"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
. ..

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 21:59:56 -0000, "Keith G"

wrote:



Probably because the hobby aspect has pretty much died out - for good

reason. Back in the '60s when I got started, it was possible to build

a better amp than you could buy, and definitely possible to build

better speakers, and save lots of money into the bargain.

Now there's ebay with all the cheap stuff to explore too.




Such is no longer possible, since modern speakers, even towards the

budget end from the 'big guns' like B&W and KEF, use highly advanced

design and manufacturing techniques to provide sound quality,

particularly in the cabinets and crossovers, which simply isn't

available to the home builder - particularly since Dynaudio stopped

supplying drivers to hobbyists. Focal are perhaps the last supplier of

decent drivers to the hobbyist (please don't mention that Lowther

dreck!), but where do you get the cabinet and crossover designs which

contribute at least 30% of the sound quality?

For anybody interested it might be worth keeping an eye here...

http://www.world-designs.co.uk/

....for speaker kits and designs in the future. They've only got one design
at the moment but more are on the way and they've got a Dutch company making
bespoke drivers for their cabinets.

You could also follow Keith's example and build stuff even cheaper still,
maybe cheap enough to just chuck the wood, flog the drivers on ebay and try
again if it didn't work out.

Amplifiers have of course been a done deal for a couple of decades,

and I simply wouldn't waste my time building an amp these days.

I didn't get into audio as a hobby until the early 90s (wasn't born until
the 70s) and didn't break free of the marketing crap until the 2000s so I'm
just starting out. I may be covering ground people like yourself left behind
decades ago but I'm finding it fun and it's my choice of how I follow my
hobby.

I'm sitting here now listening to The Smiths on a record deck that's almost
as old as I am, with a cartridge that is very likely older than me, a
"modern" cheapie EL34 amp and an American phono stage all bought from ebay
for less than the 10 year old speakers I bought when I still belived
everything the HiFi press told me.

I've had more fun discovering the old kit than all the stuff I bought new
(gathering dust upstairs) has ever brought me and luckily Keith is near
enough for me to pop over regularly and hear even more different kit without
spending any money.

Next I may try DIY SET and horns, or I may try the World Designs aperiodic
design, or I might stick with what I have for a while as the music has
forced me to stop typing and listen more than once this evening. But the
next step will be DIY because I want to and while it may be a waste of your
time it won't be a waste of mine.

What I'm trying to say is that there's a load of not so young 'uns appearing
on the scene who aren't going to listen to those who went before :-)

Phil