument 2 Speaker System

First; these speaker plans are free.

There is no sales pitch here, other than "we want you to see for yourself what is possible in high end audio..."

I believe that this stereo speaker system is competitive with speakers costing over 10 times as much.

Of course part of the reason for this is that nearly zero was paid for labor since I built them.

But you can easily do the same...

The picture to the right is the raw cabinet of the New Instrument 2 loudspeaker. These speaker plans are available through the "Gallery" section. Just click on "Speaker Plans" to the left in the NavBar. There you can get the best home speakers plans and drawings -(most of them are Free!).

Are the best home speakers DIY?

Well, I think they can be...

There are some huge advantages to building speakers yourself.

There is no overhead when you build speakers DIY. But then, that's the beauty of it. You don't need overhead.

If you still decide to buy home speakers after this review I don't blame you. Making the decision to build a speaker box that works well can be intimidating.

It does take some basic skills like running a table saw and router. The worst part is that building a good set of speakers takes some time. This speaker system took over 200 hours.

However, when I had experienced the incredible music making abilities of a speaker that did not cost a fortune. I could never go back to retail speaker systems.

For the Instrument 2 home speaker system I would take any challenge up to a 20,000 USD. That Total System price range is for any retail speaker system.

Just contact me to schedule a time then make the trip to my home near Dayton Oh with the competing system.

Click here for a picture of the Instrument 2 speaker system.

Review of the Instrument 2 Loudspeaker system

Here is the best home speakers photo of the Instrument 2 loudspeaker:

Description: of the Best Home Speakers; Instrument 2 Loudspeakers

The Instrument 2 is a digital crossover , three-way, dynamic driver, completely sealed acoustic suspension loudspeaker.

Each driver including the tweeter has a separate rear chamber to damp pressure and vibrations transfer within the cabinet. Six Channels of amplification, one channel for each driver is necessary.

The Digital Active Crossover is implemented within the home theater PC (computer). All speaker drivers are coupled directly to the amplifier channel that drives it. No passive crossover components are used whatsoever.

Crossover points are 180 Hz and 3300 Hz. Slopes are 24 db per octave or 4th order digital slopes.

Time coherence is achieved by digital delay for each individual driver within the crossover.

Baffle step correction, driver correction, and room correction are all handled within each crossover leg by the digital crossover software.

The cabinets are built out of layered MDF and concrete. Having no internal parallel walls helps to truncate the buildup of standing waves within the cabinet. This helps achieve the best home speakers bass response within the limits of a given design.

Average wall thickness is 2.8 inches. Front baffle is 3.0 inches thick. Rear baffles are 2.75 inches thick. Weight per speaker is 428 pounds.

Mid range and Tweeter drivers are mounted very close to one another to avoid comb filtering near the crossover point.

Applications for the Insrument 2:

Only one digital to analog conversion takes place using digital sources. If using an analog source; two D to A conversions will take place. One conversion is from analog to digital the other from digital back to analog.

The Best Home Speakers Driver complement:

MB Quart RWE 354 15 in sub-woofer: this is a car audio sub. The drivers can be found for around 70.00 USD. Good cost/performance ratio. Not the last word in articulation though.

Vifa XT 25 BG60-4: very good tweeter for the price. It can compete with the Scan Speak ring radiator that costs 400.00 USD.

Performance is just slightly lower than the Scan Speak. Distortion below 3000Hz is higher than optimal. Cross over above 3000. Other performance characteristics are excellent.

Detailed measurements for all of these driver are included on the Zaph audio website
with exception to the MB Quart bass driver.

So how much did these Home Audio Speakers cost?

All parts: Amplifiers, preamplifier, home theater PC and all speaker parts were about 1800.00 USD. So I am openly verifying that I would put this system against anything up to 20,000 USD.

The reason I am highlighting this system is because it was the first set of speakers that I ever made. I could have highlighted some of my more recent, more complex designs but this was my first design. And because of that it is worth considering.

My intention is not to boast or try to make you think I am such an incredible person. Actually, my hope is to point out just the opposite. I am a totally regular guy. I am not super intelligent or super skilled at anything.

I get tired of some of the posts on forums that discourage music and theater enthusiast to try their own project. The general consensus is that speaker design is really difficult, tedious and time consuming work.

It might be a bit time consuming or even tedious but I don’t think it has much to do with you not being an engineer or your intelligence level.

In the old days you had to understand engineering and even then use a lot of guesswork to build speakers.

Obviously, any background you have with acoustics, engineering, and computers would be helpful but it is not absolutely necessary.

In fact with the help of computers and the internet this just is not the case anymore.

Final Point; Speaker Drivers

Speakers drivers can often be picked based on their Thiel/Small parameters alone to ensure that they will perform as expected. You just have to know what you are looking for.

This driver selecting process is something you can learn.

It will simply take an investment of time.

Or you can choose speaker drivers that others have used successfully and proven to be good matches together.

Getting excellent performance from the best home speakers by building them yourself... go to Part 2: Instrument 2 Review -home audio speaker kits


Go to Part 3: Instrument 2 Review -buy home speakers

Go to Part 4: Instrument 2 Review -audio home speaker testing

Have experience with DIY speakers?

Do you have some helpful information about this topic? Share it!