DIY Studio Monitors (DESIGN) Step #1 | Home Recording Studio

you Sir have the gift of Gab?

Non- DIY studio monitors are speakers used in a studio. They could be a coffee can. JBL named it's L112 a "studio monitor", Oh Boy, Not an easy DIY task and if you don't have the JBL Monitor, you're not a studio.

Do make a budget monitor build! great video thank you so much for your knowledge and build!

Ok, you got a new subscriber. This series is just what I was looking for!

Do you ever take in consideration of how many watts the units can handle. I guess a 2 x 180 watt amp will blast these speakers. Mr. Nasa

I didn't get. First you designed the mid cabinet. Then in order to design the bigger enclosure you have to subtract the volume of the smaller cabinet that goes inside the bigger one? Is that it?

This is the Last Video in 3 years and no Second part got made. What happened?

Will you make dj speakers

I wonder if he got hired somewhere and they said you can't make vids giving away the secrets.

- Hey, Kirby!. You watch that filthy mouth of your!😀 Don't hate on my 8 year old Trusty Yamaha HS80's that I've used to produce, mix, and master 100s of tracks for artists, media, and my own work, lol. I get that your speaking to the laymen little bit, but you kind of made Nearfield Mixing Monitors that sound Flat or "Boring" like they weren't good or fun to listen to. I've DSP tuned my HS80s with REW to my room and what not, but setup as is in the right config, they are Monsters. If I DSP them, You know you can get almost any tonal qualities from a great Flat Speaker, aside from certain innate driver things like imaging and what not.
- But I constantly grabbing them for "Fun" and throwing them in the Living Room for whenever we have Movie night, Gaming, and Small Parties with a basic V-Shape on the DSP and they will punch you in the chest, easily fill a 20x20x10 room with sub bass, and get loud enough to hurt. All without any distortion or port chuffing. Ill still crank the 15' Dynamax's sometimes but some times it isn't needed. I know they're old but as with all monitors, I know there strengths and weaknesses by just the accumulative experience over the years.
- I've since updated to a pair of Adam Audio AH8's a couple years ago I got from a good friend for $1200/pair. My god, what a deal. Also, I finally finished most the acoustic treatment in my new studios control room. It never ends!! Next step is get some Big Boy in Wall Speakers to "WOW' customers like you mentioned in the beginning as well as my own enjoyment and another reference pair of speakers is never a bad thing.

- BTW, I'm so glad your doing this series. Your talented and are a great asset to the Speaker Community. Thanks, Brother.


I been getting into DIY speaker building these last few years and have about 7 pairs from the upper range of "kits" that audio guys recommend for home theatre and regular use which has been great. The HIVI 3.1a with a $50 crossover mod makes them sound unbelievable for their price and most i've compared them to in many ways. As for off the Shelf, the JBL Studio 530s will always be "The GOATS" especially when they go for 280-300 a pair. Sadly they're finally discontinued or the people who never had a chance to get them. They are just Magical. JBL caught lightning in a bottle with that Studio 5 series and the 530s are just insanity. I'm glad to bought 5 pairs over the last few years. 3 pair still in boxes, ready to be opened and swap the old ones hopefully for the rest of my life. Alright, ill stop rambling. Thank you, once again.

I finally made some speakers that were heavily inspired by this build. They use a Dayton designer 10”, morel 1308 mid and morel cat 308 tweeter. It’s so sad to not see you upload anymore Kirby. I hope you check back on your channel half as often as I do, because I’m ready for your glorious return. Cheers buddy

I want to see a budget-budget studio monitor video.

I just found this video and love it. What's the difference between monitors and "reference" monitors?

What does FS mean on those charts

You talk a lot to yourself. Just a positive suggestion:- cut short the video by 1/2 (atleast)

Are the plans to build the 3 way cabinet available : thx!

Studio monitors are not build to make the music sound better than it is, rather to make it sound EXACTLY as it is ;-). If you want to inspire people get your facts straight.

