April 2026

MooVu DIY Loudspeaker Review — Big Bass, Easy Build, Great Value
Construct, listen, love — a gateway to DIY audio'phile hobbying fun.
Review By Brett And Dylan Rudolph

   Last year at the Capital Audio Fest, I saw Vinh Vu, principal at Ginkgo Audio, sitting at his booth with his MooVu speakers. I was fascinated by these $815-ish Do-It-Yourself (DIY) speakers, which he explained to me were his latest brainchild. So, while I had no real time to do more than look at them, we chatted a little longer and then put a pin on it, thinking we would come back to it later.

There is one thing that you need to know about Vinh, and it is absolutely to his credit: he is very organized. Shortly before the end of the year, he called to ask if I was interested in reviewing the MooVu speakers. While I have many strengths in this world, one of them is not the ability to work with my hands, which, coupled with my current vision issues, leaves me unable to review things such as this; however, my son Dylan was absolutely thrilled to help with this review. So, we set up for the second weekend in January for Vinh to come and show us both how to build speakers and put the MooVus together.

Building Your Own
On a nasty Saturday morning, Vinh and his business partner came over to my house with a box in hand. Well, honestly, it was in his car, and Dylan had to take it out of the car, but it sounded better the other way. Once everything was unloaded, the fun began. However, before we get into the actual building of the speakers, let's talk about what happens when your speakers arrive, or rather, how you order your speakers.

Ordering the speakers is a two-step process. You order the cabinets from China via a link on Gingko's website, and you order a kit directly from Gingko. The kit consists of two custom 6.5" woofers, one 1" soft dome tweeter, complete crossovers, OFC copper wiring, and detailed building instructions. The cabinets come already assembled, so there is no need to worry about getting your work tools out of the shed or wherever you might keep them. The only things you will need are a drill, a screwdriver, and some rubber cement. The only real decision you need to make about the cabinets is the color.

Please note that the cabinets are vinyl wraps. The colors are Redwood, Jujube Wood, and Brown Maple.  The ones we received were done fairly well. Once you receive them, you can take them to a place that wraps cars, and if you tell them they've been wrapped before, you might be able to have them wrapped in any color. You want.

Ginkgo Audio will provide you with the remaining parts needed to build the speakers, including drivers, crossovers, and, you know, the things that make it work. Once you have all the necessary materials, the website includes instructions to help you assemble the speakers. While admittedly we did not use the materials ourselves, the building process was quite a lot of fun and, even more importantly, a great learning experience.

There are a great many connections that need to be made, screws that need to be screwed in, cotton to stuff, and let's not forget, fasten the crossover to the back of the cabinet. Admittedly, if I had tried to build it instead of Dylan, we would have been there a great deal longer than the forty-five minutes it took to build the first speaker. Vinh did bring a custom-built speaker holder, which made it a bit easier for us, but it didn't really shave time off; it just saved our backs. So, with the speaker completed, we checked it with a multimeter, and voila, we had one completed. We did cheat a little. Vinh had built the second one ahead of time, so we only had to do one once they got here.

Once the speaker was complete, we connected the one we built and the one Vinh brought to my standard reference system. It did not seem fair to connect it to a higher-end system. However, the Bel Canto 5300i, Cambridge Audio CXN v2, and RSX Benchmark cables paired great with it. So, we listened to them for a short time. Everyone felt pretty good about the outcome, and then said our goodbyes.

The Enjoyment That Comes With Building Yourself
The speakers spent what I consider the normal two-hundred-hour break-in period. Like many speakers, they had their ups and downs during the break-in period. It takes time for all the materials to settle and the gaskets to loosen. Basically, the speaker must get into their groove in a matter of speaking. Luckily, after that time, and yes, sometimes it really does take longer, they were ready for some real listening.

The first thing one notices is that these speakers are very competent. They can handle Tennessee Ford's "Sixteen Tons" without any problems whatsoever. Although an old song without much of the pomp and circumstance that you find in many new recordings, there are a lot of intricacies that you tend to miss if you have a system that does not render them. It is sad because they only serve to make the playback that much more enjoyable.

A second selection by the late Harry Belafonte. Belafonte: At Carnegie Hall, "Sylvie (Live)". The selection is a light-hearted song about a woman who is supposed to have brought Harry some water while he was stuck. It's great, and the music is spectacular. What makes it even better is the way he can bring the music, his voice, and the audience together in a synergistic way. Unfortunately, when a speaker renders live sound incorrectly, especially with this track, it ruins the harmony and tends to change the actual interpretation. Luckily, this is one of those occasions on which this travesty did not happen. Harry's voice, while certainly not as poignant and perfect as I have heard both live and through playback systems, was well represented. The instruments were reproduced more accurately than his voice, with the nuances captured far better. I attributed this to the more-than-adequate bass and the tweeter, which I liked on Ginkgo's other speakers as well.

