I'm currently considering purchasing a new sub, does anyone out there have any knowledge/experience with adire audio subs, in particular their rava model?

John, nobody's jumped in on this one; I assume that they don't have personal experience with the Rava and neither do I. All reports seem to indicate that it's a fine sub in the $400 area, but since you already have Doctor Hsu's VTF-2, which might be a bit better, why would you be thinking of that change? In earlier posts which I replied to you were having little problems with level and crossover settings; haven't you gotten it set up satisfactorily?

I have heard good things about the Adire Shiva driver but unfortunately i have not heard one nor has anyone i know.

yes, i have finally gotten everything lined out with the vtf-2 but i am looking to replace the sony i have been using
for ht.

I've got a DIY sub using the Adire Shiva driver and it's excellent. The Rava gets Rava reviews also . My next sub will probably be another DIY using a driver from Adire or Stryke.

Frank

Say Frank, what was total coast on those DIY subs ? What style, tube or box, and what did you use for an amp ? I'm looking to cut costs again, and if there is enough diff between store bought and home made, I'll give it a go..
Thanks..

I did a diy shiva based sub myself too. It was about $350 for everything. Its a ported 85 litre box tuned for 22 Hz. It goes very low... The dual 8ohm voice coils can be wired into a 4ohm load, and I got a remote control 300w amp. Its a pretty nice thing. The rava looks OK, but the paper based cone, and foam surround doesnt impress anyone. Aluminim cones are better.

Does that $350 for everything include the amp? (sorry for the dumb question)

250 watt plate amp at Parts Express was $120 shipped for me. It might be a bit more now. I paid $80 for a used Shiva. You can get the new Stryke audio 1201 which is supposed to be almost exactly the same as the Shiva for $85 pre-order right now. I built the Sonotube style cylindrical sub. Tube was $30 or so for a 5 foot piece. You can find it cheaper but it was the only local place to find it. A sheet of 3/4 MDF for the endcaps for $20. Flared port and various terminals and speaker carpet was another $40. You can use paint or cheaper cloth for finish. The hometheaterforum.com DIY section has many projects. To save more money you can always pick up a used plate amp or use an old stereo receiver and just use the sub out of your current receiver as the input to the old receiver driving the sub. So basically I built it for under $300. It's ported, looks fine to me, is pushed by 250 watts and sound great with both music and movies. Volume and port dimensions are available at the Adire audio site. I also downloaded some speaker design freeware called WinISD. It wasn't as much about the money for me (though it helped hide cost from the wife buying bits and pieces separately) as it was about making something that would be perform as well or better than anything in its price range. Plus to quote Spicoli on Fast Times at Ridgemont High, "My dad has an awesome set of tools." Actually just a router and jig saw.

Frank

grimmj,
The Rava is a sealed sub from Adire that uses the Shiva driver. No aluminum in the Shiva.

Frank

I am just finishing up a pair of DIY AV12s from Stryke. Just plugged the first one in last night. It is one great driver. It was the closest thing I could find to the newer SVS drivers (Except I think the AV12 is a little better).

I've heard that a couple of times about these DIY kits...that people that have them seem to think they sound better then SVS, HSU, etc. How is this possible? Those companies have a lot more R&D $ to put into making a good product and it's their main business and from everything you read on here, they're good at what they do. Is it a psychological thing...people think theirs sounds better because they spent the time to build it themselves so they are more attached to it then if they just went out and bought it?

I probbably shouldnt do this, since these people might be competators and all... but the people at www.acoustic-visions.com help out a lot with the DIY.The plans I used came straight from Adire, they spent all the time, and money to do the calculations, and the testing. All I did was to tune the port (which is a pain in the butt)Making it yourself may squew the results, cause I know I feel a lot better about mine, than anything my friends have. Plus you can customize it to match the rooms decour (sp?) I added a red oak table top to mine, and it looks like a nice piece of furniture... just dont put anything on top that will move, cause it will end up on the floor. Also...Pricing ammended : Shiva MKIII $125 Parts express remote plate amp $148 3/4inch MDF $16 Other crap about $11 to make it a round $300, so yeah I was wrong before. Final note, I did this in my shop class with a lot of help, and it still took forever, and was hard to get exact... hope you have some good tools, and a lot of patience...

I have an Adire Rava in an otherwise all-Axiom surround system. It is very musical, very fast, and a good value. Jaco Pastorius never sounded so good. Technically, it does not go low enough for truly house-shaking LFE, but my wife doesn't like that sort of thing anyway. And--here is its real selling point--it met with my wife's interior decorating specifications, which the SVS and Hsu did not.

Zarak,

Subs are probably the easiest type of speakers to build, there are a LOT of good kits out there and a lot of good information available.

It's all about getting the best bang for your buck, you don't include your time because it's a labour of love. You can make it look like a plant stand or an end table, or just a big old box. You can veneer it, laminate it, paint it or what ever you need to do to have it blend into it's surroundings.

Going to the expense of buying a lot of tools is no longer required, there is a company in British Columbia making mitred corner mdf boxes than can be assembled by an apartment dweller. http://www.creativesound.ca/

Bottom line I think is it's all about the satisfaction of building it yourself.