I'm not sure if your still answering on comments here or doing anything at all for that matter. But anyways I love watching your videos and I'm about to go down the rabbit hole here and build my own studio monitors

Definitely do the budget budget monitors

Did this channel stop producing videos? I don't see anything after this build, and more specifically, the Home Theater Series?

Why did people stop calling the Mid driver the QUACKER?

I just spent 1hour googling 536 questions google. And checking endless specifications on speaker after speaker after speaker no articles about magnets in STUDIO speakers. Which capture ACCURATE sound. U know, like reality or our ears do.
No1 cares about magnets in STUDIO speaker forums either. Zero data on magnets.
All I wanted 2know is type of magnet most used in studio (STUDIO) speakers.
Absolutely no specs I could find on any speaker dared breathed the word "magnet."
Question. I have a a BOSS guitar amp with 2 huge speakersa butted together. Wont this cause degaussing (wear out thmagnets over time?)

I need to clarify one thing. The differentiation you made between 2 types of monitors is not really accurate. You said that the monitors like the avantone mixcube (pictured) are supposed to be flat and used for accurate mixing and suggested that larger monitors colour the sound to impress artists. That's not true.

Most of the larger 2 and 3 way monitors are designed to have a flat response over a broad range of frequencies for accurate reference monitoring when mixing.

The Avantone Mixcubes are designed "to replicate the wide range of 'bass-challenged' devices such as car stereos, TVs, clock radios, computers, Bluetooth devices, etc." (From their website) so they are intentionally bad or "coloured" in a bad way.

I'm not saying this to diminish you in any way. Just want to clear it up for people that might have got the wrong idea.

Your design looks really cool and I like the video! I would like to do the same thing myself. Thanks for making it 😊

I want to Learn this! After spending so much on monitors this would save money and gain quality. What tools do I need to do this?

what make a nearfield speaker nearfield? the amp? the drivers? or both?

Thanks for this. I need this. More success and blessings to you

I'd like to see a 'reclaimed' monitors type project. GOing to thrift stores and finding drivers in pre-existing speakers, pre-existing housings, and trying to make some workable monitors. It could be a fun learning process!

All Hail the Algorithm.

hat stupide Nonsense ist heute talking? 😂😂😂

It's been a while, sins you made any videos what changed?

super budget budget please, im not that rich lol

Budget studio monitors

For the record, studio monitors are designed to sound "accurate" not "better than the music actually is". They are supposed to reveal the flaws so they can be fixed.

Dude, this has been super helpful, thank you so much!!

17" 5/8" High x 12 5/8" Deep x 10 1/2" wide :) Monitor size just a thought.

I`d be a big fan of the lower budget Monitors.

Kirby - love the 8" woofers. So many of today's bookshelf manufacturers try to sell us on 5-6" woofers having bass. They don't. I would love to see you duplicate this build with more budget-friendly speaker parts that total under $250 for all parts (not enclosures). Thanks !

Yes 🥰 we want budget studio monitor video ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Aug 2021, I need “budget budget monitors” 😂😂😂 but the 500.00 for a pair is definitely in my future👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Could you please also upload crossover video of this studio monitor 🙂

awesome detail, my goal is to do a wireless bluetooth build this winter!

This seems like it's the last video on this channel. That's a year ago! What happened? You still active! Came across your channel and thought it was pretty solid stuff. Hope all is well!

Do you have any specs per spectral decay, frequency testing, and or off axis response for these?

Hi Kirby! 👋Kirby, you are making a big mistake! Remember for life! For natural sound need woofer with extremely high Qms (Mechanic Q) 20-25 and extremely low Qts <0.1,but you select dead woofer, which have catastrophic low Qms 1-1.5!!!And bad Qts.. Minimum need 5-7 Qms. Minimum!

Please do more videos on studio monitors please Nearfield and Farfield PLEASE!!!