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Review NaN of
, from W. Jordan
Price Paid:
$150.00
from Adire Summary:
I built an adire alignment, ported, 214 liter box for my Tempest. This is a big speaker box for my big room 50 X 20 ft. The design was from adire’s web site. I modified it (the web site builds a wooden box) to use a 24” sonotube calculated to be 37.5” long. The sound is much more natural than from the approx. 5 cubic foot, ported, 12” sub I’ve been using. These small ported subs are tuned high, peak appears to be around 35 Hz. So when listening to music or home theatre you get a good thump…but it’s essentially monotone. Monotone due to the fact that the fundamental note is missing, example instead of hearing 20 Hz you hear a strong 40 Hz signal only…completely unnatural, but plenty of thump – because a lot of it is around the peak. I’ve noticed that with the tempest I get the fundamental and a smoother even amplitude of harmonics…much more natural and satisfying. String bass and any other low sound never sounded better. The tempest sub, even with it’s two 3” diameter ports, is much less efficient than my Klipsch Heresey mains speakers. I had to turn the surround sound amp surround zones to –10db and the sub up to +5db to get the system balanced in my room. My balance is set for the bass to achieve a seamless and natural extension to my other speakers, not to dominate the sound. I’m driving the tempest with my NAD2200 100watts per channel to each coil – which appears to be plenty of power. My goal was not to achieve more sound pressure, I don’t need to shake the walls, but to achieve 10 to 15 Hz of lower freq response and a more natural sound. I got that! In adjusting my surround receiver I can set the peak level of power to send to the sub. You adjust this up to where the sub starts to distort or reaches max extension. I couldn’t find the upper limit on the Tempest, I stopped when I thought I was going to shake everything off the walls and I couldn’t stand how load it was. You know, I think these low freq strong notes actually cause your heart to change it’s beat and sync with it. WOW!
It cost me about $400 to build this not including the cost of the NAD amp. My biggest single cost, other than the speaker driver, was the sonotube. I had to buy 12’ length from the supply house to get the 37.5 inches I needed. If three people went in on the tube, a good cost savings would result. A rewarding project, but the $400 could have almost bought a SVS, HSU or the Adire Rava sub. These units would be easier to sell later if necessary. This might be consideration to take into account before building one yourself. Strengths:
Even natural sound, very capable of large sound pressure levels, low distortion Weaknesses:
somewhat inefficient Similar Products Used:
Mitsubishi 12" 120 watt sub
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