Building my own DIY 15" Tempest 214L subwoofer

[BLOOMIS914]

I am almost done with this DIY sub per the Adire Audio (www.adireaudio.com) plans.

I am using 3/4" MDF with a veneer that will be sprayed black satin to match the rest of my Klipsch speakers. All sides to box are mitred, glued and small brads used to hold panels in place until wood glue cures.

I have purchased the Parts Express 250W subwoofer Amp (P/N 300-794), the port tubes, 64 oz. polystuff and the 15" Tempest woofer from Adire Audio. All panels are machined/mitred and fit perfectly like a puzzle and then siliconed all interior corners, seams and braces.

Should have completely assembled and running by next weekend. Does anyone have any experience with DIY subs or specifically with the Tempest 15" driver in the ADIRE 214L alignment??? I am interested in feedback and what I can expect from this baby....Will it put my Klipsch KSW-15 to shame?? Per the plans it is/will be tuned to 15.4Hz.

Stay tuned for pics and feedback.....Any and all comments welcome

Brett

[prodj101]

if done right, DIY projects can easily out-perform retail stuff, and at a fraction of the cost! so in my opinion, yes it will outperform the KSW-15.

[Dustin B]

Compared to a KSW15, you're in for one hell of a treat

It will be a bit like going from a KSW15 to an RSW15. Tempest won't get quite as loud as an RSW15 above 30hz, but you'll get that last octave in all its' glory.

[arfz28]

Please let us know what your tempest sounds like, I think it will outdo the ksw, let us know if it does.I built a tempest sonotube, man is it huge.What klipsch speakers do you have? Are you going to use this sub for HT OR MUSIC?

[prodj101]

I have been thinking of a DIY sub, but can't find a driver I like. I listen to pretty much music only and a little movies on the side, so I need something that will match the musicality of the driver in the RSW-15.

[Dustin B]

That's not hard. Tempest could do it. The Shiva, DPL12, Maelstrom or Brahma from Adire all could as well. Dayton has the 12 and 15 inch DVC as well as the Titanic series that could. Styrke has the AV12 and AV15 as well as the HE15. Blueprint has the 03 series. One caveat on 03 series and HE15 though, you'll have to EQ out an inductance hump or crossover to them below 70hz. Adire also has a preorder on the Tumult right now (this driver is freak'n amazing; capable of over 100dB from 20hz on up in a sealed 16" cube with less than 2% THD, and this is nothing compared to what it could do in larger enclosures).

The enclosure will dictate how "musical" a good quality driver will be. All of the above are good to excellent quality drivers. Put them in an inappropriate enclosure and they will sound like crap. Put them in a proper enclosure and they could easily sound as good if not better than the RSW15. This isn't to say they will be able to match the output of the RSW15 above 30hz (although some will be able to beat it). Below 30hz even more could keep up. But again this will be quite dependant on the enclosure used (and in the case of output, dependant on if enough power is supplied).

If you want to trounce the "musicality" of the RSW15 look into infinite baffel or dipole designs.

[BLOOMIS914]

Arfz28-----I will be using this sub primarily (90%) for HT in my basement theater (see link below)

Arfz28----I currently have the following setups:

Great Room/Main floor:

KLF-30's Mains

KLF-C7 Center

KSP-S6's Surrounds

Marantz SR-8000 DD/DTS

Toshiba SD4205 5 disc DVD/CD

Mitsubishi 35"

DISH PVR-508 receiver

Basement Theater:

Chorus II Mains

KLF-C7 Center

KSP-S6's Surrounds

KLF-C7 Rear Center'

KSW-15 Front Sub

KSW-100 Rear Sub

Pioneer VSX-810S DD/DTS-ES (Used as Processor)

Parasound HCA-806 6 channel AMP

Panamax MAX 1000+ Surge Protector/Line Conditioner

JVC XV-90BK 7 disc progressive scan DVD/DVD Audio/CD/MP3

Philips S-VHS

DISH 6000 HDTV receiver with OTA HD tuner

Studio Experience SE-13HD LCD Projector

DA-LITE Da-Mat Hi-Contrast 52" x 92" screen (106"D)

Lutron Grafik eye 3104 lighting control

Stadium seating for 5 plus one matching leather recliner

I can't wait to finish it and test it out...I will post pics and my feedback.

[BLOOMIS914]

DustinB- How about ranking the top three to consider based on bang for the buck in your opinion...I settled on the Tempest 15" after a lot of research. Let me/us know your thoughts. I know each has different cabinet requirements which makes comparisons somewhat difficult but I focused on total cost vs. total performance since space is not a big issue but I didn't want a 300L water heater or refrigerator sub in my listening room!!! (Correction, my wife would probably not want it I would love it!!)

[Dustin B]

When size isn't a consideration I think the Tempest is still the biggest bang for the buck. Mainly because with a large enclosure you can get away with very inexpensive plate amps. People on a really tight budget can save a little cash by going with the Dayton DVC15" driver which is almost equivalent.

That is unless you can do an infinite baffel. Then you have to seriously consider the Dayton 15" IB driver. But buying multiple Tempests and running them in an RDO mode wouldn't be much more money and would allow you to pick the Qts rather than being stuck with a Qts of 0.65.

My biggest bang for the buck may change to the Styrke AV series if inexpensive high power amps continue to become more common place and their preproduction numbers are met by the production units. But hopefully Adire will get XBL^2 motors into the Tempest and Shiva and then I think the edge will go back to Adire (I'd love to be able to put 4 Tempests with XBL^2 motors into an infinite baffel).

The Tumult is also very interesting. There really isn't a driver like it out there right now. It will end up a little on the expensive side compared to what people are used to with DIY, but there really aren't any other drivers out there that can do what it can.

Really all the drivers I listed are excellent values. They all vary with what allignments they would work best in though. So you just take your budget and size/placement considerations and the top three for each person will end up changing.

[Mlstrass]

I'll second the Tempest as a GREAT "bang for the buck" sub. I've got a 480L sonotube with dual Tempests and a Hypex HS500 amp that I built for under $900 and it CAN shake windows 2 houses away!! Lucky neighbors

It also sounds VERY good when listening to music and is a great compliment to my room full of Legends. Read the white papers on the Adire site as there's plenty of good info on choosing a sub and the proper enclosure.