New replacement DIY sub? (1 Viewer)

[Steve*M]

ok, i've had an Adire Audio 12" Shiva in a 8 cu ft enclosure ported to 15 Hz for about 3 or 4 years, and it's now making that medium pitch rattling sound like it's been blown. Which doesn't surprise me, i've bottomed it out several times and I figure one of the voice coils finally gave out and bent. Yes i said 8 cubic feet and 15 hertz.

I go to Adire's website, and they're closing operation??? I had previously intended to upgrade to a tempest when the shiva blew, but i can't now that they closed. I have a CVT-300S amplifier that I got from Apex Jr.

What high quality hard hitting sub would work good for a replacement? It's floorloaded FYI. The base has room for up to a 18" Subwoofer (i'd have to add another amp though and use a DVC 4 ohm sub). Right now the shiva is wired in parallel for a 4 ohm load (dual 8 ohm coils) to get all 300 watts out of the amp. I've looked at Dayton from parts express, and they're MKIII takes 800 watts and a single coil, so that won't work for my application. Another has the right wattage but isn't build for the big enclosure and doesn't have the Fs and xmax of the shiva.

Video: youtube.com/watch?v=GHxh26PZhLk

 

[Brent_S]

First of all, the RMS rating of a driver doesn't mean you need to provide it that much power. That's the voice coil's thermal limit and typically, your input power will be excursion limited before you reach the thermal limit. Your Shiva being an example...thermal limit is something like 600 watts for both coils in parallel/series, but you've managed to bottom it with a 300 watt amp. You might want to do a bit of reading on what the T/S parameters mean without looking exclusively at Xmax and Fs in isolation to the rest. Then download WinISD and plug-n-chug the various driver options available until you find one you like.

That said. What's your budget? The Parts Express DVC12 is a drop in replacement for the Shiva. The DVC15 is similarly a near clone of the Tempest.

In 8 ft^3 @ 15hz with 300 watts, output is virtually identical for the DVC15 and Titanic15. However, the DVC15 is a hair over it's rated Xmax and a just a hair under the Dumax measured Xmax. Shouldn't be a problem if your Shiva's lived with your listenting habits this long. The Titanic still has about 3mm left before hitting Dumax measured Xmax.

Stepping up to the next level, IMO, would be the Creative Sound SDX-15 at $300ish. Output with 300 watts is virtually identical to the DVC15 or T15, but it's loafing along using only half of its rated Xmax which will get you lower distortion due to less stress on the driver. Somewhere down the road, you can upgrade your amp if you need more output.

There are other options as well, FiCarAudio, AE Speaker (Stryke is reopening soon), SoundSplinter, Ascendant Audio, Mach5 Audio, and maybe TC Sounds.

-Brent

 

[Steve*M]

ok thanks. I actually built the box off of winISD..old program but does what it's supposed to do.

FYI, i keep the amp's crossover at 60 Hz and under. Being as both system's it's connected to (my main system and my computer) have 6" subs that came with them that i let cover the mid-bass freq's.

As my video shows, even with the amp at 2/5's volume (that's what i recorded at) and full volume on the computer output, i still get a long xmax extension on the shiva.

22.5" wide, 24.75" tall, 26.75" deep (internal dims) with a 18" tall 4" diameter unflared PCV port.

I've bottomed the shiva a bunch of times, i'm surprised it's lasted this long. I know once during the matrix my dad had to tell me to turn the bass down because i was rattling the front door..and during another movie i thought the sub had blown into 2 pieces because of a hard bass hit.I think i got the $100 or 120 out of it that i paid.

It's strange how i can look at an index and miss something, and get referred back to that index and see it. The DVC15 really aint that bad for 150 bucks?

might add that the shiva i have is the old MKII. It's lasted that long.