Fi Car Audio

Last time I emailed was regarding the palletized airshipment and a minimum of 200kg. I can get a good rate at that point, but 200kg of product is signifcantly more than what you and your friend were wanting to order. Still, even through Bax, DHL, FedEX, and UPS... the US Postal Service is the least expensive per sub (and thats not saying much). Part of the problem with not having standard items and distributors to sell them is that there is no one in Europe, Asia, wherever, to take a container load of products and reduce the overall cost. While we have shipped to Finland, Greece, Germany, Signapore, Hong Kong, Australia and others... they all paid qutie a bit in shipping. Even Canada doesnt get much of a break and parts of Canada are significantly closer than Florida or Maine... yet it still cost more. Unless I find a person I can really trust and rely on in Europe to do a monthly Ocean freight order (basically consolidating all the Euro orders for that month) and then send them to the other countries... it seems that the cost to ship there is simply too high. Thanks, Scott

Well... I know both motor topologies quite well... one is free the other is not. Both have inherent drawbacks as well as pluses to the designs. Ill just stick to the royalty free version I am MUCH more inclined to make a realistic sub than a statement piece. The XXX was designed to once again be the flagship for RE. Somehwere along the way with the introduction of the MT, people started to think that the MT was the big dog... and I always wanted the XXX to be. No one really needs 54mm of Xmag. Most people simply dont need 4"+ of excursion. But "it is what it is" (does typing that in cyberspace count Shawn? ) I wont say too much about what designs are done and collecting dust, or what is in the works of being made. I would much rather just come out with it and not spend a year and a half hyping something up. When you see something like that on the site... well then you know its done. Thanks, Scott

A single Q15 in 5 cuft tuned to 40 Hz will do better than a single Q15 in 3.75 cuft tuned to 40 Hz with the same power. It will have about 1 dB more of a peak. But with double the power and 2 Q15s in 3.75 cuft each (7.5 cuft common chamber) you will see solid gain overall. Will it push you to a 148? It could, but its hard to say exactly what it will do. Theoretically its a 6dB gain... but it usually doenst pan out that way. Not too mention you will be about 1dB down in general due to the smaller enclosure... so 5 dB at absolute best... probably closer to 4. Thanks, Scott

Yes, it will be out tomorrow. We received your order when we were gone for SBN. While we did have people making subs, we didnt process all of the orders and get started on them until we got back on Tuesday morning. Your sub was finished earlier today and will get packed to go out via UPS tomorrow. Did you receive a tracking number via UPS Quantum View? One should have been automatically generated and sent to you. Given your location, you should have it mid next week. Please let me know if I can answer anything else. Thanks, Scott

I simply havent had time to get through all of the links, emails and pms sent for these in the past week. Ill try and get on them late tonight. No worries... if you did it, you will most definitely get a shirt and some stickers Thanks for the patience. Scott

Well.. with single wall 3/4" MDF you are right at 9cuft. Id probably pick up another Q15 to match. With a 4" X 33.5" port 14" long itll net you a 7.5 cuft box tuned to 40 Hz. While the current 5cuft box peaks at 45, this one will peak at 48. Youll have a decent gain over the current setup, even though the current sizing per sub is more efficient (about a dB of difference with (1) sub in 3.75 at 40 or (1) in 5 at 40). Least expensive route to go and probably the best... Thanks, Scott

OK... yes you will gain from about 30 Hz to about 75 Hz... But its not night and day (a 4 dB peak at 54 Hz rolling off on either side) and you wont be as loud below 30 Hz as the sealed enclosure (youll need to set the subsonic around 30Hz). This will be louder if you bassrace and play some of the more popular high 40s low 50s songs... youll gain 3-4 dB... but at the expense of the overall sound. Easy enought to try it and make a block off plate to go back to sealed for daily. Looking to be about 8" center sections (10" port, but you usually gain a little length on either end with the flares). Oh, I did get your email and we will have to see what we can do for that as well. Thanks, Scott

I have a coil that will work correctly provided that you have an OLD SE. Cant do it with the newer versions as I tightened up the gaps to optimize the current coil in them. Thanks... Scott

email sent. Thanks, Scott

Go ahead and send an email to me at [email protected] with your zipcode. Is this for a recone kit or for you to send it in for a recone? Thanks, Scott

Im sure I can come up with something No problem, and I can offer a couple of tweaks for higher power handling as well. Thanks, Scott

