Box for Shiva's?

[///M3bumping 10+ year member]

I will be putting 2 12" Shiva's into my 1996 BMW M3. I will be powering them with a jbl 1200.1 Amp. Is that a good combination? Can someone that has more experience with shiva's or adire audio conclude whether or not i should keep this amp as my choice to power these subs with?

Now the box design. I am going to have a reputable shop build my box for me, what should i tell them i want? I know there is talk of polyfill and such in box's for the shiva that makes them seem like they are in bigger boxs.... Truth is, i just dont know what to tell the shop, as i want to go in knowing because i believe there are some truly very experienced people on this board, and i am not sure if this shop has any excperience with shiva's. ( i dont believe so)

Help me out guys, tell me what specs i need to make this all work. THANKS BRAD

Click to read more...

 

[mattj 5,000+ posts]

The JBL 1200.1 will be good for the shivas as long as you keep the amp at low gains.

As far as the box goes....i dont have experience with shivas so someone else will have to answer the question of what kind of box you should use...

 

[///M3bumping 10+ year member]

ya i am pretty sure on the amp that it will be alright.

Its the box i really need the info on

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by ///M3bumping ya i am pretty sure on the amp that it will be alright.

Its the box i really need the info on

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

You wanna go ported or sealed? What are you looking for, SQ, SPL, both? Let us know

 

[abcdefg 10+ year member]

ID go ported

 

[ss3079 5,000+ posts]

I personally like the Shiva's in 1.25cu.ft sealed(each). Awsome SQ, and very tight bass. If I(or when I) get one I would probably go a little bit bigger. Depends what you want to get out of your music.

- Steve

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

Considering it's an M3, I'd personally go ported, I wouldn't want boomy bass comin out of an M3, nice tight bass would be better. Thats just personal opinion though

 

[ss3079 5,000+ posts]

I have friends that complain that they cant hear the bass in the cabin(one has a 7 series, the other a M3)...so ported might be the way to go actually.

- Steve

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by snova031 Considering it's an M3, I'd personally go ported, I wouldn't want boomy bass comin out of an M3, nice tight bass would be better. Thats just personal opinion though

Oops, I meant sealed, I'm so dumb

 

[ss3079 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by ///M3bumping I will be putting 2 12" Shiva's into my 1996 BMW M3. I will be powering them with a jbl 1200.1 Amp. Is that a good combination? Can someone that has more experience with shiva's or adire audio conclude whether or not i should keep this amp as my choice to power these subs with?

One last thing, the JBL 600.1 is more than enough power for 2 Shiva's...the 1200.1 shouldnt be too much.

- Steve

 

[zane 10+ year member]

I am running the same Amp/Sub combo in my car right now.

Honestly, I would reccomend a different amp if money allows.

I have found that the 1200.1 has some major issues with its built in crossover. Namely, that it can not be user defeated. The crossover itself is attrocious, very poor in design, and very questionable about its crossover cut-off points.

I have also found that the RCA terminal jacks tend to come loose very easily, and that the amplifier does have a tendancy to allow a bit of noise into the system. Namely- a nasty turn off thump.

Other than this- I have no complaints. The Power output is there, and the amp is quite versatile in most other areas. The circuitry appears well layed out and put together (yes josh, I know you have a different opinion about this! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif ), and all the internals are solid.

Personally, I have not heard or had any real issues with this amp up until one found its way into my own car. The others I have installed or listened to in friends systems, are still doing quite well, and do not share all of the problems that I have described.

The crossover, I have always felt is severely lacking. However, with a little EQ work, most of that can be taken care of.

1.25ft^3 is typically the magic number for a sealed enclosure for the Shiva as mentioned.

Personally, in my own install, I am running them in dual 1ft^3 enclosures. After going through 4 different enclosures, 2.0ft^3 , 1.75ft^3, 1.25ft^3, and 1.0ft^3; I can not imagine them in anything other than the current 1ft^3 design. Granted, A few will strongly disagree about this box size, however, my Shivas respond much better in this size enclosure than any of the previously mentioned ones.

I have concluded, after re-aranging every element of my interior about 900 times, that the smaller enclosure size is a result of my cars natural "transfer function from hell." //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Bottom line, It may take a little playing to find the right box size for your car.

I would use the 1.25ft^3 as a first option, as it has worked well for quite a few people. Take it from there, and adust the size if necessary.

The JBL 1200.1, is not an overly horrible amp, but expect a few quirks. The saying about getting what you pay for holds true 9 out of 10 times...

If you do not have your amp yet, it would be IMO wise to noodle arround at http://www.nexxon.com and have a look at some other amplifier choices. I know that Ample Audio and Autotek have a few models that would be worth a look into among a few others.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[zane 10+ year member]

In addition:

Make sure that you take the Shiva Thiele-Small Parameters to the shop that is building your enclosure. These speaker parameters will greatly aid them in constructing the best enclosure for your Shiva's and car.

http://www.adireaudio.com/mobile_audio/drivers/shiva.htm

take it easy,

-zane

 

[BigRedMonkey 10+ year member]

I too had great success with the 1ft^3 enclosure with my shiva I just installed... it sounds wonderful. I'm addicted...

I had a question because of that tho and felt like keepin the shiva talk together- I currently only have one shiva ( //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif ) powered by a 600watt amp. I got the amp turned down a little so it doesn't give full power to the sub... bass starts sounding a little weird but uh, if I were to get a second shiva and ran 300 watts to each one would that add to the loudness some? I know that this is a horrible question and -completely- hypothetical (if that)... about how much over the single shiva... like.. 120%?... 200%? (lol had to throw in 200 I'll just get three and have... 300dB!)

 

[zane 10+ year member]

You should notice some increase in output by running dual shiva's. 600 watts to the pair would be ideal. Anything sufficiently more is likely not to produce very satisfying results. My 1200.1 is a bit too much for them, so the 600 should be just fine.

I have also noticed a lot of undesirable sound quality from my Shiva's. With my past experiences with them, I would like to believe that the JBL Crossover is what is causing this rather than a design flaw in the shivas, however, my confidence in them is fading quite fast.

Is this a rather muddy sound with lack of accuracy?

This is something that I have noticed in mine regardless of enclosure.

Just curious.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[BigRedMonkey 10+ year member]

yea its on certain bass notes pvd hits on disk 2 of politics of dancing... i havent ran through very many cds cause I just got the setup, but I'll figure out the point in the song recreate the bass note with fruity loops and see if anything happens. It went away when I turned it down a little... and dieselboy plays quite nicely a few notches (about 15%) higher than the middle of disc 2 messing up so I'm still undecided about the problem. I'll post back in a day or two with the results...