It would be wrong to say that the speaker did not struggle a bit with the live content of the selection. One could certainly hear elements that reflected the speaker's entry-level nature. That is not to say it is not enjoyable on the selection, but that there was a great deal of growth to be gained from this point. This means you could hear a raspiness in the crowd that was not lifelike, but it was not as distracting. It did not create the harmony that should have been present, in a nutshell.

A third selection was again on, Belafonte: At Carnegie Hall. The selection "John Henry," is another folk song on the album that showcases his smooth, energetic voice. The instrumentals only seek to accompany it. Again, the rich tapestry they achieve together is hard to separate. These speakers do an admirable job of capturing the joy that is transmitted through the words. Although there is room for improvement, which can be achieved through a system upgrade, these speakers can render some complex passages.

About a quarter of the way through the listening period, Vinh called to say he had discovered what he thought to be an issue in the way the speaker's crossover handled a certain range of sound. The solution, it turned out, was relatively simple. However, as Vinh mentioned on the phone and I mentioned here in the review as well, changing your speaker marks it as your own. You can do that when you build it yourself. The "only requirement was to take out the upper bass driver and switch the wires on the tweeter, effectively putting it out of polarity. No, that's not always bad for those who care.

Once the switch was made, unfortunately, it meant going through all the selections I mentioned above, and so many more that I won't mention here. The result was overall positive. The change was not incredible, and it would have been surprising if that had been the case. If this is your first time with high-end audio, you are going to learn quickly that the smallest of changes can ultimately make the largest of differences in your overall listening pleasure.

Moo: The cute Dog   :)

The next selection was The Wellernans. "Hoist The Colors (A Cappella)". Ok, so maybe this is not exactly a fair track to throw at a pair of sub-thousand-dollar speakers, but sue me, call me curious. Admittedly, an Acapella track is hard with even the best of systems, but with an entry-level system, it is always interesting to see how it will perform, and it did great, better than expected.

The men's voices were mostly distinct, while there was a slight blurring where their harmonizing came together as one might expect. The trouble came when they became distorted in the lower midrange and upper bass. These speakers have plenty of bass. It is mostly well-heeled, but this is a place where you can see that it does tend to need something more than entry-level equipment to keep it under control. In truth, I believe that if you had more vibration control, you would have a better sound, but again, this moves into the world of system tweaks, something that you will learn to explore on your journey. Gingko Audio can suggest many of these options; just reach out and ask them once. You are ready to try.

The last selection chosen was Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The selection from that, "Us and Them," is one of my favorites, for those of you who have followed me through the years. If you are just tuning in for the first time, welcome to the gang, and I hope you stick around. I LOVE Pink Floyd, and now on with the review.

"Us and Them" has all sorts of hidden gems. It really depends on how well the system resolves the music in terms of what you will hear. The MooVu speakers did a great job with the selection. You could hear all the normal music one would expect in this price range, which is saying something. There were subtle hints that there was more, if only you listened, which is what one would expect, because that is part of the song.

Although some of the more complex passages were slightly beyond their capacity, there is no reason to suspect that you could not improve their resolution with a bit of work with your system or even with the speakers themselves. Although, and I want this categorically known, there is really no reason, as these speakers are impressive just the way they are. You need go no further to enjoy your music or music collection just the way they are.

To me, these speakers represent the perfect way to get someone into the world of high-end audio. Seeing my son's face building them and then listening to them could give me no greater joy. I could see someone like me getting their children into the hobby or lifestyle just the same way, or even doing it as a joint activity on a weekend. I mentioned tweaks and upgrades because I see this as an ongoing activity that you could spend a lifetime doing. I truly hope that you will do just that.

Specifications
Type: Two-way stand-mounted monitors
Frequency Response: 50Hz to 20kHz (+/- 3dB) 
Drivers: 1" soft-dome tweeter by TBI and two 6.5" woofers made by Foster Culver
Design: Front-ported bass reflex
Crossover: Third-order at 2.7KHz
Impedance: 8 Ohm nominal, 5 Ohm minimum 
Sensitivity: 95dB/W/m
Power Handling: 30 to 150 Watts 
Recommended stand height 22" -24".
Finishes: Redwood, Jujube, and Brown Maple 
Dimensions 8" x 9" x 23" (WxDxH)
Weight: 20 lbs. each 
Price: $800-ish on up.

Company Information
Gingko Audio MooVu DIY Loudspeakers
GinkgoAudio.com/product/moovu-speaker-kit/