Rava Owner’s Guide 3
Rava Owner’s Guide 3
Copyright 2001 Adire Audio. All Rights Reserved.
Paper. Yep, paper. One of the best materials out there for damping cone breakup (avoiding
ringing) is paper. It’s amazingly well damped, which is one of the reasons you see it used a
lot as a base material in some of the best midranges out there. But by itself, paper isn’t
stiff enough. So, we added some neat things: Kevlar(yeah, the bulletproof stuff), and
epoxy. We blended both into the cone. The result? A stiff cone that’s well damped!
OK, I’m convinced Shiva’s the way to go… But how about the amplifier?
What about it? The amplifier is a single-plate unit. It features switchable voltage supplies
(115V/230V so it can be used anywhere in the world), auto-on circuitry, detachable power
cord, variable gain, variable crossover frequency, variable phase, and can output 250W into
the 4 Ωload of Shiva. Plenty to reach home theater levels in most situations (greater than
105 dB SPL continuous).
Want more info about the features of the amp? Well, let’s start with the detachable power
cord. Now, this may not seem like a big deal. But wait until you decide to move the sub to
another room. There’s nothing worse than tripping over a dangling power cord. With Rava,
simply detach the cord, and away you go! Note, too, that it’s a nice standard IEC-type cord
(the same type used with most electronics now days). That means that, if you need a longer
cord (say, 10 feet), it’s easy to run down to your local computer/electronics store and buy a
longer cord. No need to run extension cords every where!
Of course, there’s more than just that. How about auto-on circuitry? That’s right – you can
turn the amplifier on, and leave it on. When it senses a signal, it will “wake itself up”. No
signal for 30 minutes or so, and the amp will shut itself off.
There’s also a variable gain. Set the gain of the sub once to match the rest of your system,
and you don’t have to mess with it again.
Oh, and a variable crossover frequency, too. In fact, the crossover can be varied from 40
Hz to 160 Hz. This means it can blend with just about any speaker system out there.
There’s variable phase, too! Sometimes, you’ll need to adjust the phase of the subwoofer to
get it to properly blend with the rest of your speakers. Rather than “in/out”, you can dial in
any phase angle from 0 to 180 degrees.
Inputs? There’s plenty – and outputs, too! There’s high and low level inputs, and high and
low level outputs. The high level inputs allow you to directly connect the amplifier to the
speaker cables connecting your main speakers. This is VERY handy if you don’t have a
dedicated subwoofer output on your receiver/preamp/processor.
For those with dedicated outputs, then the low level inputs are the way to go. Simply run an
RCA patch cord, and you’re set!
And the high level outputs have a built-in crossover. They’ll high-pass the output at 125 Hz,
first order. Means you don’t have to buy a separate outboard crossover if you want to high
pass your mains.
