Building Pro Audio Loudspeaker Enclosures [Paperback]

Jeffrey A. Forsburg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

If you plan to build professional loudspeaker enclosures and want the secrets and resources that the major touring companies and manufacturers have, then this is the right book for you. In 1986, author Jeffrey A. Forsburg was the founder of Formula Audio, Inc., a top shelf loudspeaker manufacturer that designed and built for the touring companies of the world. Jeff has designed and built enclosures for over thirty years. This book covers materials, machinery, hardware, rigging, design tools, application, design concepts, assembly, and painting. Two completely different projects help integrate this information.

This book is a detailed learning tool for those just starting out, or a resource guide for others that have been in the industry and just need a little help. If you're going to build it, then build it right the first time, every time.

A CD is provided that contains resource listings for materials, hardware, CAD drawings, software, web sites and much more, to help you find what you need to build professional loudspeaker enclosures.

Product Details

• Paperback: 197 pages
• Publisher: Grubsrof, Inc. (April 2002)
• ISBN-10: 1930590385
• ISBN-13: 978-1930590380
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,841,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding - the only book you'll ever need for pro-audio, October 8, 2004

By 

D. M. Warner (south williamsport, pa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Building Pro Audio Loudspeaker Enclosures (Paperback)

After reading several of the reviews, I have come to the conclusion that some had a complete misunderstanding of the purpose of the book, and may not have read the editorial review before purchasing the book. This book is to help you design and fabricate your own designs and not merely be a cookie cutter approach of other people's designs that are already on the market.

This is for Pro Audio, not Hi-Fi Home Audio. The title of the book is Building PROFESSIONAL AUDIO Loudspeaker Enclosures, which should have been a clear indicator. To answer the question as to why there are only two projects is because the author felt that there were a vast number of designs already available on the web, but lacked the information on construction of those designs, and the intent of these projects was to show you how to approach any design and build it.

The bottom line is if you want to design a unique loudspeaker, and have little knowledge of assembly and woodworking, or what tools to use, or where to even start, this book will be extremely helpful. If you just want to replicate an existing design, and are not familiar with how to properly build a cabinet, and need information on resources on where to find materials and what to use, there are several chapters in this book dedicated to that as well.

This book contains information found nowhere else in the industry and is the first book ever written for building pro-audio loudspeakers with this detail and resource information. Everything else is just for home audio and has little use for anyone building concert loudspeakers. It's a great Book.......

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful book, September 21, 2002

By 

Karl Bader (Nazareth, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Pro Audio Loudspeaker Enclosures (Paperback)

This book is great for anyone who would like to know more about how pro-audio speaker systems are designed, put together, etc. The information was very valuable to me and quite honestly I learned a lot. I got this book last night, and I have already finished reading it. It is written in a very easy to read fashion, and the author is very honest about what he feels.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on how to build sound reinforcement loudspeakers, June 17, 2010

By 

Robert Harker (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Building Pro Audio Loudspeaker Enclosures (Paperback)

If you are looking for a book of loudspeaker plans that you can make, then don't get this book. On the other hand you are thinking of building your own speakers for portable sound reinforcement work take the effort to find a used copy.

While others slam it as not being a "loudspeaker design" book it really is. It just has a different focus. It does not talk about Thiele/Small parameters or horn flair design. What is does talk about are how to build the speakers, how to construct the corners, hand hold design, how the design fits into a sheet of plywood and how the speakers fit into the truck. I also explains how you would go about making a production run of speakers.

I am from the old school of sound companies that build their own speakers. I enjoy making the speakers. I also enjoy coming up with a design that sounds good, is durable and looks good. While my production runs are small, 4 to 6 cabinets, his description of how to use jigs for cutting, routing and assembly have saved me time and allowed me to make much more professional cabinets.

As to speaker design he has a very interesting section on reusing basic designs. He takes a large basic trapezoidal cabinet and shows 20 or 30 different speakers designs that can be made by changing the baffle board design. His point is to come up with a good cabinet design and then use it in lots of different ways. This allows you to amortize the cost or effort of making the jigs and tooling over a lot more enclosures.

A bonus is the first couple of chapters which are an overview of speaker designs by the major sound companies in the '70 and '80 and an overview of current speaker designs (2002) by the major pro sound manufactures.

Two thumbs up for an excellent book.