Fi Q 12" Review

[filtor1 13]

I recieved my pair of dual 1ohm Q 12"s roughly 4 months ago. I had previously been running a pair of Diamond Audio TDX 12"s and was looking to upgrade. The Q's seemed to be a good contender for this sub, so I decided to try them out.

I will start by showing my appreciation for the people associated with Fi. I would like to say that the countless hours Shawn Fleming spent on the phone with me trying to find the right product that would fit my taste and goals was incredible. Also, the quick response to my email and endless questions from Scott shows his dedication to customer service and desire to create another lasting relationship with his coustomers. Thank you both for your proffessionalism.

Now for the goodies. A direct swap was made, the Q's for the TDX's. Same box, amp, car, H/U, wiring, and electrical. The box is 3.9cf internal including port less the inside port wall. Single slot port tuned to 32Hz. 3/4" MDF with no internal bracing. The amp is a Diamond Audio D61500.1. The car is an 01' Nissan Maxima. The H/U is an Eclipse 8455. The wiring consists of a single run of Stinger Expert 0ga from the front battery, a small Interstate battery and conects to an Optima Yellowtop, then a run of 4ga to the amp. Bothe my mids and highs amp and sub amp were both grounded to the battery and then the battery to the chassis. The only other upgrade is the big-3 using Stinger Expert 0ga.

I will continue in a few. My laptop likes to randomly reboot. Back in a sec.

[filtor1 13]

Again the Q's were dropped in. Same everything. And all I said was wow. They were much louder. My hair was moving, the breath in my lung was moving, and everything in and on the car was too. These were much louder! I will say, I have roughly 240sq ft of Stinger Extreme Roadkill throughout the car. I couldn't emagine how bad the body flex and rattling would be without it.

These subs def needed some time to break in. Fast forward a few weeks. I had been pounding on them all I could with my 1500. Hour wise, I really couldn't say, I approximate 40-50, and they kept getting better. I really liked how warm the TDX's were. The TDX's didn't play as low. But they sounded great. In my opinion, the Q's started to sound similar. By no means are they the same. The Q's were playing Late Night Tip where the TDX's wouldn't. I listen to jazz and techno often. As time passed, the Q's accuracy began to shine. From Deisel Boy's fast paced quarter beat Drum and Bass to Patrick O'Hearns rolling lows, the Q's didn't miss a beat.

I also like to listen to other things like Young Jibbs, Mike Jones, and Lil Scrappy. This is when it gets nasty. I have demoed the car for people. They all asked to see the trunk. They wouldn't believe that a. it was only a pair of twelves and b. it was only a single small amp. I actually had someone feel behind the box while looking for more drivers. There were none. I am not sure what thye low note in King Kong is, but it shines. Mike Jones, oh my. Get Some Crunk in Your System, wow.

Some more songs I like; Kavious-Take a Picture, Trick Daddy-Tuck That Ice In, Jeezy-what doesn't have great low end?

The single thing that made the Q one of my favorites was how linear it was. From 32 all the way to 100, which is where my crossover is set, everything is loud/even. I wish I could describe it better. I have owned several subs and have found them to increase in volume with certain tones. Sealed and ported, at or not at res freq. I tended to play only certain songs when showing the subs off. I don't have to do that with the Q's. I can play anything, as long as it isn't below tuning and where the ssf is set and it remains linear. I guess this is where design trumps big giant motors and fancy cones.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I will answer them to the best of my ability.

[JimJ 11]

Excellent review!

[katsooba 0]

great review!

just waiting for a quote to 2 Q15"s to israel

and already cant wait to get them

[filtor1 13]

Excellent review!

Thanks man. I am always leery of posting b/c there is no real set standard for a review. I tried to be as thorough as possible.

I realized I didn't mention my stage. I have Rainbow Contour 265's up front and a pair of Type-R comps in the rear. The R's are barely on, I use them to pull the stage back a little bit. I am going to trade the R's for my Contours and put Germaniums up front, when the money becomes available.

[filtor1 13]

great review!

just waiting for a quote to 2 Q15"s to israel

and already cant wait to get them

Awesome, in the right box, you should love them. What are you going to power them with?

[JimJ 11]

Excellent review!

Thanks man. I am always leery of posting b/c there is no real set standard for a review. I tried to be as thorough as possible.

I realized I didn't mention my stage. I have Rainbow Contour 265's up front and a pair of Type-R comps in the rear. The R's are barely on, I use them to pull the stage back a little bit. I am going to trade the R's for my Contours and put Germaniums up front, when the money becomes available.

It's good to see a more substantial review than simply "y0 I putz them in mah trunk and them bump hard, mayne!"

[filtor1 13]

Excellent review!

Thanks man. I am always leery of posting b/c there is no real set standard for a review. I tried to be as thorough as possible.

I realized I didn't mention my stage. I have Rainbow Contour 265's up front and a pair of Type-R comps in the rear. The R's are barely on, I use them to pull the stage back a little bit. I am going to trade the R's for my Contours and put Germaniums up front, when the money becomes available.

