Recordings are mixed by people, in rooms, to taste. Playback can never be a window onto an original you were never part of, so the goal is not fidelity but finding what you love, for the music and the moment you are in.
1704 Audio Labs builds DIY loudspeakers from affordable parts, measures them to understand, and voices them to taste. Every plan, drawing, script and measurement is free to rebuild.
| Precision | Character | |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation what makes it possible |
Technical freedom DSP and affordable class D amps make every speaker reconfigurable. Crossovers, EQ and voicings change in software, so you are never locked in. |
Physical palette Box, open baffle, horn and subwoofer move air in physically different ways. Built as cheap DIY, they form a palette to combine, even in unusual ways. The room is part of the instrument. |
| Way of working how to use it |
Measure to understand A calibrated microphone and real data make every experiment deliberate. Compare level-matched, because louder always sounds better. |
Taste decides No dogma. EQ, presets and voicings for different music or moods are legitimate. Changing your mind is part of the game. |
The poster as a page, ready to print: 1704audiolabs.github.io
Good sound is not a price class. Every project here starts from parts anyone can buy: one sheet of OSB from the DIY store, a drain pipe, an affordable full-range driver, a class D amp. Cheap enough to build more than one, to cut it open, to try the unusual, and to spend the effort where it decides: on measuring, and on listening.
One sheet of OSB, a drain pipe and garden fleece — flat within ±1 dB from 55 to 150 Hz. Website · 3D model · One-sheet · Repository |
Le Petit's bigger twin — two opposed 10″ drivers in one sheet of OSB. Website · 3D model · One-sheet · Repository |
Documentation, drawings, photos and data under CC BY-SA 4.0, plan scripts under MIT. Questions and build reports are welcome in Le Petit's discussions.
1704 Audio Labs · Measure & Taste · by rich1704