Where Do You Start Building Speakers? My 5 Tools

Where do I start? That's the question I kept getting as more and more people got into speaker building, and there honestly wasn't much out there about which tools matter at the very beginning. So I put together the five tools I'd point to first, plus one bonus. Four of the programs on the list are free. Here's what each one does on my bench, and why it made the cut.

Some links on this page are affiliate links (Amazon and Parts Express). If you buy through them, Toid may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Soldering irons and routers can be dangerous. If you're not experienced, get qualified help.

Browse my DIY speaker plans

Speaker building tools that measure before I guess

Looking at the list as a whole, there's one idea that ties most of it together: I'd rather measure than assume. A microphone that colors the sound, a driver that's been sitting in a box for months, a spec sheet that's a little off: each of those can steer a build the wrong way, and most of the tools below exist to catch them before I've cut any wood.

One limit up front: almost everything here runs on a computer. The mic, the measurement software, the tester and the design programs all assume there's a laptop or PC on the bench.

1. A calibrated microphone

The first thing on my list, and probably the most important, is a calibrated microphone. Not just any microphone. The one I showed is the miniDSP UMIK-1, and Dayton Audio and others sell them too.

The difference is the calibration. A calibrated mic comes with calibration files that the measurement program loads, so the reading is flat and what shows up on the graph is the speaker, not the mic's own imperfections. I use it to check each driver's frequency response and then to check the finished speaker for problems. It also teaches a lot about the speakers being tested, especially once a build has more than one driver.

2. REW (free)

A calibrated mic needs a program that recognizes it, and the one I use is free: Room EQ Wizard, or REW. It's a very powerful program. It does room response, and it can help EQ a miniDSP, including running it as an active crossover. That means a calibrated mic plus a free program can stand in for a passive crossover, which is the same trade I explored when I replaced a passive crossover with DSP. I also use REW to measure each driver in the box I built and to look at the final result for problem areas before I move on.

3. Dayton Audio DATS

The third tool is the Dayton Audio Test System. The one in the video was the DATS V2: a small piece of hardware that plugs into a USB port, a resistor for setup, and the software.

The first thing it does is a rub and buzz test, which tells me whether a driver is good or not. That might sound unnecessary, but there's a pattern I described in the video: drivers get bought on sale with every intention of using them right away, and six months down the road the box still hasn't been opened. Testing a driver when it arrives means finding out it's bad before the whole system is built around it.

It also measures the values of capacitors, inductors and resistors, which helps when I've lost track of a part's value. It gives an impedance graph, and most importantly, Thiele/Small (T/S) parameters. Those are what a box design is built on. If a driver doesn't come with them, DATS can find them, and even with new drivers, the manufacturer's T/S specs are not always correct, so I like to check whether they're off.

4. A good soldering iron

Number four is a good soldering iron, and I mean good, not cheap. A cheap one works, and on a tight budget there are irons at Walmart, AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts or Home Depot for five or six bucks, and Parts Express sells them too. I prefer variable temperature.

The one I showed is the X-Tronic model 3020. I wasn't even aware of it until a buddy showed it to me, and I was blown away when I got it. It heats up really fast and solders really well. Variable temperature matters to me for two reasons. Some driver terminals are fragile, especially on budget tweeters, and with temperature control I can get the iron hot without getting it hot enough to damage them. I've seen a tweeter get damaged that way, and that's not fun, especially at the very end of a build. And a good iron heats up faster, which saves time and hassle. I pair it with soldering flux I got from Parts Express, which really helps my soldering.

5. Free design software

The fifth is free programs, and there are paid upgrades for some of them, but the free versions are what I pointed to. WinISD is a box modeling program. Once a driver's information goes in, it calculates different optimal box sizes, and I can adjust that to fit the size I want and test the design before I build it. That saves a lot of time and hassle.

For crossovers, there's XSim, and PCD (Passive Crossover Designer), created by Jeff Bagby. Both are free crossover design programs. They work from the manufacturer's FRD and ZMA files, or from files I've measured myself with the calibrated mic, which is where tools one through three come back around.

Bonus: a circle jig

I promised five, but I threw in a sixth as a bonus: a circle jig. The one I showed is the Jasper Jig 200, though any circle jig does the job. It isn't required, but it does a lot of great things. It cuts a perfect hole, saves time, and lets me flush mount drivers, which helps with frequency response and diffraction. I dig into why that edge matters in the best shape for a speaker. The catch is that a circle jig also means owning a router.

The running tally

• Free: REW, WinISD, XSim and PCD.
• Paid: the calibrated mic, the DATS, a soldering iron (from five or six bucks for a basic one) and flux.
• Bonus, if I already had the rest: a circle jig, plus the router to run it.

Where I'd go next

Of everything on this list, the free box modeling is where a design actually starts taking shape, and I taught WinISD in my WinISD series. From there, my plans show where these tools end up, from the Epic HiFi build to the ISO-100 subwoofer.

Keep building: The best shape for a speaker · I replaced a passive crossover with DSP · all my DIY projects

Parts Used and Mentioned

Here's what I showed or mentioned, with the links I have. Where the exact item from the video has been replaced by a newer version, I've said so. Prices change, check the current price.

Some links below are affiliate links. Toid may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.