When I told my parents about my project to build a set of speakers, they tried to talk me out of it by telling me that I can get something cheaper, better-looking, and (possibly) better-sounding than what I can build. As Elizabeth mentioned self-imposed desires in her post here, they definitely have a pre-conceived notion about how consumer electronics should look like. Nevertheless, I proceeded because I believe that I would learn craftsmanship and more about electronics out of this. As parts started rolling in, I started wondering whether this is a good idea or not, but I continued because I placed confidence that my end result will be good (and because I have already plonked down a good bit of money). This weekend, Fred and I pulled an all-nighter putting the set together between Friday and Saturday. I went in thinking that I would make perfect measurements and that the machinery could make precision cuts, but I had to let go of my desire for perfection.

Four hundred dollars and many hours later, this is the end result:

I had to borrow one of Fred’s amplifiers to drive these speakers, hence the silver box on top of the right speaker. The speakers sounded so great, Fred said that he will have to one-up me soon.  Indeed, this pair sounds too good for only one person to enjoy. All I did was build The Encore from Parts Express, which I chose because of its choice of speakers. I will be building tube amplifiers to supplement these speakers soon.