Adire Audio Shiva Mark III Review
Build Quality:
The Shiva arrived in an appropriately sized cardboard box. There was foam for the underside of the driver, but none for the front. The surround was resting on the side of the box, which I thought a little careless.
My initial thoughts of the driver’s appearance weren’t too amazing, as far as aesthetics are concerned. Anyone who has seen it can attest to this. It’s a bland looking, all black woofer. The frame is cosmetically more attractive than the diaphragm of the driver. A stamped steel, classic four spoked design, the frame is painted black. The build quality of the driver is excellent and I only have two beefs with it, both being very minor.
1) The dust cap is a little flimsy. It dents very easily, which means it is also very easy to pull out dents. Minor.
2) The connection terminals. I would have preferred the binding posts simply because I didn’t have any spades to connect with, and soldering is a pain in the ***. That’s my fault.
I can only assume that these two beefs I have are simply money savers, since binding posts and a hella strong dust cap are not necessary and don’t affect the sound of the driver in any way.
For T/S Parameters and more information on the composition of the driver go to:
http://www.adireaudio.com/car_audio/subwoofers/shiva.htm
PreListening:
The test vehicle is a 1991 Oldsmobile 88. The HU is a Pioneer DEH-P7400MP sending the signal via Stinger Helix RCA’s to a Clarion APA4202 4 Channel and a JBL BP1200.1. The front speakers are Infinity Reference 605CS component speakers with Infinity Reference 652i for the rear fill (it’s not my car, btw). The sub was broken in for a couple days (few hours a day was all I could tear it away from the owner for) with sine sweeps of 20-60/100 Hz running off a Clarion APA1200 200WX1 monoblock. The Shiva was placed in (unfortunately) a non optimal sealed enclosure. I would have loved to put it in a 2.5cuft sealed box to yield a 0.707Qtc, but the owner said nay. Instead I had to put it in a 1.20cuft sealed fiberglass enclosure with 16oz of polyfill which brings the Qtc to somewhere around .800 give or take.
Listening:
Now on to the good stuff; the stuff that matters. I decided to use a broad musical selection to encompass most people’s listening tastes. The music I chose I was familiar with to the extent that I know how it should sound in a high fidelity setup.
Alicia Keys – Falling: About 25 seconds into the song there begins very low frequency bass notes via kick drums. The hits were very low. So low it startled me. The sub performed admirably with no noticeable overhang and excellent transients. It blended perfectly with the song and left no longing for more. Often times lesser drivers leave something to be desired, or become overbearing. The Shiva played perfectly.
Cherry Poppin’ Daddies – Zoot Suit Riot: This song opens with a catchy drum beat and this is the only place I could find where the Shiva has some troubles. It was a little soft in it’s reproduction of the lower drum beats with slight overhang. I had to turn up the sub control so that I could even hear the beats. Once it was audible, however, you could hear the fingers on the strings of the bass. Pretty neat.
The Verve Pipe – The Freshman: This is one of my favourite songs and very few times has it sounded this good. 90% of ever subwoofer I’ve heard is overbearing on this song, drowning out both guitar and partially vocals. The Shiva was precise and was an excellent compliment to the fullness of the song.
Bach – Little Fugue in G Minor: One of my favourite classical pieces, it tends to showcase the ability of tweeters instead of subwoofers, but I picked it to see how the Shiva could handle the subtleties of tubas. The sub added richness to the song and it was a pleasure to listen to.
Star Trek – Voyager Theme: Yes, I realize this is nerdy, however, it’s an excellent song. The Shiva was slightly overbearing, but this was easily tamed with sub control and the built in EQ. Once set up properly it was a pure joy.
Jesse Cook – That’s Right!: It opens with excellent percussion that is wide and full. This is the only song where I could actually notice the higher Qtc value of the smaller box. The song was slightly peak-ish, but by no means bad. The drum beat, which carries throughout the entire song, is well represented and blends nicely.
Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2: This is one of the tracks I enjoyed most with the Shiva. It really brought out the mood of this piece. It is a perfect compliment to the rising action and adds to the feeling of the listener.
Fabulous – Can’t Deny: For all you hip hop fans out there, this is a good song to test a driver’s output with. The song opens with a 30hz note which holds for about 4 seconds. In my home audio system which can’t get down that low, all you hear are the harmonics and it sounds like poop in a box. The output of the Shiva on this song is just plain scary. That’s about all I can say. I brought in blind listeners who both guessed there were two 12’s in the rear, running off of a lot of power. When I popped the trunk and showed them this single, corner loaded sub, they could not believe it.
Conclusion:
The Shiva is a remarkable subwoofer, and a simply astounding subwoofer for the mere $125 dollar price tag. It has outperformed every subwoofer I have heard to date (in car). Sonically it is very accurate and very defined, with the capability of getting very loud when called upon. It is the mark of a good subwoofer when you can simply stop nitpicking and listen to the music, smiling with your eyes closed. 9/10 rating.
