Caraudio.com Member Spotlight Fi Audio

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

a BTL


dont bring all this stuff in here, keep it informative:naughty:

I had a feeling I might get that, sorry.

 

[ntense702 10+ year member]

Fi audio seems very promising, plan on looking into it for future setups and look foward to seeing reviews on members using your new products.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Thanks Justin... If you dont feel like being bored... please feel free to skip down past this post.
I got my start in the car audio industry 18 years ago. Having friends that were older than me by a couple of years, I got a little head start in installing stereos and speakers for them when I was 15... Not sure exactly how that happened, but I figured I could do it and already knew my way around a multimeter and oscilloscope. Its only 12 volts... how hard could it be?

By the time I got my first car I had big plans already (or so I thought were big plans). Working at a skate shop in San Diego was fun, but I really enjoyed car audio. So I got a job installing at a shop when I was 17. From there it simply snowballed. I competed in IASCA 89-91 and did fairly well. Of course things were different then... you could have some kid in a beater 1968 station wagon that his grandma gave him with some ragged looking install take first simple because he followed the rules (fused properly, correct size wires for power, blah blah...) and it actually sounded great. About the time I ran out of time to compete, things started to change and more points were being awarded for "creativity" than sound. You all know how things have ended up with that //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Working at shops I started collecting all sorts of blown and screwed up speakers... lots of freebies (and Im ashamed to say, dumpster diving). From all these speakers Id pull apart what I could and make "good" speakers out of them. "Good" is definitely subjective, but they worked. Getting more inquisitive I learned how to derive TS params using a multimeter and a frequency generator. At that point a whole new world opened up. I could be somewhat scientific about things and try different parts in the same motor. See what changed with respect to the motor being the "control constant" and I learned alot from that. I tried to find parts suppliers, but without the internet of today, it was MUCH tougher via snail mail and communicating with China was comical at best.

Fast forward a couple years and install shops later... I took an interest in home audio since my old Infinitys had seen better days. I kept the boxes, and bought some Vifas from Madisound and designed some crossovers by formula. They came out decent... more a testament to how easy the older Vifa drivers were to work with than my crossover designing ability. Then I wanted a monster sub...

Tired of using what I felt were inferior subs for what I wanted, I focused on getting parts to build my own subs. After a couple trials and samples I came up with a solid design. After friends heard it, they all wanted their own... and I started to go the direction of a mini home audio sub manufacturer. That grew and grew by word of mouth and somehow got a call from a small car audio company that wanted to know where I got these drivers. They ended up being my first OEM client. After that I picked up USD Audio... I had met Eric on several occasions over the years competing and always admired Speaker Works/USD. From there things grew and I picked up more accounts. Along the way I befriended Mark Chao at King Audio. They became my regular OEM supplier and I helped them with driver design. After Mark left the company, we remained friends and kept in contact. Along the way I ran into supply issues and Mark was getting tired of the company he had started and we decided to combine forces to start DeStijl (an OEM buildhouse). (Somewhere in there about a year before Mark and I teamed up I started some little company called Resonant Engineering... I have never been good with names) With some of my larger LA based clients moving production over to China, we felt it was a good time for a change. Moved to Las Vegas and set up camp. RE grew from my original premise into a company taking its own direction and life. Another 4 years from there and I decided it was time for a change. Wanting another child and feeling the need to spend more time with family, I decided to pack it in and sell my half of DeStijl and RE.

As of today, I am running a new car audio company and doing lots of consulting work for the home audio industry... we will see what kind of future this next car audio venture has in the next couple of months //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

So, with that BS life story behind... lets talk about some actual interesting stuff //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Wow. You lucked out //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif.

I've been told not to ask, but how do you come up with the names of your drivers?

nG

 

[Showrides]

a BTL


dont bring all this stuff in here, keep it informative:naughty:

Good point. Sorry for the bad question, even though you weren't talking to me. I just realized it wasn't appropriate for this thread.

 

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

Bamaboy...

College... oh boy. Well I went to Cal Poly Pomona for Mechanical Engineering for 5 years and dropped out middle of my senior year (after completing my senior project)... Doubt this post will be around to haunt me when I tell my kid how important school is //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

For being a great engineering school, they only offered 1 audio related class. It was acoustics and noise control. I had taken this teacher earlier on for my second fluids class and HATED him. One of the toughest teachers I have ever had... for a class that wasnt tough. My friends thought I was a moron taking him as an elective (everyone usually stayed as far away from him as possible). But I defied him to give me anything less than an A. After correcting him infront of the class a couple times he simply ignored me the rest of the quarter. I got an A (one of the few As I did get as it was one of the few things that really interested me). I am not a fan of school... it simply doesnt work for me. I need to know what I need to know and I need it NOW. I really paid for 5 years of school there to use the library 24-7. It was funny how the first semester I was there, I needed to design some sway bars and I was reading and learning all the mechanics and materials books I would end up using a year or two later. Then when I took those classes, I was bored because I didnt really care anymore... already knew what I needed to know for any application that interested me... or had the library to teach me.

