Concentric-8 Home Theater Speaker Kit

The Concentric-8 DIY speaker kit for home theater use.

About a decade ago, we released the original Concentric-8 and people absolutely loved them for a step up from our Volt speakers. Unfortunately, the manufacturer we sourced the drivers from shut their doors, and it took us years to find a driver worthy of bringing the name back. We finally found it in a customized 8" Celestion FTX0820, and Version 2 is now officially ready to roll. Just like the original, the FTX0820 has a cast aluminum frame and demodulation rings that significantly cut down on distortion at higher outputs. It's also a Common Motor Design like the original. That means it uses a single magnet assembly to power both the 8-inch woofer and the compression driver. This saves weight and space while bringing the acoustic centers of both drivers closer together. And with a great crossover designer like Matt, the FTX0820 can be turned into one of the best performing and smoothest sounding coaxial speakers you can buy.....just like the original Concentric-8. We're quite happy to reintroduce this great model to the DIY community.

What makes this so special? In plain DIY lingo, instead of having a separate woofer and tweeter placed in different spots on the cabinet, a concentric design mounts the compression driver (tweeter) right inside the center of the woofer. The woofers cone acts like a waveguide for the compression driver. They share the same magnet assembly, meaning frequencies radiate from the exact same point in space giving you a point source sound. All of this gives the listener even sound coverage no matter where you sit, zero weird comb-filtering when placed sideways, and a much smaller cabinet footprint.

Total Sleepers! Some guys were calling these "Sleepers" for a good reason. They fit into tiny cabinets between .50 and .70 cubic feet, making them easy to squeeze around a TV, tuck into tight spaces as a center channel, or mount for surround sound and Atmos without raising eyebrows from your significant other. Small, with a great response at low volume. But don't let the compact footprint fool you. With 94dB efficiency and 400-watt power handling, these little buggers can play shockingly loud and clean when you want to turn up the volume. That makes them perfect 'sleeper speakers' that you can crank up to impress your friends. If you want them louder, simply add more power!

The custom compression driver diaphragm is timbre matched to all speakers in our HT series. The Concentric-8 can be used in a small ported enclosure between .50 and .75 cubic feet tuned to 70hz with a 3" diameter port. If needed, the Concentric-8 can also be mounted directly in your wall or ceiling without an enclosure for Atmos or surround sound use. These were designed to perform best when paired with a subwoofer that can handle the lower frequencies.

Where Do They Fit In Your Room?

• Surrounds & Atmos: Fast, dynamic, high-output surround duty that will easily keep up with high output front speakers. 
• The Front Three (LCR): Thanks to a well-designed internal horn, the sound response is smooth enough that you can run three across the front without fatigue.
• Music / 2.1 Stereo: Pair a set with a decent subwoofer, and they make a lively, punchy, and incredibly fun two-channel music setup.

Quality Parts & Tested by Hand. We know DIY builders care about what’s under the hood. There are no mystery generic components here—the kit uses name-brand, high-grade parts from top to bottom. On top of that, every single compression driver is personally tested before being boxed up to make sure it performs exactly the way it should. (Pre-cut Baltic birch flat packs are in the works and coming soon!)

There were many people that asked for the original Concentric-8 kit to be available without the flat pack cabinet so they could make their own or install it directly in the ceiling for Atmos use. So, if you are buying this kit by itself without the flat pack cabinet it will not include the front panel. Minimum order is 2.

Speaker Highlights

• Near perfect time alignment between woofer and tweeter.
• Custom professional grade 8 inch coaxial for high output.
• Handles up to 400 watts and Sound Pressure Levels of 116db.
• Quality name brand components throughout entire speaker.
• High output design that can fit just about anywhere.
• Can be used in small ported enclosures or infinite baffle.
• Works best for home theater when paired with a large subwoofer system.
• Compression drivers professionally tested for matched sets per order.

Concentric-8 Specifications

Quality Control: Every compression driver gets a professional 5 point quality inspection test before we package your kits. We also frequency match them so that your set of speakers all sound the same. We don't know of any other retailer that completes this level of quality control. We do this because you probably don't have the testing gear or parameters for all of these tests. Because of this type of quality control it can take longer than a week to package and ship your speaker kits.

Concentric-8 Kit Parts

Ordering Note:  Minimum order is two. If you ordered one in the past and need one for a center, please contact customer support. Kits are sold as full kits, sorry no substitutions or subtractions. This kit ships for free but it does not include the optional flat packs. If you need those, please order them at the same time you order the kits or contact me to let me know you will be ordering them later. Please allow extra time to package these kits. If you live in a rural area or way out along the west coast, there could be extra shipping costs.