Fi Car Audio

Amongst all of the other driver changes we have, we are adding a new/old HT company to the mix with a 4" and 3" coiled lines that feature single 4 and 2 Ohm coils along with an ancillary Q adjusting coil. We will be moving the IB3 line over to this co. and finally bring the IB2 line out (we have done the IB2 drivers for specific people and applications but never offered it to the HT masses). Working on that site too and things should be up in a couple of weeks. These drivers are more "standard" items and will be stocked and should ship same or next day. Thanks, Scott

RD as in RD Audio? Not sure how to take that comment if it is...lol

Keeping true to form at Fi we have an industrial application that uses these 4.500" NdFeB "pads" and felt that the trickle down to car audio might be in order for them. The first iteration uses 3 of them and simply has more Gauss than the 3" pole can handle. Coil has a very healthy inductance/heat ring with external fins for cooling and keeps the heat out of the magnets (which seems to be a problem with some other car audio designs). In playing with this proto it is definitely geared towards SPL, given the motor force. Let us know what you think. Im hoping its not too out of the ordinary to be marketable... as it truly performs. Thanks, Scott

BTL history: Gen 1- 2 stack and 3 stack of 8.7" magnets. Flatwind and high xmax, cooling options. Gen 2- Single 11.25" magnet. Flatwind and high xmax coils, cooling and inductance/heat ring options Gen 3- N1: Single slab Neo magnet with integral finned heatsink. Flatwind and high xmax, cooling option 1000W low weight, lower power line N2: Dual slab Neo magnet with integral finned heatsink. Flatwind and high xmax, cooling option 2000W low weight, similar performance to Gen2 BTL line N3: Triple slab Neo magnet with integral heatsink. Flatwind and high xmax options. Possible cooling option, but designed more for SPL than normal daily driving. Lighter weight than older Gen1 and Gen2 BTLs, but with more motor force for SPL applications. N-SG: Still testing. SPL only extreme class split coil sub. Light weight. I have already had a few people ask if the Gen 3 versions will be able to play with the older Gen 2. Not 100% sure at this point. While specs are VERY similar, reactively they are different. We will have to do some testing this week to see how different they really are. We don't want to have widely varying curves, although TS params are similar, throwing amps or one speaker or the other way off. I am inclined to think it will be less of an issue than between Gen1 and Gen2. New BTL line info will be up for N1 and N2 later this week and should be available to order on Monday (allowing people to order ahead while we finish tooling and wait for heat sink order to come in). Subs should be shipping about 4 weeks after in the order they were received. I should have pics up by tomorrow. We are stilling working on the end cap molds and hope to have a couple of pieces by then. Thanks, Scott

Brahma MkII were designed for sound quality with some output. The Achilles heal of those subs is the coil... or lack of a substantial one. While Adire called them 1600, I call that coil 600-800 with the DAF applied (which is how we rate all subs). The comparable sub for the time was the RE XXX, and it was also rated at 1600W (by me) and had significantly more coil in it than the Brahma. Very linear sub, but lacking suspension and thermal ability by todays standards. In having built all the Mk1 and Mk2 Brahmas (Kodas, and Tumults, and other variants for Adire) there isnt too much that can be done coil and thermal wise to the sub to beef it up. We do offer an extra spider, but beyond that they dont have enough motor force to support much more. With XBL coil height is critical. Go any longer and it has double BL at rest and then switches to standard BL one coil is in only one gap. Issue is, it kills the flat BL curve and makes an even larger distortion shift. Thanks, Scott

It is a Q. An older Q with a BP (seeing the machined compression plug in the pole vent) and cooling channels in the top plate. Hard to tell if its D1 or D2 as those coils were both round wire. Former is what the voice coil is wound on. See the wire winding? Look right above it on the cream colored material and there should be writing on it with Sharpie. Should say Q15D1or2 BP It is a newer old version due to integrated leads. Thanks, Scott

Email to Nick or myself (Scott)? Ill check with Nick when I get in. All shirts and stickers are made in house and can be ordered off the site under the accessories section. As for a Revolution shirt.... Im sure we will get something themed and looking like that (minus the Commie colors which are being changed, lol). We do have a 40s retro pinup shirt that we burned screens for and will be making in the next few days. Pinup girl on dropping bomb on side of shirt with retro "Fi Car Audio" over back shoulder. More designs in the works. Thanks, Scott

Heading into work in a minute and will take a couple of phone pics and post them of the N1 and N2 drivers. I have already posted N3 pics albeit with some slight differences to the motor profiling. Same shape, just now with a 45degree chamfer vs the rounded shape. Saves tons of machine time and therefore cost. Ill get some pricing going a few hours after. Should still have more info up on the site tonight... then with pics of all drivers and more info over the weekend. Monday things should be ready to order (albeit with an initial 3-4 week build/lead time). While pricing isnt any less than last version (we machine 100% in house and now use Neo) we worked really hard to keep it the same for the N2 vs older BTL (which are equivalents performance wise). Thanks, Scott

