Putting together a loudspeaker kit may be an art of an older generation. I had model airplanes and cars, but I often hear older audiophiles talk about the first loudspeaker they ever built. It always kind of freaks me out.

You BUILT a loudspeaker?

Jon Iverson did it, John Atkinson did it, John Marks did it, Art Dudley does it all the time, and countless others do it, too, I'm sure. I have never put together a loudspeaker kit, but it strikes me as being a whole lot of fun, and a way to gain a better understanding of how a loudspeaker works. At the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Japan's Yokohama Baysidenet was showing their Plamokit loudspeaker kit ($600/pair). The kit includes everything you need to construct your own little loudspeaker, and seems simple and fun.

I listened to a finished pair, which looked lovely, and found that the sound was surprisingly large for the speaker's small size. Though the Plamokit speaker didn't match the sound quality in the room that I might expect from less expensive speakers (such as the $279/pair PSB Alpha B1 or $298/pair Paradigm Atom), I can't underestimate the value (and fun!) of putting together your own speaker.