Do it yourself - or not?

[meniscus]

Interesting article from Tom Norton over at Sound and Vision magazine.

http://www.soundandvision.com/content/d ... CMb5t5M.97

I've invited him to our room at Axpona.

Mark

[Wolf]

The article says 'Thomas Norton'.

Still- that's cool. I hope he learns more about the DIY aspect.

Later,
Wolf

[meniscus]

Thanks for the correction. Must have had boxing on my mind.

[Jonmarsh]

It seems like a fairly even handed article for someone not involved in this activity- there are pluses and minuses, and there is also a big difference between someone who does it for the creative process versus someone that just want's to wind up with one nice set of speakers in their living room or HT.

A lot of different trade offs go into this, based on individual background and skills. For example, someone that has some good skills with furniture building or carpentry is going to be in a very different starting position for building a published design than someone without tools or experience. There's a lot of different ways sweat equity may go into this, and what is a concerted but doable effort for one person may not realistically be possible for another. So, it all depends...

OTOH, I will come in on the side of saying it definitely is possible to build a design with a BOM of 5K that competes with $30K commercial designs- but it's not a trivial endeavor. Probably easier to do seeming with a BOM for $1K that competes with $6-10K, if you find the right design. In either case, the sweat equity will still be substantial, unless you go with a design targeted for pre-built enclosures.

[mattsk8]

It seems like a fairly even handed article for someone not involved in this activity- there are pluses and minuses, and there is also a big difference between someone who does it for the creative process versus someone that just want's to wind up with one nice set of speakers in their living room or HT.

A lot of different trade offs go into this, based on individual background and skills. For example, someone that has some good skills with furniture building or carpentry is going to be in a very different starting position for building a published design than someone without tools or experience. There's a lot of different ways sweat equity may go into this, and what is a concerted but doable effort for one person may not realistically be possible for another. So, it all depends...

OTOH, I will come in on the side of saying it definitely is possible to build a design with a BOM of 5K that competes with $30K commercial designs- but it's not a trivial endeavor. Probably easier to do seeming with a BOM for $1K that competes with $6-10K, if you find the right design. In either case, the sweat equity will still be substantial, unless you go with a design targeted for pre-built enclosures.

Totally agree Jon.

[kenrhodes]

So did Thomas stop by? Curious if he liked what he saw.