A BL can work for HT. But your issue is the D1 coil. Going to be hard pressed to find a 2 Ohm mono amp... and seems somewhat a waste to run a 2 Ohm channel off of a prosound amp. Q is fairly standard for HT use. We have many BTLs out there in large low tuned systems doing amazing things for HT. IB3 is widely used in HT in multiples, but does take a little home modification to get them installed. Since the IB3 is designed for Infinite Baffle use, there is no true box reinforcement to the system (only isolation of rear wave) and you do not get as much output per displacement. But what you do get is ultra clean effortless bass (hence the reason why people normally do 4 or more at a time). We will have some dedicated HT drivers in a couple of weeks Stay tuned. Thanks, Scott

More info up by Friday night. Pricing will be up by Monday. Thanks, Scott

Didnt even notice that... having him go back to PS and edit that one. Industrial revolution propaganda... for USA, not for Mau Tse Tung...lol We need to bring industry back to US, and thats kind of our goal with some of imagery. A time when we were untouchable when it came to industry/manufacturing. We are buying more machines and moving more and more processes in house. Im all for doing everything we can in house or US. Shame some major companies have gone out of business or moved all production overseas in this industry. Makes it even harder to produce using US parts. So we machine and make what we can. /soapbox

Yes, try to clean off old glue on surround and basket as good as you can. Black stuff is rubber toughened CA (super glue). The clear stuff is accelerator. Depending on how much surround has come off, I would do it in small sections at a time. You can spray or wipe a VERY thin layer of accelerator on the parts, even letting it evaporate some... then QUICKLY apply the black glue and press down and hold. It may become noticeably warmer as the CA and accelerator kick off. Then repeat process. Do not stick CA to fingers unless you dont want them apart without the removal of some skin. Dont eat, sniff, or wear CA/accelerator as cologne. Thanks, Scott

The BTL-N2 version is closest to the older BTLs. We will start posting that over and over so people know. The N3 is geared more towards SPL... and thats not "hey, I drive daily and once a year I compete with my daily system tuning for SPL, so I guess I need an SPL sub" type SPL. It means for a system that is for burps only. Not music. Thanks, Scott

We physically couldnt do a 10" in the Gen2 ... something about a 11.25" diam magnet that doesnt work well on top of a 10" basket. Not to mention that the 12" fits in smaller enclosures, so realistically you could do a 12 in the space of a normal 10. I dont know if Ill do a 10. Havent tested one yet. 10" basket geometry leaves a bit to be desired on high excursion applications. Q10 has been a fight for a long time and has a different spider pack to keep things stable. Back to coding and machining.... Thanks, Scott

Understood. I answered... now Ill let this one fade off. No need to post much else. Thanks, Scott

Please dont make me edit any more... just chill. Definitely have more things to do than play editor to keyboard commandos. Not locking yet... but just relax. Thanks, Scott

OK People... settle down. Chris from MLA used to work for us. He has since moved MLA back to his home town in IL to be closer to his extended family. Leave a message on the line or send an email. He should get back to you. Chris started MLA when we were having charging issues with his 13 Kinetics and 3 alts... found out that nothing ever fully charges for AGMs and a few others unless you get per cell voltage above 2.5V... everyone taps out earlier voltage wise on their alts than that. So he made modules specific to each auto (and some times 2-3 versions for a single year) to communicate with the ECU and tell it everything is OK, and tell the alt something else to do. Works amazingly well. I swear by them and use them on all my cars. Thanks, Scott

Id like to see my Jeep get 58 mpg too...lol Q by nature just isn't a 3kW driver. But its not as far of a stretch as people that want the IB3 to be one While the Q has shifted some from pure SQ over the iterations and changes, it still sticks to those roots, just rolls with the needs and changes of the customers. To me, a SQish driver doesnt need to handle that kind of power... get two. So far it has been a solid balance with the Q, and we will see how the N1 blurs that some. Thanks, Scott

Standard driver can be used ported or sealed. High Qts is better for sealed only applications.

Louder is an issue... physics come into play and there is only so much magically pixie dust that can be sprinkled about before you are tapped out. BTLs have done daily and SPL well. But a pinpoint specific driver could do one or the other better. I think the new N2 does daily a little better than the older version... and the N3 does extreme SPL better. I try to tell people that there is no magic bullet. Why cant my daily system do monster SPL like the SPL only vehicles? Same reason why a Ferrari doesnt go desert racing. Neither situation is bad, just use the right tool for the application. We are trying to make a few more "tools" for different applications.

