Caraudio.com Member Spotlight Fi Audio

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

Showrides... yeah, time tells alot more than initial impressions do (if they are favorable ones)... if you hate it right from the time you hook it up, you probably wont like it suffering through it for another 2 months either.

btnhfan...lots of subs are very similar in design. Its the cosmetics and slight tweaks that throw everyone off. Its scary that a simple dustcap and basket color change instantly make one the best and the other crap. This is not to say that the W7 is similar to the Funky Pup... FAR from it. Just that when you ditch some of the cosmetics on drivers and look at the dims for the motors and actual soft parts used... they come off pretty dang close. Now add some fake rivets, a splash of chrome, and the nudie mud flap girl on the dustcap and you have a winner. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Things wrong with products? Hell I fall into that category for some of them. But then again, you scale things given their importance to the application and cost. For most 2" coil subs, you arent going to going to stress over severe coil cooling and using cones that can withstand 170+ dB. (Although you do get customers that do want the $29 2" coil sub that can withstand 10kW all day and dont get why you cant make it) Cost does dictate things...

Chromed poles... never a good thing (chromed stuff in your engine compartment is poop too). Polevents (wide open). Woven in tinsel leads (sewn on are MUCH better). Non braided/woven tinsel leads or much of the crap leads that come from China. Not putting a bead of glue on the backside of your spider/VC joint (unless you are so cost concerened about a penny or expecting such minimal power... put the bead there) Spiders... I have used them from several manufacturers and keep going back to only one of them... All others turn to mush and ****.

Things are getting better. China is learning and there are a couple OEM manufacturers there that are the best period. Much of what I say does pertain to China as most everything comes out of there nowadays. The crap you see there is simply mindboggling... why would waste time and money to tool that? But then again, my personal tastes dont always seem to run with what sells to the general 16-20 year old market. Otherwise Id have flames and ***** on my baskets too //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Lots of stuff works, and works fine for the intended application. But there are things for the money that simply work better. Be it from a big name or not.

 

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

LOL... no interns needed. Keeping Fi as light as possible. But Im not opposed to sharing what I know.... not proprietary stuff of course...

 

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

My question is about the SSD. Can I get the ends and outs of it. Are there any strong points of this sub? And any downfalls?

Its a good daily SQL sub. The aluminum coil handles a decent amount of power and works well in both sealed and ported enclosures. We will be offering and lower Q higher mass copper D2 in the next few days as well. You loose a tiny bit of efficiency with this coil, but gain a smaller box as well as deeper bass response. It isnt the Q for SQ, but it does really good and plays loud. The copper coil does get closer to the Q in many applications, but with lower power handling and overall Xmax

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

Ever plan on Quads?

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

woah

 

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

Ford302Redneck... are you talking about havig two differently tuned ports in the same box? Or are you talking about dual tuning the enclosure with either a slip in port, or blocking off one of 2 or more areoports (or the like)?

If you are talking about sticking a port tuned to 30 and another tuned to 40 in the same box... dont. Doesn magically work like that. If this is something you are interested in, Id look towards an ABC enclosure to try and get the best of both. Only issue with those is that they are on the larger side of things...

 

[Hundreth 10+ year member]

Since you have extensive experience with the MX... how would you compare the Q to it? I'm not asking which is better or anything like that, I just want a general comparison.

Also, is the Q geared more towards ported or sealed alignments? How much airspace does it like sealed?

Thanks.

 

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

megalomaniac... quads are easy, although I dont stock a true quad coil anymore. Simple fact is they dont sell or you cant use them in many comps either.

Ford302Redneck... they have a fair amount of punch to them. Nothing nutty like the BTL, but its solid. If you really dont listen to much below 40, tune a little on the higher side of saily drivers with 37 Hz. Still allow things to drop into the low 30s if you have subsonic set right, but itll give you more of what you are looking for.

Hundreth... Two unrelated subs from a design standpoint... from a sound standpoint, the Q has a decent amount more SQ to it. The Q lacks some of the overall max excursion that the MX has... but without the Xmag to back the MX, its no that big of a deal for a SQ application. Power wise, they are decently similar. The Q is a solid SQ sub while the MX is a SQL style sub. Id say that the crossover ability for the Q into the SQL range is much stronger than the MX into the SQ range.

Both good subs... just different.

 

[NEXT 10+ year member]

[quote name=

Plenty of solid amps out there from both major manus as well as net guys.

We are teaming up with another major manufacturer that does carry amps... somewhat of a symbiotic relationship. We are happy with what can be accomplished with our subs and their amps.[/quote]

I am interested in what amps you huys are teaming up with or when you cn let us know?

Very interested in your products and am glad to see that you got back inot the mix.

 

[NDMstang65 10+ year member]

Didnt notice this thread //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Definately brings back alot of memories of long phone conversations what 3 years ago...might be 4 years now.... about 'i want to try this' //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Bolognablake 10+ year member]

Chicago for my pizza... well actually Costco for a slice... this is the West, we dont have good pizza here.

Man, I've had more Costco Pizza than anybody should ever consume. But I've been working at Costco for a while. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Bolognablake 10+ year member]

Also, are any of the drivers in your line up that will perform well (better than others) in a sealed enclosure? I was looking at the Fi.Q in particular.

 

[Fi Car Audio 10+ year member]

Bolognablake... You are looking at the right sub for sealed. X works fine, SSD decent, Q great, BTL... dont even think about it.

The Q is our SQ series. They work very well in both sealed and ported enclosures. Drop really deep and play plenty loud as well. Great all around sub.

So which Jeep are they going in? I have a sealed Q12 in my ZJ right now. Too bad you arent closer we could go wheeling out in the NV rocks. Ive got a 241OR (Out of a 2005 Rubicon) that I need to swap my ailing transfer case for... not too mention a whole bunch of cromo that needs to be bent for inside the cab. 2X2 1/4" wall trailing arms than need to have the mounts finished being fabbed (4 link rear to the 8.8 with aussie locker and long arm style upfront). Set of 34X10.5s to replace my 31X10.5s with (need to weld on the bead locks with the "Fi" logos first)... Need a good solid week to get this thing finished before it cools back down... but with orders the way they are coming in, not looking like Ill get the time.

 

[supa_c 5,000+ posts]

Just wondering....

How much more does it cost to machine the T yokes to a smooth finish?

 

[90accordman 5,000+ posts]

Will there ever be a change in how any of the subs look on the Dustcap/cone. As i look at the website, if i only looked at the front of all subs i wouldnt be able to tell a Q from a BTL.

Will all have the "****" dustcap permanently or is that somethign that may change?