Fi Car Audio

Stock is still 18. 99% of people order High Xmax, which is 28. Suspension is close (new material), coils are the same, specs are very similar. TS wise they should do fine together. But impedance rise and some other less thought of differences might play a little havoc on single amps with mixed subs. I havent had a chance to see that yet. I normally say "no" to mixing versions or subs, but at this stage cant honestly answer. Thanks, Scott

If I end up liking the SQ only sort of route it would be sealed capable... definitely. Vs Q... hmm. Well Q has taken a little shift over the years from 2 soft spiders to 5. We have seen peoples interpretation of SQ take a massive shift from sealed optimal alignments at reasonable listening levels to SQ meaning that it doesnt sound like a wet dog fart like my friends 57 Hz tuned "daily" box. I am liking the idea of having a true SQ driver again. Ill get a chance to play a little more with it and the other coils next week. Thanks, Scott

Worked some more with the N1 today. Will try a different approach to it with a special coil early next week. Ultra low inductance and high linearity design... very SQish. Thanks, Scott

Agreed. Think of the N2 as the older BTL. Application and use is the same. Thanks, Scott

I use Bill Gates amazing "notepad" and also Mastercam. I do a bunch of coding by hand using notepad...lol Mastercam and other programs sometimes do things the way they think it should be done vs what I want. So its easier to code by had for some things and for complex profiling/3d coding, Mastercam is the only way to go. I set those pieces in the tumbler over night. Definitely too much time in there. Really only need about 2 1/2 hours... so 6 was too much. Just made a wee more edge break on things that I want for production... looks fine though. Just eats up more media time and increases cost, which we don't want to do. Thanks, Scott

After our Fiside Chat, I needed to get back to work. Here are some pics in progress of another N1 motor. Testing revised GCode on top and back plates. Making chips out of the plate where the gap should be. Top plate after edge chamfer, but before gap bump profile, peck drill for basket holes, and tap. Paused during tool change. Back plate after pocket for rear Fi sticker and chamfer. Back plate sitting on top of vibratory tumbler. Back plate in media ready to do some time getting cleaned up in the tumbler. Production plates will go through the surface grinder first to get things really flat before machining. Not showing the proprietary production fixturing for these. It will help run multiple parts at the same time to reduce machine down time. Thanks, Scott

Not sure if I would agree with the above. With a BL10 in "optimum" which above seems to reference the middle of our recommended sizes, the BL12 in the smallest recommended size will still be louder at all frequencies. We tend to go a little on the larger side of the recommendations with the BL10 simply because it is near impossible to fit a proper port on the small side of things. BL12 in 2 cuft works great and doesnt take up too much space. Thanks, Scott

Like the previous BTLs (BL, and now Q) you do not need any real clearance behind the sub as there is no pole vent. The mounting depth on these is worst case given that you can mount these into a corner easier than ever before due to their narrower profile. They are still wider at 8.25" but the front to back profile of the motor is much narrower than that. Given that, we are going to rework the back fin cover mold to include a larger 45degree angle so that they can fit even tighter into corners. Previous 11.25" motor would never fit into that space... a wee to chubby. Thanks, Scott

Spaz... yes, 15" is 9.625" deep. Just put that up there. I'm leaving to LA for a meeting. I will be back this evening and get the N1 up by tomorrow morning. Simply ran out of time last night/this morning. Thanks, Scott

BL will still hold its own against the N1. The N1 is geared a little more towards SQ and not a monster tough sub. The N1 will cost a little more than the BL too. Only so low we can go with the cost of Neo. In recent conversations with several people, most feel that the N1 should be geared towards SQ, like a light weight Q, more so than a light weight BL. While I have always leaned in that direction, it did test well with the BL coil in it. I understand the thinking: Q seems to be a little more esoteric sub for a discerning listener that would appreciate the weight savings. BL tends to be brutalized and appreciated for its heft. Id say, stick with the BL. Thanks, Scott

Well, we heard similar grumblings when we went from the Gen1 three stack magnets to the Gen2 single stack magnet. How can only 1 magnet do the job of the previous three? Well, even though there was less material there in the Gen2, it is how its oriented and used that matters. After a couple of months people realized that they were a stronger sub and that the odd looking flying saucer motor works, and works well. I'm hoping that people take the same leap with the new ones as they are even further out of the norm. But, they are lighter, perform a little better in daily apps (in my opinion), and have tons of thermal capacity. They are a solid step forward... but look weird Given their performance level Ill take the 40lb sub vs the 66lb one if they do the same job Thanks, Scott

Like Nick said, BL as a factor alone means nothing. You need to have more specs in hand before you can make any sort of judgment about the drivers ability or application. The coils/speakers were designed to yield very similar results between the D1 and D2 subs. All too often people design subs that have VERY different specs and characteristics between the different coil options. This seems counter intuitive that in the same size, and series, that one coil works better in sealed, and another in ported (there are extremes like this). Looking at BL^2/Re you see that the speakers are almost spot on. This can also be seen between the Mms, Vas, and Q values. While Mms is slightly different between the two, it is realistically less than a normal deviation between subs in the same coil/size. Gen2 BTLs are all gone. We have moved on to the new Gen3 Neo subs. 9 subs sold Thanks, Scott

