This was the first system that I built. The three front speakers are based on a design by Bill Schwefel published in Speaker Builder Magazine 5/90. They use cheap Radio Shack midrange drivers(1022-B) in an isobaric, D'Appolito configuration. That means there are four mids and one tweeter(Morel MDT33) in each cabinet. That adds up to 15 drivers just in the front of the system. If you add in the two subs and two surrounds then there are twenty-one drivers in my living room.
This system just grew without much planning. All of the cabinet work was built before I got interested in speaker building. Then the speakers and electronics were added wherever they would fit. This is not the best way to do it!
Several things that I have learned from building this system and things I wouldn't do again;
Aside from all the stuff said above this has still been a very satisfying project. Music sounds pretty good anywhere in the room. Movies can be great if you are sitting in the sweet spot. It all integrates into the design of the room very well so it even sounds good when it is turned off.
There are two subwoofers utilizing the Madisound 1252DVC woofer. These are mounted in 2.8 cubic foot sealed boxes that are hiding behind the black grill cloth just inboard of the main front speakers. The system is bi-amped using separate amps for the woofers and for the front speakers. Actually there are seven channels of amplification. I use a 5 channel Carver AV405 amp to power the front left, center and right and the 2 surrounds. Then I have an Audio Source Model AMP Two to drive the two subwoofers. The crossover is a passive line level unit based on a design by John Cockroft published in Speaker Builder.
The surround speakers are based on the Madisound Vifa Solo Kit. These use a Vifa M13SG09 and the D25ASG05 tweeter. The cabinet design was modified to work on my angled walls. These speakers are mounted about 8 feet off the floor.