It's good to see a more substantial review than simply "y0 I putz them in mah trunk and them bump hard, mayne!"

Hahahahahaha! Indeed.

[Fi Car Audio 64]

Chris,

Thanks for the glowing and through review.

We will have something up shortly to help get the forum back to where it was and Ill use your post as the example of how to do it right (even if their review isnt 2 thumbs up like your seems to be)

Thanks and have a good weekend,

Scott

[filtor1 13]

Chris,

Thanks for the glowing and through review.

We will have something up shortly to help get the forum back to where it was and Ill use your post as the example of how to do it right (even if their review isnt 2 thumbs up like your seems to be)

Thanks and have a good weekend,

Scott

Anytime Scott. I am always happy to contribute.

[katsooba 0]

great review!

just waiting for a quote to 2 Q15"s to israel

and already cant wait to get them

Awesome, in the right box, you should love them. What are you going to power them with?

already got the IA 20.1 waiting just for the two subs.

hope the international shipping be worth it:)

i wouldnt wanna start looking for another drivers

[tez4life 1]

Very nice review. Simple yet detailed enough to explain the characteristic of the drivers. The comparsion between the FIs and the TDXs was informative as well.

[scottxgtr 9]

It's good to see a more substantial review than simply "y0 I putz them in mah trunk and them bump hard, mayne!"

haha. yeah. my favorite is "deez blow my old LW7's away. I just had to gets a new windshield put in my escalade cuz THE bass is sooo hard."

[filtor1 13]

great review!

just waiting for a quote to 2 Q15"s to israel

and already cant wait to get them

Awesome, in the right box, you should love them. What are you going to power them with?

already got the IA 20.1 waiting just for the two subs.

hope the international shipping be worth it:)

i wouldnt wanna start looking for another drivers

Awesome! It will definitely be worth it. Keep us posted.

Edited February 24, 2007 by Chris

[filtor1 13]

Very nice review. Simple yet detailed enough to explain the characteristic of the drivers. The comparsion between the FIs and the TDXs was informative as well.

Glad you liked it.

[bdawson72 0]

Good Review

[audio-neon 34]

Glad to see another diamond sub owner saying good things about Fi, as i am hoping to replace my diamond subs with Fi subs. I am also glad to hear that they still sound good underpowered.

How is that eclipse 8455 working out for you, are you running it in pro mode? with biamped components?

Very good review

[filtor1 13]

Glad to see another diamond sub owner saying good things about Fi, as i am hoping to replace my diamond subs with Fi subs. I am also glad to hear that they still sound good underpowered.

How is that eclipse 8455 working out for you, are you running it in pro mode? with biamped components?

Very good review

To say the least, the Q's def wanted more power. I would recommend between 1000 and 1200 to anyone with them. I don't feel like they were deficient in any area with the 800ish watts I was feeding them though.

As for the 8455. There are three things that bug me about it. The knob sensitivity is too high. Scrolling through tracks can, at times, be a chore. It doesn't have a removable face-plate. Lastly, and most annoyingly, is the lack of adjustability concerning the non-fader. My previous HU, an Alpine 9833, had the 8455 beat hands down. I was able to go from a roar to almost off with just the non-fader adjustment. With the 8455, this just isn't the case. Overall, I would rate it very high. The 8V pre-outs, display, and veriety of tuning options is second to none. I find it easy to roll through and find what I need quickly.

I finally got the regular 7band equalization mode down and just started experimenting with Pro-mode when I had a failure. All of the sudden the subs started to randomly cut out while driving. The following day they cut out for good. After some digging a friend and I discovered that one side of the non-fader output was malfunctioning. When turning the volume up on the HU, you should see an increase, athough small mV, from the output. Apparently only one side was responding to input. It is currently on it's way to Eclipse. I def miss it. The HU I have now only has a single RCA output and has taken all adjustabily out of my setup. But it works, and I am thankful to have music at all. I will definitely be using the Pro-mode upon its return.

As for the components, no bi-amping as of yet. I don't think the Contour mids could handle it. Although they are very warm and acurate. I don't feel like they can be pushed much farther than they already are. If the Germaniums become a reality, bi-amping will be necessary. I will have to wait and see.

[theabunai 3]

Chris you mention the 8v pre-outs

That is the only gripe i have with my HU (Alpine 9857) i wish alpine would increase their pre-out voltage to at least 5 or 6v and have them available in more models then just the upper half....

Also i am going to BI-amp my components in the next 2 weeks as well.... The subs are just drowning them out and with my vehicle there is just no room and budget to add more front stage...

[filtor1 13]

Chris you mention the 8v pre-outs

That is the only gripe i have with my HU (Alpine 9857) i wish alpine would increase their pre-out voltage to at least 5 or 6v and have them available in more models then just the upper half....

Also i am going to BI-amp my components in the next 2 weeks as well.... The subs are just drowning them out and with my vehicle there is just no room and budget to add more front stage...

Yeah, Eclipse actually came out with a few models post 8455 that have only 5V pre-outs. Customers barked, I assume, and they released the 5100 and 7100 models that boast the 8V that people were wanting. Personally I think that was a good move as their products were marketed toward an SQ audience. That was one of my gripes with my 9833 as well. One of the few actually, along with the lack of tuning options.

