solid build, excellent sound quality, Low cost for DIY

Without Linkwitz transform requires large box

Excellent sound and unbeatable price Purchased 2 and placed in sealed well stuffed 2 cubic foot enclosure. Used Marchand 4 order xover @ 80 hz and Marchand variable Linkwitz transform unit. Powered by old Hafler 500. -3 db @ 20 hz Q is variable using Basis I use .5 for audio and .7 for HT. When the cannon let go in the 1812 I need plastic couch covers for guests. Organ music would make structural supports for the house necessary. Handles all music and HT with finese. With few exceptions I much prefer sealed bass and this delivers

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Rava

Even natural sound, very capable of large sound pressure levels, low distortion

somewhat inefficient

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.

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Mitsubishi 12" 120 watt sub

Where to start? This subwoofer is simply amazing for the price. I have mine hooked up to one chan. of a mackie 1400i in my bedroom (500watts). Talk about sick bass. The box is a 4.5 cf box tuned to 21htz by way of a 2 4inch ports. It hits the lows with some real power and is indestructable. They RMS at 750 watts and will take my amp bridged to it like it is nothing (solid 1400watts). I have yet to see a HT sub that recreates music and movies with as much volume and clarity as this sub. If you are a DIY type of guy, go buy this sub... or the new aidre audio tumult that just came out. The build quality and customer service from adire are unmatched at any price.

Inexpen$ive Professional, neutral look - no brand names on the cone! Can take ALOT of wattage (more than they say it will). Great low frequency extension.

The bumper could have been made out of rubber or plastic instead of the foam - for longevity or durability purposes, but then, who plays/handles their sub daily (unless you're a tester)?

Adire should send me a free sub for writing a good review ;) I love this sub - it is a great price and moves a ton of air. Low frequencies beyond 20Hz really make the doors on my car move. I run mine in a 4 cubic foot (after displacements) ported box (two 30" x 4" ports) - tuned to 23Hz. It's unbelieveable in my hatchback to the point where it literally makes you nauseated, even at low volumes. The bass is so penetrating you have to turn the radio off for a while or go walk around. Anyway.. I will be purchasing another Tempest this month plus a plate amp for my recording studio. The sub will accomodate my Mackie HR824's also. I am sure that this sub will let me hear my lows in the mix so I don't over boost them like I was previously doing.

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Hard to compare to anything else. Very unique and noteworthy sub!!

Price, performance, and popularity from the DIY''ers.

Need alot of volume.

After buying my JBL S412p''s I was still lacking any REAL low end bass. SO I read up on almost every DIY forum and decided to give it a shot. I have it in a sonotube 66" long x 18" diameter, port is 26" x 6" tuned to about 16.5 hz. powered by the Parts Express 250 watt amp. WOW!!! It has shattered my wildest dreams!!! http://frank18202.tripod.com/sonosubconstruction/index.html

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None, I probably will never need a different sub, well maybe another one!!!

Price, 15" subwoofer made out of Kevlar, dual voice coils, Bass digs deep and clean. I never new a string base had so many notes!! when you think you have heard how deep it goes... another note hits you even lower... WOW!!! I am totally impressed with this DIY project of mine.

None- I built one to many... one is enough!

I had done about an 8 month review/ assesment of what I wanted in a subwoofer (including woodworking skill set) and decided for the money on a DIY project from www.adireaudio.com. I bought 2 of their "15" Tempest subwoofers and 2 of their AVA-250 amplifiers. Based upon others review, I built thier low Q=.577 Sealed design for the Tempest (known as a bessel alignment). Both enclosures are a down firing design with an approx. size of 24" X 24" X 35" tall which includes 4 inch legs (4x4 cedar) With the 250 watt amplifiers installed, these baby''s are incredible! I have them both hooked up to an Onkyo DSTX-989 which filters at 80hz. Music is outstanding and I only have them both turned up on the volume knob on the plate amplifier at 1/4 of the way. I am absolutly to frightend to crank them up any further. For Home theater, they are fantastic... if you want a little more slam, just crank the volume up a litte. I am totally sold on a sealed subwoofer. the only drawback is the size to get the low end. but the benefits are outstanding with this Tempest combination. I would say I spent about $450 on all materials per subwoofer including the finish then my labor and tools. The quality of bass cannot be matched at this price point for the AdireAudio Tempest combination. If you feel up to the challenge. I highly recommend this to someone with basic woodworking skills! YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED !!

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None - but listened to many other subwoofers from M&K, JBL, Yahmaha, Klipch and many others

Accuracy, quickness and depth - all the attributes of what the best musical subwoofer obtainable should sound like

Zero, none, nada

This sub was custom ordered from DIY Cable (1st one made, now it's in their product lineup - The Tempest Signature sub). The cabinet was made by a master cabinetmaker, built around the Tempest driver. It is a sealed down firing design with a bottom base/platform on which the sub stands (w/premium quality isolation spikes). It's about 22"x22"x26" and 105 lbs. (yes pretty hefty), and it literally disappears in the corner of my living/listening room! Mark (the cabinet maker) said he used 3/4" MDF with real Cherry veneer - heavily internally braced and sealed tighter than a coffin. He even asked me if I wanted 1" or more of MDF, but I do not have a forklift so...(joking).

