# FI Audio 15” SSD Magnet cracked?!



## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

Hello.
I purchased a 15” SSD from FI around April 2022. Yesterday I got in my Tahoe and warmed it up in my garage like normal (winter or summer time). After about 10 min, I decided to leave home. Pulling out, I set my bass knob from zero to full tilt as I was going to listen to spanish music. The moment the bass knob was moved from zero (HU around 10% volume, im still pulling out of driveway), my sub sounds terrible?!

I stop and drive back in my garage and start to trouble shoot and eventually remove the sub. To my surprise, the magnet is cracked! It’s the Holidays and my granddaughter is staying with us so I’ve had the bass knob turned all the way off and Bass at stock Eq at -9. Thursday evening was the last time I had power to the sub and zero distortion or issues. Eq was and still is at -9, normal playing is at -0.

Im blown away that the magnet randomly cracked. I reached out to FI via FB messenger and was told this happens when it’s cold and sub is played full blast (which I know is 100% false in this case especially since I always warm my truck up w/auto heating).

I had a follow up message that it’s an old sub and is not warranted and could ask the boss/owner for a quote to repair (not specific words, just summarizing).

My question is, is this normal for sub magnets to randomly crack?
Is it normal for subs under warranty to not be warranted?

Thank you for your feedback and Merry Christmas everyone!!!


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## ItsonlyaHONDA (Sep 9, 2021)

Most subs even from the sh!ttiest companies will give u at least a 1 year warranty. This sux bro. That's a manufacturing defeat in my eyes. Doesn't matter if you were playing full blast or not. You didn't burn the coil from abuse, even then companies like Skar will still warranty a sub with a burnt coil. Sounds like they trying to pull a fast one on you


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

I thought fi subs carried a 1 year warranty? I would try to call their service number to speak to someone


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## NW JLUR (Dec 3, 2018)

I was an installer for 12 years, left the business in 2006, and have never seen a used or new sub magnet crack like that. I could understand a vertical crack, usually from dropping it or an impact to the magnet. Not a horizontal crack. Granted newer subwoofers can handle more power, so maybe the cold magnet on full wattage could be an issue. Doesn’t sound like that’s the case here and it’s under warranty.


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

IN 40 years of car audio, i have never heard of a magnet cracking while playing music. I agree, it should 100% be covered under warrantee. it sounds like a manufacturers defect to me.


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## Lou Frasier2 (Jul 17, 2012)

how does the other side of the magnet look?


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## winkychevelle (Jun 26, 2016)

As I said in the other forum if you gave them the ammo of you turning it full tilt like you stated here you have them the out to refuse the warranty.

And cracked subs usually happen with much larger subs, typically on mounting panels that are flexing. The cold makes the ferrite brittle granted I have never personally seen a magnet crack from the cold. It's always been from a mounting panel flexing to bad. 

Most companies will eat the cost and replace the sub but if you went in talking how you talking here they very well can deny the warranty for abuse. It depends them


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## bnae38 (Oct 3, 2015)

Buddy had an L7 magnet crack in a crash. Bowling ball slammed into the cone. Pita to pry it apart..

Small part is shelf art in my basement lol...









Yeah that sounds pretty lame on Fi's part. Wtf.


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## Sounds_Insane (8 mo ago)

It would take a long time to heat up a magnet inside an enclosure that has been sitting in the cold overnight, pre-warming the car won't do much.

That being said, the magnet shouldn't have cracked. I've played sub that were sitting in a below zero car all night and have never had a failure. None of them had the power handling of an SSD though. Crazy.


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## SSinstaller (May 19, 2021)

100% manufacturing defect.


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

Lou Frasier2 said:


> how does the other side of the magnet look?


I’ll take a look in the morning.


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

winkychevelle said:


> As I said in the other forum if you gave them the ammo of you turning it full tilt like you stated here you have them the out to refuse the warranty.
> 
> And cracked subs usually happen with much larger subs, typically on mounting panels that are flexing. The cold makes the ferrite brittle granted I have never personally seen a magnet crack from the cold. It's always been from a mounting panel flexing to bad.
> 
> Most companies will eat the cost and replace the sub but if you went in talking how you talking here they very well can deny the warranty for abuse. It depends them


Im not sure I am following. What did I say or do wrong? If I did something to cause the damage, I’ll eat the cost. I sincerely understand neglect or lack their of.
I gave as much info as I could so that if I did something wrong, so it can be called out.

