The audiophile community enjoys an avid DIY contingent. The allure of the DIY loudspeaker is that for any given price point, with technical skill, proper loudspeaker design and testing, a loudspeaker of surpassing quality can be made for a fraction of what the equivalent commercial design would cost. A DIY'er can take pride in the sonic and visual fruits of their labors, and the knowledge that Joe Smith down the street doesn't have the same pair in his listening room.

DIY loudspeaker designs are especially prolific, and there are many online sources for speaker components, plans and kits. Commercial and freeware software is available to assist DIY'ers with enclosure and crossover design. One site I would like to point readers toward is Troels Gravesen's excellent page devoted to his loudspeaker designs. Troels obviously takes his projects quite seriously, as evidenced by the beauty of his enclosures and the premium drivers and crossover components he uses. Troels spends quite a bit of time ensuring that his crossovers are just right for the drivers and enclosures. His published plans are easy to follow, and aren't a bad read, even if you won't be building your own loudspeakers anytime soon.

Readers interested in learning more about DIY loudspeakers and DIY audio in general can head over to the forums at diyAudio.com and engage in conversation with the community of knowledgable, dedicated enthusiasts there.

Salk Sound has announced a new, relatively inexpensive floorstanding loudspeaker.

The 2 way SongTower QWT is a design by renowned DIY designer Dennis Murphy. The svelte SongTower measures 44.5x8x11.5, and is a transmission line design. The Hiquphon 3/4" tweeter and pair of 5" Seas bass drivers are aligned in an MTM configuration with a frequency response of 42-20k Hz. Sensitivity is rated at a tube-friendly 88 dB, but AV receiver users be advised that the SongTower is rated at 4 ohms impedance. The $1495/pair SongTower is available in walnut, cherry, maple, black satin, and for a limited time, honey locust.

As with all Salk Sound speakers, they will accomodate your request for just about any exotic wood veneer if you don't mind paying a little more. A $1395 version of the SongTower using a Vifa tweeter is also being offered.

KEF has updated their XQ and Reference loudspeaker lines.

The revised XQ now uses titanium alloy variant of KEF's point source UniQ driver. The new driver features an elliptical aluminum dome tweeter which is capable of flatly reproducing the frequency range up to past 20k Hz, eliminating the need for a separate high frequency driver. The XQ line will be available in furniture grade birdseye maple, khaya mahogany and piano black. The revamped flagship Reference line now features user customization via two position low and four position high frequency controls. The Reference line also sports low distortion bass drivers, which are decoupled from the enclosures. Available in cherry, satin sycamore, American walnut and piano black.

No prices for the two lines have been announced at this time.

Klipsch has announced a new, upscale line of flagship loudspeakers.

The Palladium line of speakers will begin shipping this fall. The top of the line P-39F tower will have three nine inch aluminum woofers, mated to horn midrange and tweeters. Enclosures are veneer clad mdf with tapered, curved side panels. Suggested price for the 3 1/2 way P-39F will be $15000/pair.

Six additional loudspeakers in the Palladium series will be shown at CES 2008 at Las Vegas.