The amp is a 250-watt plate amp - the AVA250. If you want, you can upgrade to a better HS-200 or even HS-500 amp with 4th order crossovers plus the works - but since it's a sub amp I decided to go with the already excellent AVA250. If you want there’s now an Adire Audio 18” Maelstrom driver you can upgrade to as well – for me the 15” Tempest driver is excellent for 20Hz and below extension.

Some nice pictures of it are at - http://www.diycable.com/tempest_sig.htm (yes that's my sub on DIY's website used as the actual "model").

I feel like I've added at least 50x more bass to my JBL S312's, and I am not kidding! The volume is set at 3/4 on the subs amp and connected via my preout2 (l&r RCA's) on my NAD C370 integrated amp. The preout2 also has a volume control, and I have to set that to -5dB or so. That's so my 120wpc NAD can keep up (with 92dB efficient speakers)! The sub is crossed over at 70Hz with my JBL S312's mains (which run their full range). They are a perfect compliment, easily matching the JBL's precise bass. Nothing "booms" or distorts in this system (except the walls start to give - I wish I lived in the 3rd little pig's house).

This was and is for 100% unadulterated music - but as a bonus it's a super-realistic home theater sub. You should hear Bach on this thing. Or Jimi Hendrix. Or watch the Matrix. In a sub shootout, everything else would be shut out under 3x the price range - and this sub will hold its candle to anything costing 3x or more (unless you're trying to fill another Woodstock venue or the like).

The tone defeat switch on my NAD 370 is basically now permanently engaged. This sub puts the 3rd back in front of dimension - I do mean depth.

I'd like to thank Kevin Haskins of DIY Cable and Mark Pasche (custom cabinet maker/speaker builder) for their great service. Dan Wiggins of Adire Audio also should receive a lot of credit as well. They made sure everything came together perfectly for this one-of-a-kind subwoofer.

My system:

NAD C370 integrated amplifier - 120 watts x 2
Toshiba SD9200 CD/HDCD/DVD/DVD-A player
JBL S312 main speakers/cherry - 35-20,000Hz
Adire Audio custom Tempest 15" 250 watt sealed subwoofer/cherry, 16-70 Hz (from DIY Cable)
Acoustic Research Pro Series 12 gauge speaker cable (2x5’), banana & spade plugs, RCA, coax and component cables
Studio Tech HF-04/4 shelf audio stand
Toshiba 27AF61 27" flat screen TV
Tripp Lite Isobar-6 & Panamax coax 4 surge suppressors
Radio Shack SLM 33-2055/digital sound meter & test CD's

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Compared to Klipsch top of the line, AR Subs, Sunfire, Velodyne, Bag End, Titan, HSU, SVS, Yamaha, Sony, JBL, Rava w/Shiva driver... the list goes on

LOUD, tight and extremely accurate bass reproduction

None

I heard about these Subs only on Forums and I was skeptical at first. Sounded too good to be true, but for the pricepoint, I figure its NOT that much considering most Brand Name 15's cost at least double.

Well, the box I built for this is a sealed 3cubFt and NO brasing. The amp i am using is an Autotek SX2300 (700 watts rms @ 4ohms).

Sounds INCREDIBLE and LOUD!
I ended up buying another one for a HOME Theater set-up.


HAPPY LISTENING!! I AM!!

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None

Super Sound For Cheap!!!

Ahh, let me get back to you on that

I actually use this sub for different purposes than most of you do. I became introduced to this sub over at the Caraudioforum.com, and Elitecaraudio, where they had really nothing bad to say of it at all. Even though it's mainly a home audio sub, it also has potential in the car market.

After reading what Dan, the guy who makes these, had to say about the sub, I decided that I would spend my hard earned money on one. I was all ready to order one off of adireaudio.com, when I found one on Ebay for around $90. I won it for less than $100, and eagerly waited for it's arrival.
Upon opening the box, I was amazed at the quality of the sub. The cone, the surrounds, the metal basket, all looked top notch to me. I immeaditly began building a sealed box which came out to about 5 cubic feet. After droping the sub into it, I went out to the car to hook it up.
I'm powering the Tempest with a Cadence Z800, which puts out about 450 watts RMS. Soon this will be replaced with a 600 watt RMS Hifonics amp. After hooking up the connections, I turned the HU on. All I could say was wow!!! Even with the gains turned down on the amp, it still was outstanding. After fiddleing around with all the adjustments on the amp, I can truely say that this IS THE SUB TO GET. The quality of this sub is equal to those 3x the price. Honestly, I don't know what they're thinking selling them for 150.
How Loud does it get??? I really don't know. I've never maxed it out. I think that it'll shake the car apart before it distorts. Lets just say that it gets so loud that the neighbors come out of their houses 5 down from mine to look what's making that noise.
As for SQ, yea it's got that too. The sub is quite punchy, and I really didn't hear the boominess that I have sensed in other subs that people claim are good. Every one that gets in my car asks what I have in it, and are amazed when I show them the "No Name" sub. (Not very many people have really heard of Adire)
For the Price, this sub can not be beat. AS soon as I get the money for a HT, this will be the sub that'll go into it.

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Listened to various subs at home theater stores + in car stores

deep bass

large piece of furniture

I put mine in a six cubic foot sealed downthrow box. i built it just like they recomended i power it with a partsexpress 250 watt amp. this thing drops deep. i love it for dvds and music. it blows away some of the premade subs that cost at least double what ive got into this beast(about 350 totall) it blend really well with my cerwin vega re-30s i leave it crossed over at around 45-50hz and let the mains take over from there. i would love to build another one but dont have the room for it..

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first sub