Well... yes and a little bit of no I will not build a fully loaded BTL 10" for any reason, but a standard 2 magnet with the standard coil can be done for daily. In fact, using the daily tolerences for the 10" in a Street A class will gain over a 3rd magnet BTL with SPL tolerences. Scrubbing off a little motor strength is not a bad thing with the BTLs in Street A,B or C. I can tweak things a little to make them useful for daily drivers, but this is only after a fair amount of experimenting (same reason I didnt originally offer a Q10" until I had plenty of time to tweak things). The BTL10s take a few tweaks to them to make them daily drivers... I have overcome some of the geometry issues. But as far as a fully loaded BTL 10"... that one will never see production. Hope I didnt confuse things more Thanks... Scott

You should have received an email from me this morning with specs and a diagram/ cut sheet. Please let me know if you didnt. Box ended up at 32 x 15 x 15. Thanks... Scotts phone

Neither. The "optimal" targeting for the enclosure programs is based off of something far from optimal for car audio. It doesnt take into account transfer function of the vehicle... and therefore is best used only for getting port info... and not so much for an overall design. I think what might be happening is that we list subs impedance per coil and not wired in series as the specs are taken. Simply try for the D2 to list the DCR or RE as 2.8 (or double the single coil load) and it should come out fine. D1s should be 1.4 not .7 (as .7 is per coil and specs are measured with coils in series for the least error). Thanks, Scott

Nice sticker Tom Im sorry you werent at SBN... although I definitely understand why not given the amount of points you can rack up close to you. Fi was working overtime and your system would have definitely fit right in with the rest of the Fi bassracers. Cant wait to kick it up another couple of clicks Scott

Gladly help with whatever we can. As Nick asked above, what kind of sizing are we talking about per chamber? Or can we take some artistic liberty with that as well? Depending on the chamber sizing and tunings, it will be a little easier to point you in the best direction for product. No need to take an ultra heavy handed approach in any one direction if the cost isnt warranted. Thanks, and welcome to the forum! Scott

Trying to catch up with orders and emails right now. I will get back on the shirts and PMs tonight. Im sure there are several more people that will be getting them... Ill try to get the current ones out on Thurs. Again, thanks to everyone that is participating in the forum promotion... and to all of those that simply help with the ofrum in general. We just broke the 300 mark again and Im sure in a couple more months we will be back up to where we were... this time with a little better searchable database for product reviews too. Thanks, Scott

As always, a big thanks for repping Fi! Im on the wrong coast right now, but when I get back Ill give you a call. Scotts phone...

We recommend 12 to 16 sqin per cuft of enclosure for most ported applications. Scotts phone...

Looking at half that or less for the kit. Shipping depends if it is a kit or a complete recone. Stuck in Denver... stupid planes. Scotts phone.

We had a bunch of them go out on Mon and Tues. I will get a list going when I get back from SBN... if your names not on the list, well sorry... no shirt for you (or atleast I dont know you need one yet ) I figured adding the www.ficaraudio.com to the stickers was only an invitation to problems. The plain Fi logo could be for just about anything. For the larger 12" stickers, I do have some of the web address that can be added underneath for those that like to flirt with danger Thanks, Scott

If its a 3" coil Im sure I can. Ill have to do a little research on that one when I get back from SBN. Thanks, Scott

All orders up until this morning have been charged and processed. Your status on the sub might not have been updated yet... but we did have 3 BTL18 orders on the 16th (not sure which is yours) but all have been processed and paid for. We are trying to get ALL orders out before mid Thursday as 2 out of 5 Fi people will be heading out to SBN in Daytona. While I am gone, we will still have production going on some items... others that need heavier machining will have to wait until late Monday to be finished and shipped. I am sorry about the delays for SBN Thanks... Scott

2 cuft tuned to 32Hz will play the lows with authority. Definitely need to set up the subsonic filter correctly (28Hz or so). You should be set. I have told people for many years that FS is not an indication of bottom end extension (well it can be for IB and some other applications... but it really isnt much of an issue there either). Otherwise those that are using BTLs with an even stiffer suspension and often similar moving mass wouldnt drop deep (and I think they do ) If there is anything else I can help with, let me know. Thanks, Scott

The universal feature does allow for any of the coils in that series to be swapped in and out. But it sets the gapping relative to the pole tolerences selected (SPL or Daily). With the SPL tolerences things are much tighter and are designed strictly for SPL. With the daily tolerences things are designed to have a little looser gapping to allow for less coil rub and rock issues for daily applications. For those that wish to use a sub for both daily and weekend SPL, we recommend the daily versions. Can he run the SPL subs daily? Probably, but we do not recommend it. Thanks, Scott