dnought

Audio

This section will contain everything I write related to audio systems.

Notes, articles

  • A reading list: books and stuff which a DIY audio devotee must read
  • Engineers too listen to music: a short note talking about what I learned about engineers in major semiconductor companies and their approach to evaluating quality of audio equipment
  • Headphones and earphones: what I discovered about this category of products
  • Music systems which I have lived with; just an account of my personal history
  • The media centre: a new product category (in 2011) and how it is changing home entertainment and digital media consumption. A must for every home!
  • The sat-sub myth: my technical analysis of a certain class of glamorous, mediocre-sounding “lifestyle speakers” which are held in very high esteem by the Indian middle class, thanks to canny marketing
  • Your first good system: a long article I wrote to guide friends who want to purchase their first good music system (Indian context, dated 2011)
  • Jeetubhai revisited: the Peerless India speaker driver distributor’s business continues, and Peerless India drivers are now available for sale even online through them
  • Early days of DIY: a personal history of my experiments with DIY audio

Projects

The Asawari family: floorstander MTM speakers with 6.5″ midbass drivers and passive 2-way crossovers:

  • The Asawari: Peerless India 6.5″ Kevlar drivers and Peerless India T26 tweeters. My first serious DIY speaker design and construction, circa 2006
  • The Asawari Mark II: floorstander MTM speakers with 6.5″ Peerless India Kevlar cone midbass drivers and North Creek D25 silk dome tweeters. 2014.
  • The Asawari Mark III: floorstander MTM with 6.5″ Vifa P17 drivers and North Creek D25 tweeters fitted into cabinets designed for the Asawari Mark II. Not documented here. 2016.
  • The Asawari Mark IV: Dayton RS180P 6.5″ paper-mix cone midbass drivers, Tymphany XT25TG30 ring radiator tweeters, crossed over at 2.2KHz 6th order. 2021
  • The Asawari Mark V: Dayton RS180 6.5″ aluminium cone midbass drivers, Seas 27TDFC fabric dome tweeters, crossed over at about 1.5KHz 6th order. 2021.
  • The Asawari Mark VI: SB Acoustics SB17CRC midbass, SB29RDAC tweeter, standmount, bass reflex. 2027.
  • The Asawari Mark VII: SB Acoustics SB17CAC midbass, SB25CDC tweeter, standmount, bass reflex. 2027.
  • The Darbari: floorstander two-box 3-way TMW active design with Dayton RS270 10″ woofer, Dayton RS150 6″ midbass used as midrange, and Peerless HDS dome tweeter, driven by MiniDSP 4x10HD and six channels of amplification. 2014.
  • The Bihagda: two-way standmount with higher-than-usual sensitivity, for low power amps. Fostex 8″ wide-range driver, SB dome tweeter. 2025.
  • The Bhoopali: budget-friendly two-way standmount with Peerless India midbass driver. 2026.
  • The Bhairav: budget-friendly two-way standmount, MTM, with 5.25″ Peerless India drivers. 2026.
  • The Adana: slim floorstander 3-way 4-driver TMWW bass reflex, with 6.5″ woofers, 5″ midrange, both from Dayton RS, and SB Acoustics tweeter. 2026.
  • The Adana Mark II: slim floorstander exactly like the Adana, differing only in the crossover. 2026.
  • The Shankara: large standmount 3-way TMW, 10″ woofers, Jordan Eikona midrange, Satori beryllium tweeter. 2026.
  • The Charukeshi Mark II: large standmount 3-way TMW, 10″ woofers, Satori midrange, Satori tweeter. 2026.
  • The Charukeshi Mark III: large standmount 3-way TMW, 12″ woofers, 7″ midranges, SB aluminium tweeters. 2026.
  • Sexy speaker cables: how to build expensive looking, robust, speaker cables