Exodus Audio Shiva-X User manual

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 1
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 1
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
Shiva-X

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 2
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 2
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
Congratulations You have made a wise purchase. The Shiva-X is a proven design that
provides massive output and incredibly low distortion.
What makes the Exodus Audio Subs so much better than other subs?
You can start by simply comparing the specifications. There isn’t much in their price
category that can complete. We have motors that utilize the XBL^2 motor technology,
providing extremely linear output, in addition to the class leading output. See our XBL^2
tech paper for more details.
Another factor that makes Exodus special is that our subs are built by one of the largest
build-houses in the world. A company that builds millions of transducers a year simply has
more experience, resources and methods to achieve better production quality. We get
virtually ZERO defects in finished product as a result.
How is Exodus Audio able to offer such kick-butt products at such
affordable prices? What gives?
Good question… it reminds me of what my old man used to tell me. “You NEVER get
something for nothing”.
You won’t get to see our name in any magazines. You won’t get to hear about us on Paul
Harvey. You won’t see Exodus drivers sold at your local audio store. You won’t get fancy
looking drivers made from exotic materials with funky emblems on the cone. We don’t
advertise, or sponsor NASCAR. We simply build and design products. That’s all we do and
that’s all you get
What else sets Exodus apart from the crowd? We have some pretty good engineers and we
don’t cook the numbers for marketing purposes. Our stuff is backed up with real
measurements, not snake oil or half-truths.
Another factor that makes Exodus such a great value is that we have a simple direct to the
consumer business model. We have relationships with some of the world’s largest companies
as a result of our OEM (original equipment manufactures) connections. These are
relationships that are not available to small “cottage industry” DIY subwoofer manufactures.
We leverage those relationships to produce our subs. We know it’s cheating… but we do it
anyway.
Great What kind of sub should I build?
Very good question and there is not one correct answer. It depends on your goals. If you
want to build a killer subwoofer for your home theater one of the ported designs makes a lot
of sense. The port gives you some free output and the ability to extend the bandwidth.
For music only systems most people will be happier with one of the sealed box designs. The
sealed designs also give the builder a lot more flexibility in making construction mistakes.
If you’re a first time DIYer, that may be important. Another bonus to the sealed designs is

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 3
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 3
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
that they are smaller. Skip directly to our box design section if you want to dig right into
box designs.
Performance
Operational Specifications: With Voice coils in parallel. Measured with Praxis @ sea level,
@ 55 deg F., drive voltage >1.5V. The driver is broken-in with 12 Hours of operation with a
20Hz sine wave near full excursion. A 12AWG jumper cable is used to connect the voice
coils.
Re: DC resistance of VC 3.65 Ohms
Le: Inductance of VC 0.90mH
Fs: Resonance frequency 20.0 Hz
Qms: Mechanical compliance loss 3.20
Qes: Electrical motor loss. .55
Qts: Total Q of driver .47
Mms: Moving mass 171g
Cms: Suspension Compliance 0.38 mm/N
Vas: Stiffness of driver scaled by cone size 125L
Sd: Area of the cone 491 cm^2
Vd: Total Diaphragm Displacement volume 2.65L
BL: Motor Strength 11.9
X-Max: One-way linear excursion 27mm
Pmax: Maximum power (music, not RMS) 600W
SPL: Sensitivity db/1W/1M 84.4
Volume Occupied by Driver .15 cubic feet or 4.25L

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 4
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 4
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Exodus Audio Shiva-X
A: Overall Diameter 12 1/2” inches
B: Cutout Hole 11 1/8” inches
C: Mounting Depth 7 ¼" inches
D: Motor Width 7 3/16” inches
E: Motor Depth 3 1/2" inches
Weight 31lbs raw
34lb shipping
Connection Diagrams:
DUAL VOICE COIL WIRING
Wiring dual voice coil (DVC) drivers can often be confusing. With a single driver, you're
dealing with 3 sets of connections. Two drivers, we're looking at 5 sets of connections
There are two basic means of connecting a DVC driver: parallel and series. When parallel
connecting a driver, this means connecting both voice coils to the amp in the same way. All
plus terminals connect, all minus terminals connect:

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 5
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 5
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
This method of wiring is the most common for DVC wiring. For our dual 8-ohm voice coil
drivers, it results in a nominal 4-ohm load (parallel connecting voice coils of the same
impedance results in half the impedance of either voice coil). This maximizes the output of
our home plate amps, and also produces and impedance compatible with most car stereo
equipment.
The other method of connecting DVC drivers is to wire the voice coils in series. This means
connecting from the amp to the input of one voice coil, from the output of that voice coil to
the input of the other voice coil, then from the output of the second voice coil back to the
amp:
This method of wiring is not as widely used as the parallel case. For our dual 8-ohm voice
coil drivers, it results in a nominal 16-ohm load (series connecting voice coils results in the
sum of the impedances of all voice coils). This means of wiring is often used when wiring
DVC drivers for use in large arrays, or in prosound applications (where 16 ohm loads are
widely used).

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 6
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 6
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
Combinations of drivers make things a bit more difficult. Wiring two drivers in parallel with
voice coils in parallel is often used in car audio. With nominal 8-ohm voice coil drivers, you
would end up with 2 ohms, which can maximize power output of many car audio amps:
Note that all the positive terminals are connected together, and all the negative terminals
are connected together. The total load, assuming dual 8-ohm voice coil drivers, is 2 ohms.

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 7
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 7
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
For home audio arrays, it is often desirable to keep the impedance between 4 and 8 ohms.
For DVC drivers with 8-ohm voice coils, it is typical to wire each driver in series, and parallel
the drivers:
This results in a final 8-ohm load, assuming each driver has dual 8-ohm voice coils. While
this may not "maximize" power output of an amp optimized for a 4-ohm load, it will result in
more linear output for the same power input as a single driver.
For additional driver connections, use combinations of the above wiring diagrams. For 4 DVC
drivers (each with dual 8 ohm voice coils), wire all drivers in parallel together to create a
nominal 1-ohm load. Using the same drivers, wiring each driver's voice coils in series and
paralleling each driver will result in an effective 4-ohm load.

Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 8
Exodus Audio Owner’s Guide 8
Copyright  2007 Exodus Audio. All Rights Reserved.
Is there anything I need to know before turning it on for the first time?
Once your sub is built put on some music or a movie and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Break-in will occur naturally as the driver suspension loosens up. It’s nothing that need
concern you though. Enjoy
Care
The Exodus Subs are built to the highest standards, and are designed to require a minimum
of care. Basically… use your head. If you decide to clean the cone, use non-solvent based
cleaners. Water based products are the safest.
Warranty
Well, you’ve made it to the Exodus Audio Plain English Warranty.
We’ll cover any manufacturing problems for:
• 12 months from date of purchase for any materials defect the transducer that isn’t
related to abuse.
This warranty covers things that are the direct result of manufacturing problems only. You
connect the low-level inputs to the wall socket, or put a screwdriver through the cone, it’s
not covered. Likewise cigarette burns, cup rings, or other damage from abuse or misuse.
Basically, if you take care of the unit, and treat it in a sane manner (don’t use it as jack
stand, etc.), then you’ve got nothing to worry about.
Any warranty claim must be handled through direct communication with us.
We reserve the right to act as the final authority with regard to a valid claim. We reserve
the right to decide to repair or replace any problem that qualifies for warranty work. The
customer is solely responsible for shipping charges related to warranty repair.
We don’t want to scare you with our liability wavier but the Shiva-X is a very simple device
that should give many years of service without need for service or repair.