Have I played the sub at full tilt? Yes I have. The last full tilt had the sub underpowered. HU Eq was at -9 and bass knob set at desired volume. This setup is very gentle on sub because Eq bass is set with DD1 @0 (-0 Eq bass, -0 Mids, -0 Treble).
On top of this, I was playing Spanish music which plays lows nowhere near Rap (ie: E-40).

on Christmas Eve, I had same settings from last time I played the sub in perfectly sounding music and it was instantly distorted.

What I am not trying to do is play a victim role or Just give enough info so people can agree with me. I don’t use the forums often so gaining Likes or comments doesn’t motivate me.

This is either a learning experience for me if I did something to cause the problem or to better understand my gut feeling of a warranty issue.

i am curious to know if others have had this issue before as FI mentioned it’s seen it before. Maybe it’s a defected model and that’s why it’s discontinued?


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## HandyLGCA (12 mo ago)

I don’t think anybody is saying you did anything wrong, and if they do, ignore them because they’re lying if they say they never run their system hard. 
what this dude is saying is, don’t explain it like that in whatever correspondence you have with the company. 
either way, that’s an odd split and anybody that works at that company can see that in the picture. 
it shouldn’t have happened regardless of the weather
bummer, sorry that happened to you


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## Thomasluke7899 (Jan 4, 2020)

How cold is cold? If you were close to or below 0.
5hen yes. This can happen. To anything that sees a temperature differential of 40 or 50 degrees in a matter of mins. Like a frozen car warming from 0 to 70 in about 10 mins.
The extreme cold itself will crack already brittle ring magnets.
Theoretically just placing the magnet in such cold temps with surface contact of the slug it could make ring magnets strong enough to crack themselves. As the temp drops the magnets get stronger. 
But I've never seen it happen like that before. 
Or ever. 
Also if the sub is less than a year old .. it should have a warranty....huh


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

Another reason I say to call and speak to and try to speak to a live person. In this world of AI and bots, I dont like chat especially on a social media platform like FB. No telling what algorithm OP was stuck in when he reached out the first time.


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## kiklop32 (Oct 28, 2021)

If it is automotive driver it has to survive -40 to +80°C


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## winkychevelle (Jun 26, 2016)

West1 said:


> Im not sure I am following. What did I say or do wrong? If I did something to cause the damage, I’ll eat the cost. I sincerely understand neglect or lack their of.
> I gave as much info as I could so that if I did something wrong, so it can be called out.
> 
> Have I played the sub at full tilt? Yes I have. The last full tilt had the sub underpowered. HU Eq was at -9 and bass knob set at desired volume. This setup is very gentle on sub because Eq bass is set with DD1 @0 (-0 Eq bass, -0 Mids, -0 Treble).
> ...


It's just the way you say it. You never run a sub full tilt when talking to a company direct. They don't know if it was clipped or played below tuning or in an improper box. But as soon as you say you ran it full tilt they can assume the worst. Even if it's Spanish music with weak bass lines.

Wording is everything to lawyers

I still think it's a defective product even if the defect was impossible to prevent. And a good company should just eat the cost which is likely sub 50bucks especially for Fi who owns their own subs


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

winkychevelle said:


> It's just the way you say it. You never run a sub full tilt when talking to a company direct. They don't know if it was clipped or played below tuning or in an improper box. But as soon as you say you ran it full tilt they can assume the worst. Even if it's Spanish music with weak bass lines.
> 
> Wording is everything to lawyers
> 
> I still think it's a defective product even if the defect was impossible to prevent. And a good company should just eat the cost which is likely sub 50bucks especially for Fi who owns their own subs


I can see what you mean. I guess I was trying to eliminate multiple questions and knew they would want details. It sucks that honesty could be used against you but I do see how a company would look for anything to push blame on the buyer.

I will call FI. I do hope they make it right.


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## Forddenial (8 mo ago)

Unfortunately this is the world we live in, now. Guilty until proven innocent aka "it is your fault unless we can figure out it is not"


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## ItsonlyaHONDA (Sep 9, 2021)

winkychevelle said:


> It's just the way you say it. You never run a sub full tilt when talking to a company direct. They don't know if it was clipped or played below tuning or in an improper box. But as soon as you say you ran it full tilt they can assume the worst. Even if it's Spanish music with weak bass lines.
> 
> Wording is everything to lawyers
> 
> I still think it's a defective product even if the defect was impossible to prevent. And a good company should just eat the cost which is likely sub 50bucks especially for Fi who owns their own subs


I completely disagree with this...... not all Spanish music has weak bass 😃. This song tries to rip my car apart.


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## winkychevelle (Jun 26, 2016)

ItsonlyaHONDA said:


> I completely disagree with this...... not all Spanish music has weak bass 😃. This song tries to rip my car apart.


