Fi Audio 18BL warranty issue - failed after an hour of use

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

FYI - I sent a link to this post to my contact at Fi to allow them to justify their stance and to be fair. I disagree with talking about someone "behind their back". They have their reasons and are welcome to share.

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

If they know how respected you are in the audio community, they may reconsider screwing you out of shipping costs. I would rebuild your sub as repayment for the wealth of knowledge you've given me. Lol

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

UPDATE

Finally received the replacement sub. I had communication with Fi several times. They still contend it is my fault and that I did something with wiring. They were very cooperative and ended up sending the repaired sub at no cost, even covered shipping and upgraded to a carbon fiber dust cap (may have been a stocking issue).

Replacement is in, and again we adjusted gains. Now that the warranty is no longer valid (I was told this was a one-time thing) we have the sub hooked to both amps. And, of course, I took photos of my scope and DMM

measurement of both amp outputs playing a 25Hz sine wave

this demonstrates that both amps are in-phase electrically.

setting gains with 0dB tone

coil 1:

coil 2:

installed and operational:

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

this sub was MUCH stiffer than the previous one. That was very evident. Also, four of the basket mounting holes had to be drilled out because the glue had hardened and was blocking the mounting holes.

in the month since we pulled the sub, the Mayhem did just fine running off both amps. All we did was re-adjust gains for the different impedance load. We have no intention of the sub sustaining what both amps are capable of. But having headroom is always a good thing. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Clean signals still blow subs, VC getting stinky was the warning sign. Hopefully this time the guy knows to back off when it starts to smell.

You going to Cordova on Saturday for the dbdrag show, starts at 3:00?

 

[NIHL8ION]

Looks good, now hopefully this one will actually stay together for awhile...

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

[quote name='DDtC']Tensile leads use to catch the spiders on fire. User error as in way overpowering for most but come on.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='T.I.K.']Lol, yeah over-powering or not, I feel like those shouldn't catch fire.[/QUOTE]


Back to this topic real fast...that's why they call it the BTL @T\.I\.K\.- Broken Tinsel Leads

 

[infamous_e46 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/santa.gif.e1ec9cf2e0a0dd232ad35aa594a126d0.gif proved me wrong good to see it worked out

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

glad to see everything worked out //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[OldManBass]

this sub was MUCH stiffer than the previous one. That was very evident. Also, four of the basket mounting holes had to be drilled out because the glue had hardened and was blocking the mounting holes.
in the month since we pulled the sub, the Mayhem did just fine running off both amps. All we did was re-adjust gains for the different impedance load. We have no intention of the sub sustaining what both amps are capable of. But having headroom is always a good thing. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Awesome that it worked out, glad to hear Fi came through. My SSD's came with Carbon Fiber cones as well... I know they were out of copper coils for a while and they offered an upgrade to aluminum for free so they could get the subs to me faster but I wanted copper... guess they tossed the upgrade cones in to make up for the wait //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Clean signals still blow subs, VC getting stinky was the warning sign. Hopefully this time the guy knows to back off when it starts to smell.
You going to Cordova on Saturday for the dbdrag show, starts at 3:00?

agreed.

no, not going. i have other stuff going on.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

[quote name='slammedincouch']Back to this topic real fast...that's why they call it the BTL @T\.I\.K\.- Broken Tinsel Leads[/QUOTE]

Bought my BTL used from a member on here years ago and it's outlived two amps and still wangs like it's brand new. It's an old school triple stack though so Idk if their issues were with specific generations or not.

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

Bought my BTL used from a member on here years ago and it's outlived two amps and still wangs like it's brand new. It's an old school triple stack though so Idk if their issues were with specific generations or not.

It's just a joke amongst the line. I believe it actually stands for built to last which is ironic for some people who had the lead problem. I've only owned a couple of the ufo series BTLs over the years

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

here is an interesting observation: playing the sub today the owner said he opened the doors and it was louder and seemed to play "easier". plenty of output but he is able to hit the "wall" in which you struggle to pressurize the cabin. not louder just because of reduced cancellation but louder because the sub doesn't have to work as hard - like a large sealed box vs. a large vented box.

we are wondering if pressurizing the cabin is what resisted cone movement and caused over heating despite operating the sub in a fashion that would be fine without the additional cabin pressure. who else has noticed this?

so for now, he is just going to take it easy and enjoy music through the Type-X comps and xtant amp.

I still thing the sub lacks a sufficient heat sink and cooling for the price/market. the 12" Alphasonic Mayhem never had an issue in the same setup and had the same amount of output.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Normally you will be louder/have less backpressure on the sub with a window down or door open. Turns the box into a pseudo 6th order.

If you're on the ragged edge then door open can lead to overexcursion/bottoming out. Lot of flat walls have that issue when playing low stuff...

I would just tell him to be conscious of the music/freqs he's playing as higher stuff will heat the coil pretty quick if pushing a lot of power. And use the "smell-o-meter"

Bummer you can't make it Saturday, got of us heading down for that one....