Has anyone here had any experience with buying speakers, and then changing drivers in them, just to see what would happen?

I am tempted (definitely not with my Axioms!) to get a used pair of decent speakers for a couple hundred bucks, and then buying some higher end drivers that fit and putting them in, just to see what would happen. I have always been tempted to try a DIY project, and this might be a good start.

Thoughts? Comments?

I used to put Radio Shack drivers in cheapo speakers taken from shelf systems and those awful rack unit stereo things.

They did end up sounding better, generally, which means they sounded a little less like crap. O' course, I didn't exactly look at specs, crossovers, etc...

I know i have read over at AV 123 that their X-Series, people have experimented with changing out the Crossovers an such might wanna run over to their Forum an nose around thought about doing that jus to see how much better they would sound after doing that , but so far i am jus happy as a Lark with my Axioms

I am in the process of building my own DIY speakers. From what I have learned, it is just not the drivers that make the speaker sound good, it is also the crossover. Each group of drivers needs its own customized crossover to make it sound "good". You also need to account for box tuning for better bass response. By just replacing the drivers and not the crossover, you the difference you hear will probably not be worth the money spent.

yes, the more and more I read about loudspeaker design, the more I realize I will not be able to build audiophile / Axiom quality speakers without significant investment and extensive education in electronics / engineering, and of course carpentry or something equivalent to build cabinets.

There are several great looking kits out there and I will probably build one of these as my bedroom speakers. And if I mess that up, I'll buy a used pair of M40's

My dad is giving me some old, old speakers that have broken drivers, so I may buy some cheap drivers and crossovers, plug them in, and see what I get, mostly as a learning experience, and for fun.

Let us know how your DIY project goes, I'd be very curious to see the result!

Good luck!

Ravi,

I am just about done and planned on posting the results here. I am building bookshelf speakers with 7" woofers. I don't really see myself doing a Axiom vs DYI, though, as it is apples to oranges in my opinion.