N1 may be a neo "Q" to some extent. It straddles the BL/Q line pretty hard, but saves a fair amount of weight. By nature of the new design, it has one heck of a shorting ring in it Really, with respect to power handling... things are all over the place now a days. People are asking why don't we make speakers that handle 10kW each since there are amps that large. Many reasons, and many of those are the amps themselves. The DAF goes exponential at that point too. Internet has done a great disservice to peoples learning curves and ability to set up a system correctly. Having a monster 5kW daily driver requires huge tooling changes and if the DAF holds true, lots of problems with "why did my speaker blow?". Just because Tejcurrent, SMD, BKOLFO4, and others can strap huge power and double the RMS to a speaker for daily, doesnt mean that everyone should or will have similar results. There is a learning curve there that the check book just doesnt allow for. And I am of the mind that when it leaves our doors it needs to be more than right and never come back. We will see how this shift in speakers goes for us and go from there. Surely not saying it wont happen, but not until the current line proves its worth and marketability. Thanks, Scott

BTL line has been the foundation for us since day one. It has been where all the trickle down tech has come from. With such a heavy change to things we felt that instead of pulling completely viable product that we should just expand things under the BTL umbrella. They are that much different... As far as the N1 goes... it somewhat stradles the Q/BL line in terms of power and application, but it is much lighter weight. Not everyone wants a 47lb BL12 in their trunk... but something a hair under 30 seems better. Weight is weight. BTL-N2 which is the standard BTL replacement saved a significant amount in weight. So much so that we are changing the packaging to be all foam. We purchased a larger 60W laser and are doing the foam bottom pieces cut to shape via that. This will cut shipping costs.... especially internationally. We are looking to up performance where we can and keep costs down or cut them... all without resorting to China and moving more production and parts in house. Im working on end caps right now. Things look a little odd without them (although things look odd in general). Ill try to get things sorted for pics tomorrow. N3 is similar to original design, but with a slightly less sculpted feel. Coming from 1 1/4" plate, sculpting takes up valuable machine time and adds cost. We reduced things down some and went to just a chamfer around the edges. Saves about 20 minutes... which is HUGE. We are reworking the site some too to give it a new feel... more in line with our industrial roots and the fact that your speaker is just a slab of steel until you click "buy" and we start flinging chips Thanks, Scott

Well the third generation of the BTL line will have quite a bit more going on. Heatsink is integral to the design (all subs will have them). Using Neo instead of ferrites. Lighter weight for similar performance... similar weight to a Q for the new BTL-N2 (which is the equivalent to the Gen 2 BTL). BTL history: Gen 1- 2 stack and 3 stack of 8.7" magnets. Flatwind and high xmax, cooling options. Gen 2- Single 11.25" magnet. Flatwind and high xmax coils, cooling and inductance/heat ring options Gen 3- N1: Single slab Neo magnet with integral finned heatsink. Flatwind and high xmax, cooling option 1000W low weight, lower power line N2: Dual slab Neo magnet with integral finned heatsink. Flatwind and high xmax, cooling option 2000W low weight, similar performance to Gen2 BTL line N3: Triple slab Neo magnet with integral heatsink. Flatwind and high xmax options. Possible cooling option, but designed more for SPL than normal daily driving. Lighter weight than older Gen1 and Gen2 BTLs, but with more motor force for SPL applications. N-SG: Still testing. SPL only extreme class split coil sub. Light weight. So new BTL line will consist of 3-4 different designs. We are waiting on heatsinking (sample extrusions are in and being tested with motors), and the 1 1/4" thick plates to come in. From there we will machine all parts and assemble drivers. We have moved even more production in house and will have our 5th CNC delivered next week. We are also finishing the tooling for the end caps for the N1 and N2 motors and will be molding those in house as well. I am a firm believer that we will make and do ever process in house that we can. We are trying to get Clark County approval for a plating warehouse as well. It will make yet another process for the heatsinks, poles, and plates under our control. We should have the N1 and N2 info up on the site by the end of the week. N3 info shortly after that. We will be taking orders starting Monday for N1 and N2 subs and should start shipping about 4 weeks later once production ramps up. Always a few tooling/machine/fixture issues to go through with new products once you start making chips. Thanks, Scott

Because it is hard to cool the coils with liquid in high excursion subs. Yes, you can cool the steel and magnets... but not as effective as the coil itself. Does help some, but not as much as forced air cooling now. We have less thermal issues and more mechanical failure modes. Most come from overexcursion or odd things amps do when pushed too far. We have other methods of cooling things much better that we have used for industrial applications for linear and rotating motor systems. MUCH more effective than all of the above. But somewhat costly to implement and do have some side issues to deal with in other environments. Oh yeah... 2nd Gen BTLs are done. New unit info is being worked on and should be up by end of week for orders Thanks, Scott