I'm quickly approaching decision time on what to do here about my next set of speakers. I've been watching this board a lot lately, and was asking questions about building a set of Theater series Three Pi's, based on the Eminence 2002 and 12" Delta series woofer. My goal is for some realitively high-efficiency speakers for the living room system, to be powered by a medium power solid state integrated amp. Just like most of you, I crave the dynamic range that can only be had from medium to high-efficiency speakers. I recently auditioned some big Klipsch KLF-30's, but don't wan't to fork out the ridiculous $2000 CDN they sell for up here. I also feel the overall build quality of those speakers is pretty poor, considering their price.

Unfortunately, because I live up here in Canada, I don't get the opportunity to hook up with other DIY'ers very much and thus don't get the chance to hear many DIY speakers. I took a gamble a few years ago with Audio Concepts kits and really enjoy them in my HT. But as I have never heard any mention of Wayne's designs outside of Audio Asylum, I'm still perhaps a little hesitant about just "going for it" and spending a wad of dough on parts to build one of his designs for my living room system. I've read your white papers, Wayne, and it appears that you are quite knowledgable in this art and science of speaker design. But I haven't seen any actual measurements or real hard performance data on any of your designs, and that concerns me a little bit. Even some good old-fashioned testimonials (other than those of the corner-horns on this page) would be nice.

I know that the ears are really the only tool you need, but I guess what I'm looking for are some assurances that I won't be dissappointed dropping approximately $700 Canadian to build your Theater Three Pi's, when I can buy a brand new pair of Klipsch Heresy II's for $1300. Yes, there is a significant difference in the overall price between those two speakers, and obviously that's part of the attraction of going the DIY route. However, one must also consider the fact that buying Klipsch Heritage series speakers like the Heresy is almost like buying a Harley Davidson - they will never be hard to sell if I ever wanted to. I also don't want to mail-order stuff from the US because my Canadian dollar is sitting near an all-time low of 63 cents US. So forget about even suggesting that I buy used stuff off of E-bay... the exchange rate and the shipping would be prohibitive.

Wayne, could you provide more specifics on the crossover components used in the Theater Three Pi? Could you perhaps forward any names of satisfied customers/builders of these speakers? Subjectively speaking, can you or anyone else make any meaningful comparisons between these speakers and the Klipsch Heresy II's?

Thanks,
Colin

I'd like to believe the Pi's are that much better than Heresy's. If so, maybe I could spring for JBL parts for four Pi's instead. For the same price as Heresy's, I could get four Pi's with JBL parts!

Thanks for your timely response,
Colin

The Professional Series four Pi with its JBL 2226 woofer offers improved distortion and even smoother midrange. And it's a smidge smaller then the Theater Series three Pi too.