Only proves my point. The manufacturer doesn't know if it was that song or opera they don't know anything except what you tell them. Don't give them ammo to use against you. 

Burnt coils are obviously user error, broken spider joints are debatable could be bad glue job could be playing below tuning. Cracked frames in shipping the manufacturers problem. You drop the sub and break the frame it's a you issue. And so on.


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## ItsonlyaHONDA (Sep 9, 2021)

winkychevelle said:


> Only proves my point. The manufacturer doesn't know if it was that song or opera they don't know anything except what you tell them. Don't give them ammo to use against you.
> 
> Burnt coils are obviously user error, broken spider joints are debatable could be bad glue job could be playing below tuning. Cracked frames in shipping the manufacturers problem. You drop the sub and break the frame it's a you issue. And so on.


I completely agree with all of that . 😃 I'd never tell a sub manufacturer that I be going full tilt on the sub with 1k more than rated power. Your asking for a Veto from the jump.


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## kiklop32 (Oct 28, 2021)

ItsonlyaHONDA said:


> I completely agree with all of that . 😃 I'd never tell a sub manufacturer that I be going full tilt on the sub with 1k more than rated power. Your asking for a Veto from the jump.


This train already left for you, everybody knows what u r pushing


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## ItsonlyaHONDA (Sep 9, 2021)

kiklop32 said:


> This train already left for you, everybody knows what u r pushing


I don't think the SQLs will ever blow with this power. And if they did I'd just buy a new one. But when my Brahma blew best belive it was on rated power and not during full tilt. 😃


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

winkychevelle said:


> It's just the way you say it. You never run a sub full tilt when talking to a company direct. They don't know if it was clipped or played below tuning or in an improper box. But as soon as you say you ran it full tilt they can assume the worst. Even if it's Spanish music with weak bass lines.
> 
> Wording is everything to lawyers
> 
> I still think it's a defective product even if the defect was impossible to prevent. And a good company should just eat the cost which is likely sub 50bucks especially for Fi who owns their own subs


clipping a sub will not, or should not cause the magnet to crack LOL/


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## Grinder (Dec 18, 2016)

kiklop32 said:


> This train already left for you, everybody knows what u r pushing


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## winkychevelle (Jun 26, 2016)

miniSQ said:


> clipping a sub will not, or should not cause the magnet to crack LOL/


And no where did I say that. I was simply stating a sub failure that obviously isn't the manufacturers fault. 

This is more than likely just an issue with temperature differential.


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

winkychevelle said:


> And no where did I say that. I was simply stating a sub failure that obviously isn't the manufacturers fault.
> 
> This is more than likely just an issue with temperature differential.


not sure I agree with temperature differential as I replay my steps. When I last played the sub, it played perfectly fine. 2 days later it’s distorted at 10% and removing the sub showed the crack.

I never gave the sub enough power or play time to heat up or crack. I was starting to feel I might of did something to cause the defect.

I plan to call tomorrow as I assumed they’d be closed today.


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## winkychevelle (Jun 26, 2016)

West1 said:


> not sure I agree with temperature differential as I replay my steps. When I last played the sub, it played perfectly fine. 2 days later it’s distorted at 10% and removing the sub showed the crack.
> 
> I never gave the sub enough power or play time to heat up or crack. I was starting to feel I might of did something to cause the defect.
> 
> I plan to call tomorrow as I assumed they’d be closed today.


Temperature differential could be the warm air of the cabin rushing into the motor but really I'm just guessing hopefully fi just replaces it


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

I think we all agree this is very odd. Temp may have played a part but I don’t ever recall any time hearing of this even in super cold temps. This is one where a reputable company says sorry to hear, here are the steps to send to us for replacement


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

Anyone have FI’s contact to call?
The 702 number does not work, sounds like a Fax number when I call.


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

Emailed Brian and he thought it was a V2. 
He then looked into it and realized it’s a SSD V4.
He then apologized and mentioned it’s discontinued but will talk w/Scott to see what he wants to do.

I really hope they repair or give me credit towards a new sub. Most of all, I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

GREAT NEWS!!
FI will replace the sub! They think there was a hairline crack from original shipping that eventually broke. I never thought of that being a possibility.
I am very happy they are warranting the sub.

Thanks for the feedback all


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## HandyLGCA (12 mo ago)

Dope!
that’s a win for all of us
nice job


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## West1 (Jun 20, 2018)

Got my replacement, THANK YOU FI!!


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## Sounds_Insane (8 mo ago)

Nice, glad to know Fi came through. 

My brother has the SSD 18 for sale, it's been used for testing in a few enclosures but never really ran in a system, if anyone is looking for one.


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