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The long-awaited HUMAN 81 DK is now available.
Best viewed in "landscape" mode.

HUMAN K-81 Speaker Kit
$372.00 / pair

Building speakers based on classic designs:
HUMAN 81 or 81+; EPI 100 or 150; Epicure 10; Genesis I, 1+, 1 or 10
(back to kit/legacy projects)
See the gallery of projects below

PRO 005 woofer

PRO 002 M2 tweeter

The most successful speaker Epicure Products ever built, and for good reason, was the EPI 100. Using just an eight inch woofer and tweeter that were designed from scratch to work together, it provided a seamless, balanced musical experience in a small package, and at a very low price. (The epicure 10 is essentially the same speaker as the EPI 100.) The EPI 150 used the same parts, but took advantage of the capability of the woofer to achieve lower frequency extension when used in a larger cabinet, for those who didn't mind giving up some more space for them. The Genesis I, 1+, 1 and 10 worked from the same principle with similar drivers. Guess what? My HUMAN 81 and HUMAN 81+ do too!

This project, then, includes a variable. The volume of the cabinet can be anywhere from one half to as much as two cubic feet, and you can experiment creatively with cabinet shape and dimensions, given the range of "opinion" expressed by these wonderful forebears to your project.

The crossover used by EPI and HUMAN is just a single ten microfarad capacitor (I use a high quality metallized polypropylene film capacitor) in series with the tweeter. Some Genesis models also added a shunt coil, with varying alignments - these "second order" networks were intended to decrease the power "seen" by the tweeter below the roll off frequency. Since this comes with a penalty in the linearity of the phase response, I prefer to use the single capacitor design myself.

Specialized Versions

The K-81E is a special edition of this kit, intended for rebuilding first generation EPI speakers such as the M90, M100, M110, M150, etc. The tweeter is built on a 5" diameter faceplate - the PRO 002 ME1 or the 4-3/8" PRO 002 ME4 in some cases, and the input terminal/crossover/wiring assembly is built on a board that is screwed inside the rectangular opening in the original cabinet (the ACC 004 A). It also features the very long throw and updated replacement woofer, the PRO 005, and if your old grills were nailed or glued on, I include some Velcro to reinstall them.

The K-81AP is similarly a special version, intended for rebuilding the Advent Prodigy tower speaker. The tweeter is built on a custom faceplate designed to match the original mounting location and cutout, and the input terminal/crossover/wiring assembly is built on a cup that matches the rectangular opening in the original cabinet, after the through-hole is enlarged somewhat.

Details

Interior dimensions in inches, volume in cubic feet:

model	long face	short face	depth	volume
Genesis 1	17.5	9	6	0.55
HUMAN 81	16.75	10	6	0.58
EPI 100	19.5	9.5	7	0.75
Genesis I	19.5	10.5	7	0.83
Genesis 1+	20.5	11	8	1.04
Genesis 10	21.5	11	8.5	1.16
HUMAN 81 DK	17	10	12.5	1.23
EPI 150	23.5	13.5	9	1.6
HUMAN 81+	30	9.5	12	2.0

Stock bracing: None (except HUMAN models). I recommend adding at least one brace front to rear at the point between the woofer and tweeter cutouts.

Driver position: Offset from center of cabinet face, tweeter a different distance from the top than the sides, drivers as close together as practical.

The HUMAN 81 Kit includes:

2 PRO 005 woofers
2 PRO 002 M2 tweeters
2 Terminal cups with gold plated 5-way binding posts
2 Complete wiring harness/crossovers
Screws to install all parts
Pegs and sockets for grill mounting
Basic instruction sheet (and telephone/email support)

You provide:

The cabinet
The grill, if desired
Internal damping material (e.g. fiberglass, polyester, etc.)