How is the 9857?

I can't wait to have a set of comps I can bi-amp. The Q's overpower the Contours too. I know exactly where you are.

[theabunai 3]

Well like porbably most audiophiles I didn't settle for just dropping it in and hooking up the rcas I wanted to see the BIA (built-in-amp) and WOW it was pretty strong for a HU. And pretty damn good SQ considering....

Pros - 9857 has a bass frequency boost that you can select between 60hz up to 100hz in 10hz increments so 60, 70 80 90 100hz not only that you can widen or narrow the range so say i pick 60hz i can widen the range to peak at 60 and slope gradually down the range both ways (so 60hz peak then it slopes gradually down to 50 and gradually up toward 70hz) you narrow it for a much steeper slope to target the selected boost area. the is one for highs but without the narrow/wide range selector ... Love the auto dimming as well... it adjust the display per the light in the cars interior, if it is day time it switches to a much more visible display in daylight then as it gets dark in automatically switches to a much brighter display. It can be set manually too.. The sound is clean too very powerful and for an extra boost in quality it has the option to shut off the internal amp and direct all power to the RCA outs, 3 settings of BBE also compliment this units SQ output. 3 (front/rear/sub) RCA outputs are good for since i plan on upgrading to some audio control processors. Ipod interface with a 25 dollar fast link cable makes this unit well worth the money. The ipod controls are 10xs faster than my cousing pioneer premier as his was sluggish. coolness

Cons - 2volt preout I have it hooked up to a brand new alpine ere-g180 11 band EQ/sub crossover with a 15+ DB sub boost along with 4 volt pre-outs... need to buy extra stuff for XM, bluetooth and sterring wheel hook up that can cost all together an additional 300 bucks....

Clean sound though just need a Pre-Amp Line Driver to increase the head units voltage to improve SQ of the system (letting you turn your amps input sensitivity to match the line driver voltage is a great SQ booster)

[Accordman 0]

im just waitintg on a dustcap so i can check out what this lil Fi X 10 can do and i'll have a review up.

your review seems pretty damn thorough

[filtor1 13]

im just waitintg on a dustcap so i can check out what this lil Fi X 10 can do and i'll have a review up.

your review seems pretty damn thorough

Thanks man. I look forward to the X review as I have not had the chance to play with them. Don't forget a picture thread too.

[filtor1 13]

Well like porbably most audiophiles I didn't settle for just dropping it in and hooking up the rcas I wanted to see the BIA (built-in-amp) and WOW it was pretty strong for a HU. And pretty damn good SQ considering....

Pros - 9857 has a bass frequency boost that you can select between 60hz up to 100hz in 10hz increments so 60, 70 80 90 100hz not only that you can widen or narrow the range so say i pick 60hz i can widen the range to peak at 60 and slope gradually down the range both ways (so 60hz peak then it slopes gradually down to 50 and gradually up toward 70hz) you narrow it for a much steeper slope to target the selected boost area. the is one for highs but without the narrow/wide range selector ... Love the auto dimming as well... it adjust the display per the light in the cars interior, if it is day time it switches to a much more visible display in daylight then as it gets dark in automatically switches to a much brighter display. It can be set manually too.. The sound is clean too very powerful and for an extra boost in quality it has the option to shut off the internal amp and direct all power to the RCA outs, 3 settings of BBE also compliment this units SQ output. 3 (front/rear/sub) RCA outputs are good for since i plan on upgrading to some audio control processors. Ipod interface with a 25 dollar fast link cable makes this unit well worth the money. The ipod controls are 10xs faster than my cousing pioneer premier as his was sluggish. coolness

Cons - 2volt preout I have it hooked up to a brand new alpine ere-g180 11 band EQ/sub crossover with a 15+ DB sub boost along with 4 volt pre-outs... need to buy extra stuff for XM, bluetooth and sterring wheel hook up that can cost all together an additional 300 bucks....

Clean sound though just need a Pre-Amp Line Driver to increase the head units voltage to improve SQ of the system (letting you turn your amps input sensitivity to match the line driver voltage is a great SQ booster)

You should copy some of this into a nice review thread in the General section. I was thinking about doing the same and adding some more thoughts for the 8455 too. It sounds like you are very happy with the HU. Thanks for the info.

[audio-neon 34]

I love my 8455, it is clean and powerful. I would deffinitely agree that the two knobs scroll way to sensitively. The 8v pre-outs were only a concern so far with treo amps, they dont like anything above 6v. The tuning is exceptional for a HU, although as a true audiophile i want to upgrade to a 30 channel 1/3 octave eq as well. I find the Fader control much more refined than alpine/ pioneer headunits and it makes much more precise adjustments possible. For example in rap or bass heavy songs i run the fader at -1, for classical and such i run the fader at +1 and for rock i run it at 0. And it seems to keep things even. Having a DD amp, i have a bass knob that can very quickly switch things from sq, to an insane dust cap slapping distorted mess we like to call over-excursion.