u/LouieTushuze

A friend asked me to build him a small stack for about $1,500–1,800, with a hard max of $2,000 for the first one. He may want a second later, but that's a separate budget. He listens to bass-heavy electronic music and also wants guitars and vocals to sound clean at volume. It's for a house/small event, not hi-fi.

My plan so far (about $1,800 all-in):

• Sub: Cubo 18 Standard in 18 mm Baltic birch, with an Eminence Sigma Pro-18A-2 (Qts×Vas ≈ 128, so Standard). I'll run a 35–40 Hz high-pass because of its low Xmax.
• Top: Celestion CKT-TF1225 (12" + 1" horn, passive crossover, free plan from Celestion).
• Amp: Behringer NX4-6000 (4×440 W at 8 Ω) plus a miniDSP 2x4 HD for the filters, crossover, delay and limiter. The NX4-6000 has none of those itself. The four channels could run two subs and two tops later without buying another amp.

Question: Is the SMT212 worth the extra few hundred dollars over the TF1225?

• From the plan and forum thread, I estimate it adds about $300–550. It's two 12" woofers plus a compression driver and horn, and the crossover isn't provided. My cost estimates are rough.
• Builders suggest the Beyma 12MI100 or 12P80ND, B&C 12PE32, or 18 Sound 12ND710 for the woofers. For the high end I've seen the B&C DE250 or the P Audio BM-D750 with a PH-3223 horn, and 18 Sound horns. Which would you pick, and what crossover do you run?
• With the Cubo 18 only good to ~110 Hz, I'd cross around 100 Hz, so I'm leaning toward the 12P80ND over the 12MI100. Does that make sense?
• Would you do this with a passive crossover or active DSP? I'd like to keep it to one amp channel per top.

Other stack ideas? If anyone has a different stack or drivers they'd build for about $1,800 (max $2,000, amp included) for bass-heavy EDM plus clean mids and highs, I'd like to hear them. Tell me what you'd change in the Cubo 18 + TF1225 plan.

I've recently been doing a ton of research into building my own little system for pop-up parties with my friends. From what I've found, I'm thinking of starting with two SKRAMs and one JMOD top. I'm hoping to get everything built, and to get everything I need to power it all, for about $6-8k.

I'm confident in my woodworking, and I have access to a university lab with a CNC machine and an extremely nice 3D printer, so I figured this would be the best way to get everything just right. Can a CNC and 3d printer pretty much get this whole project ready to assemble?

This is my first build, but I really don't want to spend a bunch of money on a smaller system and end up underwhelmed. I know this is ambitious for a first build, but is it feasible? Any advice on additions to the system would be greatly appreciated. I just wanted some input before diving into a project this big.