We have the BTL N2 subs up on the site for sale with specs. As mentioned there will be about a 4 week lead time on the first orders of BTLs. This is due to waiting for the balance of steel and heatsinks to arrive. N1 will be up late tonight. Thanks, Scott

A pair of SSD12s with the flatwind coils would be the better bet output wise. Albeit in twice the enclosure volume. Cone area wins. Also, be advised that in ported applications you will need some sort of secondary filtering for the subsonic side of things so the subs dont go into overexcursion below tuning. The RF amps are set to 0 or 28Hz and a shallow 12dB per octave. Not adjustable or very useful. Thanks, Scott

Qes stays the same, Qms is what drops when the coil is shorted.... and therefore Qts. Very true... you can do it with any DVC speaker, although most specs arent designed for it and you end up with really high Qts values with just 1 coil. Like the old Atlas drivers we were able to do some interesting things with all coils driven (when subs were used in pairs). From the S4 driven and 2Ohm RDO you can wire with a pair of subs the RDO coils in series to yield (3) 4 Ohm coils for a pair of speakers. Back all in parallel yields a 1.3 Ohm load which works well with many Class D amps (for auto applications). Same goes for the 2 Ohm driven and 1 Ohm RDO for a final .7 Ohm load for a pair. Thanks, Scott

Pricing on N1 will be up tomorrow. Again, unless you have an Extreme SPL class vehicle the SG is not for you. And realistically unless we really scrub off some motor on the N3, its not the best daily driver. Having too much motor and too low a Qts isn't beneficial for daily drivers. It gives you a massively saddle shaped response and less bottom octave performance. There is definite practical limits for motor force in daily, low pressure SPL, and competition music applications. The N3 and SG are not for daily. They do not implode when you run music through them, just that they are built for a more extreme purpose. I look at it like this... my Jeep is phenomenal in the rocks and dirt. And because I like to hit the autocross/road course every 6 months, it doesn't mean I should take that for it. It wont explode, nor will it set any track records either I'd rather see people using the right product for the job, not simply sell a more expensive driver because "more is better". Hope that makes sense:) Thanks, Scott

In a MUCH bigger way No puny 2" coil for this one. I always liked the design and adjustability, although it never quite caught on until a couple years after the line was gone... then it seemed to be sought after on the used market. Hopefully a few years later people will better understand what that extra "half a coil" is used for Thanks, Scott

Definitely not going to be selling motors separately. Balance of parts are the same or similar. We will be changing the suspension some to a newer material combination that seems to be even more stable and durable than the last (which I have been using for a dozen years or more). Thanks, Scott

Standard BTL-N2 pricing 12" $384 15" $404 18" $434 Pricing went up $20 over standard, but considering neo cost, and the included heatsink (where the IHR was a $25 option before) the sub actually costs less with the shipping savings if IHR was ordered, or about the same without it. The 12" ships at 42# vs 70# for the Gen2 12". No more crates... we have a laser that we are cutting packing foam to fit the motor and cradle it in the box. Saves weight... which I know all of our international customers and distributors will be happy about. We worked hard to keep pricing the same while upgrading the driver. We are looking at the long term with this line with the addition of more multi-axis CNC machines to try and handle all of the machining as well as a massive flatbed grinder with 20" sweep and multiple electromagnet chucks for setup. Upper spacers and lower sink cover are molded in house too (been a heck of a learning curve for these). We have really upped our ability and machinery to get these subs off the ground. Based off of continued growth sales of the previous two BTL lines, we can cut back profits in favor of increased sales for simply a better product. Hopefully the round in the chamber doesn't end up in my foot Working on editing pics of all the drivers right now. Text is done. Specs for N2 will be edited tomorrow. I hope to have N1 specs edited and added as well. Things will definitely be up for order on Monday. Thanks, Scott

Set gain and subsonic correct and they will never care with 1200W to them. Thanks, Scott

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

This is the standard replacement for the Gen1 and Gen2 BTLs. It has similar power handling and options. The heatsink/inductance ring which was an option on the Gen2 is now integral to the design. We spent quite a bit of time testing the sinking and cooling to ensure that the Neo magnets used would not suffer degradation due to heatsoak (a problem which plagues other designs). Form followed function with the motor and is why these new versions are a fairly radical departure from the last designs. Weight loss is significant compared to the 11.25" diameter magnets used in the Gen2 motors. More info to come both on the site and here. We are trying to get pics for the N1 and N2 drivers up on the site over the weekend to start selling on Monday morning. There will be an initial approx 4 week lead time for the N1 and N2 subs due to some raw materials not arriving for another 3 weeks. But if these sell even remotely close to the Gen2 BTLs we expect a healthy list of early adopters.

Here are a couple of pics of the N1 motor. Little odd looking compared to most designs, but form followed function. This is rather close to final version, except that material for top and bottom plates is a little thicker (for future profiling) and I wasn't paying enough attention when I wrote the code and wrapped the chamfer all the way around when it doesn't need to be where the spacers/end caps mate.

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

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