DIY Sub

Here's the contruction of my Shiva PR 85L DIY sub

I built this sub using 3/4" MDF based on Adire Audio's Shiva Mark II Application papers. It's 85L since I don't have a lot of space to use right now. I just barely squeezed this in next to the couch. I had already run an DIY interconnect to this location when I rewired so all I had to do was plug it in. I think I spent a total of 4 hours building this. It sounds great on everything I've thrown at it. Of course I can't find my test cd's but both movies and music sound amazing now. There are some CD's that I've had for 10 years that never sounded like they do now. With the B&K 307 and the new sub I have to listen to everything all over again.

	I used Pocket holes to avoid gluing, clamping and waiting. The pocket holes go in at a perfect angle to exit the board at exactly the middle of the board. I had 2 clamps on the ends of these 20" wide boards. You can see the glue squeeze out as the screws pulled the boards together. A very nice tight fit. I took off the clamps and it was very stiff.
	The horizontal brace on the mid brace was an afterthought. Hopefully a good one! I used pocket holes going to the side of the cabinet but I couldn't fit the drill in for the connection to the mid brace so I went through the side of the mid brace (and my thumb when the drill slipped). A little blood never bothered me. But none on the cabinet.
	A picture of the back right side. Amp cutout and Shiva cutout w/ 1/8" flush mount.
	The almost finished sub - PR and Shiva holes. Next is rounding the edges over and then painting. Eventually making fabric grill covers to match the front speakers.
	A shot of the midbracing and all the pocket holes/screws used. This box is very stiff.
I've missed a few photo shots but it's all summed up here	The drivers came in mid-week so I checked to make sure they fit in the holes I made. Perfect fit! I rounded the edges over, smoothed the cabinet and filled any small pin holes, primed and painted. The paint was Rustoleum's Hammered Finish. Kind of a dark gray and black textured finish. It gives a nice look to it (better than the pictures).
	The box seems quite stiff and weighs in at 65lbs. At high levels (over 110db's in the room) it barely vibrates and seems quite dead when knocked on. I'm guessing the extra mid brace was a good idea.
	Here's the 250w plate amp installed on the back. You can see the gray/black texture finish here.
Parts used: Adire Audio - PR & Shiva Mark II Parts Express - 250w plate amp, grills, black chrome spike set, and other misc hardware. All purchased at a discount over the regular web price from Kyle Richardson:	Kyle Richardson participates in the DIY forums and has helped me with lots of advice. His prices are discounted over the PE and Adire's web sites so it worked out well. I'll be taking measurements and creating graphs as soon as I get a test cd.