Tumult is up and running!

Chris Popovich · 06-10-2003, 10:54 AM

Hey All;

Although the cabinet isn't finished yet (thinking of textured paint), I have my Tumult enclosure up and running.

Here are the specs:

24.5" Cube Exterior dimensions.
1.5" thick MDF, Oak Braces.
Two 2500g PR's

I have about 1000 watts going to it right now, but that will change in a short while when I buy a decent pro amp.

First of all, working with MDF is a much larger pain than I anticipated. I have dust scattered all over southern Maine and probably most of NH too. Next time I'm going with void-free ply with more bracing.

I don't have any pics, but you all have seen what the driver looks like, and besides, it isn't finished.

The sound is what makes this post worth while. I have heard that PR's have a sound of their own.... I'm now a huge fan.

This sub is, without exception, the cleanest, fastest, lowest bass I have ever heard. It sounds FAR better than my dual-shiva setup I had, and even on my modest amp, plays quite a bit louder.

I watch lots of movies, but my real passion is music. Everything I've tossed at this sub has come out beautiful. Annie Lennox, Enya, Beastie Boys, many Trance artists, Tracy Chapman, Holly Cole......every CD I own is scattered all through my living room, and my girlfriend has to deal with me only playing a minute of a song before changing to a new CD.

I'm all for objectivity, but the room influences that so much, I'll speak of my impressions first:

The sub blends a lot better. It is finally impossible for me to localize the sub. I've tried dozens of positions, the lowest crossover settings, I've adjusted phases and levels until I was tired of thinking about it, even mapping out the frequency response in room wrt location, and I have always been able to localize my sub. Not this one. It blends in, and the sound is perhaps best described as effortless. My girlfriend, who is usually quite deaf to the subtle changes we all rave about, commented not only to how great it sounded, but that it mysteriously made my mains (Paradigm Studio 100's) sound better. She was confused, asking how it could impart greater clarity.

The low frequency output is fairly ridiculous. Other people have mentioned it, but I'll say it again; the big difference you'll notice is that it's harder to hear tones below 25Hz. I have pretty good hearing, but 16 Hz can be played with nothing other than the sound of the room shaking. Harmonics are greatly reduced over the Shiva. As an aside, no port noise is pretty sweet too.

I haven't logged data for the sweeps I've done, but the sub goes really low, especially in my cabinet, which seems to be a little larger than what most of you guys are running. In room response is not only flat, but slightly elevated down to slightly below 15Hz. It is sick!

The transient response is a lot better than one might imagine given the group delay numbers. It sounds much faster than my old shiva, even though the shiva sims out at considerably less GD. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining!

In short, I'm thrilled. I'll post more data when I get a chance.

Kyle Richardson · 06-10-2003, 10:59 AM

Glad to hear that you are happy with it Chris! Be sure to post pics when it's all completed.

Chris Tsutsui · 06-10-2003, 01:25 PM

Lucky Duck...

BTW, what's wrong with "only" 1000 watts? How much do you plan on giving your tumult if u get a new pro amp?

Joseph_ P · 06-10-2003, 01:39 PM

hello chris,
congrats on the new tumult!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was wondering if it would be possible for me to come to your place to hear. i am only about 40 miles from you
in new hampshire. i would like to hear the difference between your sub and my svs 16-46cs+ as i am also interested in maybe building a tumult.
please e-mail me at gigbyt@attbi.com.
hope to hear from you soon, i'm already drooling over the prospect of hearing a TUMULT in action!!!!!!.
THANX IN ADVANCE, JOHN S.

Chris Popovich · 06-10-2003, 01:39 PM

The only thing wrong with 1000 watts is that it's 1000 watts from an amp that isn't rated to run bridged into 4ohms. I'm keeping a careful eye on it, and it isn't running too hot, or flashing the current overload lights, but when all is said and done I'd like to send a safer 1000 or so watts.

**HTF Ads**

Kyle Richardson · 06-10-2003, 02:35 PM

Quote:

BTW, what's wrong with "only" 1000 watts?

Hehe, not a dang thing! (except in Chris' case when the amp isnt rated at 4 ohms). I'll tell you what, 1000w can really get it moving and in some cases depending on enclosure type/size, frequency, spl level, more than enough.

Allen Ross · 06-10-2003, 03:23 PM

Chris if you don't mind i would love to get in on a demo if you are offering Joseph one, i live right out side of portland and have a digital camera that is just urging to be used to capture your tumult.

I also have a BFD and will travel, hell if you are interested i will bring my tempest and we will try and bring your house down

email me @ alrossnin@mac.com

Chris Popovich · 07-10-2003, 06:24 PM

Okay guys,

I haven't finished the enclosure yet, but now Ihave a real amp on the Tumult; the Crown K1! This has the additional benefit of freeing up my Parasound HCA-1500A to be used to drive my mains (Paradigm Studio 100's)

All I can say is "Wow". I know that part of the new sound I'm experiencing is due to having a much better amp (instead of the Denon 3300) drive my mains, but this Crown is really effortless.

Frequency response is good down to about 13-14hz range. There are all sorts of low frequency noises and transients in my cd's that I have never heard before. What a difference!

Seth_L · 07-10-2003, 09:24 PM

I've managed to clip my QSC PLX2402 (2400W) into my Tumult on more than one occasion. The Tumult doesn't even look like it's breaking a sweat.

David Giesbrecht · 07-11-2003, 03:33 AM

Quote:

I've managed to clip my QSC PLX2402 (2400W) into my Tumult on more than one occasion. The Tumult doesn't even look like it's breaking a sweat.

THATS INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!