So I dropped out my senior year after making a dual servo motored 17" cube with 2 driven cones and 4 PRs as my senior project. Oh... most importantly I had 24-7 access to the engines lab. I spent most of my nights in there machining or building formula SAE cars. Main reason I dropped out was the fact that I was already clearing quite a bit more with my small OEM speaker company than I was going to be making with an ME bachelors working in some other industry in LA. Screw that.

So to the point... no, I really have no formal training. I learned along the way, and I have met some very helpful oldtimers that gave me advice.

Need to keep these MUCH shorter...

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

I do have a question actually. It sounds like you are all into the SPL contests, and that you are trying to get competitors SPL products at good prices. Are your drivers mainly used for SPL installs? Or are you trying to attrack the SQ and SQL people as well?
Appreciate your time

Ben

Did you read the site at all?

nG

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

i like the long reads, add background to it

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Bamaboy...College... oh boy. Well I went to Cal Poly Pomona for Mechanical Engineering for 5 years and dropped out middle of my senior year (after completing my senior project)... Doubt this post will be around to haunt me when I tell my kid how important school is //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

For being a great engineering school, they only offered 1 audio related class. It was acoustics and noise control. I had taken this teacher earlier on for my second fluids class and HATED him. One of the toughest teachers I have ever had... for a class that wasnt tough. My friends thought I was a moron taking him as an elective (everyone usually stayed as far away from him as possible). But I defied him to give me anything less than an A. After correcting him infront of the class a couple times he simply ignored me the rest of the quarter. I got an A (one of the few As I did get as it was one of the few things that really interested me). I am not a fan of school... it simply doesnt work for me. I need to know what I need to know and I need it NOW. I really paid for 5 years of school there to use the library 24-7. It was funny how the first semester I was there, I needed to design some sway bars and I was reading and learning all the mechanics and materials books I would end up using a year or two later. Then when I took those classes, I was bored because I didnt really care anymore... already knew what I needed to know for any application that interested me... or had the library to teach me.

So I dropped out my senior year after making a dual servo motored 17" cube with 2 driven cones and 4 PRs as my senior project. Oh... most importantly I had 24-7 access to the engines lab. I spent most of my nights in there machining or building formula SAE cars. Main reason I dropped out was the fact that I was already clearing quite a bit more with my small OEM speaker company than I was going to be making with an ME bachelors working in some other industry in LA. Screw that.

So to the point... no, I really have no formal training. I learned along the way, and I have met some very helpful oldtimers that gave me advice.

Need to keep these MUCH shorter...

You truely give me hope my man...

Trying to get through this thing called college now, not sure if I want to stick with engineering.

nG

 

[Showrides]

Did you read the site at all?
nG

No

Site link would help

 

[andar 10+ year member]

www.ficaraudio.com

 

[ntense702 10+ year member]

wow, you certainly provide us some inspiration, I respect you due to the fact that you are able to willingly teach yourself things and learn what you want to learn and do what you want to do upon your own volition, I too am a firm believer of picking up a book on a subject I am interested on, rather than relying on someone else to teach me it.

Out of curiousity, what are your personal goals for your new company, and what do you think makes your new products unique compared to the competitors?

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

great stories, i enjoyed reading them.

 

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

Im from CA... so due to laws there I can only carry 10 bullets. I used 2 the other night telling people about my phone and email hours...

Might have used another one with my philosophy on competitor pricing... but if past experience means anything... that one was a blank.

Now for the 3rd bullet for real... I am not a basshead. In fact, I am a complete ***** when it comes to loud bass. David from RE will attest to that one. I have great hearing with no signs of tinnitus. And I plan to keep it that way. This is not to say I dont enjoy bass... I definitely do. Just not at the levels most kids run things at. A single 12 sealed works well for me (the Fi Vans will be a different story though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif )

I am also not a fan of SPL competitions. I like them from the comradery and spectacle... but not for 3 seconds of burp. Kind of like my view on dragracing and Nascar.... Dragracing is amazing for the tech and shear horsepower (like dB Drags) but it doesnt do much for me. Punch it and 300mph in a 1/4 mile and you are done. Nascar is usually only turning the car in one direction... I might be able to make all lefts to get to work, but itll take me a long time. Rally, touring car, things that actually have more of a reality based usefulness to them interest me. I used to do lots of SCCA racing and build and set up chassis for mostly water cooled VW clients (first company was called FRC Sport Tuning.... which later became FRC Sound Works when I couldnt think up anything better to call my OEM speaker company).

Bassrace, on the other hand, has peaked my interest. So much infact that the BTL subs I am doing are kind of desinged around it. I think it is the future of SPL competitions... and infinitely more entertaining. Not just 78Hz, but all of them //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

I truly think that bassrace style competitons will take over the burp stuff.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

interested in any trades for some 15s? i have 10s lol... i seriously doubt it, but its worht a shot..

nice info.. glad to see a company with good communication skills

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

to me a loud bass race> than single tone setup