User:Italia HiFi/sandbox

Italia HiFi IIAF

Italia HiFi started life as a small speaker manufacturer based in Tuscany, Italy. For many years they were known as IIAF (Italiana Industriale Alto Fedeltà). Throughout the years their handcrafted practices have remained in the countryside of Tuscany, Italy. The company is a made up of a group of true artisans of their craft. Italia HiFi has built a reputation on craftsmanship and quality, not to mention innovation.

The questions begs why a name like IIAF (Italiana Industriale Alto Fedeltà)?

The manufacturer produced car audio and home audio products for many manufacturers over the years. Some of them companies include such notable brands as Mercedes Benz and Lamborghini. Their manufacturing provenance does not end there. They are not only a manufacturer, they are an innovator. They created the first neodymium tweeter back in 1979, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Timeline:

1979 • IIAF was developed as an OEM project, one of the most significant innovations in the audio business. • First Neodymium Tweeter in 1979. • IIAF designed the first neodymium tweeter for Audax, a French audio manufacturer, an innovation duplicated by many manufacturers.

1980 • Development of the first home audio speaker using a new technology • First free air home audio cabinet speaker. Infinite baffle as a solution to reproduce the full audio spectrum.

1983 • Development of a mass production speaker for ITT Nokia • First mass production tweeter with a 14 mm voice coil. • More than 50 million pieces sold.

1985 • Use of composite materials for domes and cones of the tweeters. • First 56 mm dome midrange with composite material. • First cone for speakers in composite materials, carbon fiber and fiberglass combined together.

1988 • Engineering of two small cabinet subwoofers with basketless speakers. • First subwoofer enclosure for car using two 4” speakers and a single 5” speaker. These system were able to reach the lowest frequencies (below 30 Hz) thanks to the basketless assembling.

1989 • New materials • First Strontium magnet speakers • First Alnico magnet speakers • First carbon fiber cones

1992 • Introduction of metallic and natural fiber cones • First cones manufactured with aluminum and natural fibers combed together.

2013 • First full cotton fiber cone: to provide the smoothest response on the mid frequencies and a strong bass. • First crystallized cone: To reach the musicality peaks of the cotton cone we had to find a solution in which the cone would have acquired the necessary rigidity to provide an excellent bass response without losing the delicate touch on the upper frequencies. The only solution was a natural process, the crystallization of the cotton fiber has been used for the first time in the audio industry by IIAF in 2013. • First cone midrange with the push-pull ferrite/neodymium magnet and metal jacket. To minimize the size of the speaker, using the ferrite magnet for the “hard job” and the neodymium to refine the musical details, both focusing the magnetic power on voice coil thanks to the metal jacket. • First dual layer cone in copper and fiberglass. Fiberglass provided stiffness and weight to perform the lower frequencies, while keeping the copper fiber below it and emerging in a very limited portion in between the fibers, provided a detailed response, without the typical harshness of all the metallic material cones. • First dual layer fiberglass and composite material cone. You can virtually stand on it since it is the stiffest and hardest cone in the car audio market ever used for a mid/bass. This cone provides the typical bass of a subwoofer in the size of a 6” speaker.

2014 • Woofer/Mid/Tweet (WMT) announcement • First presentation of the WMT concept in the audio history: the first all round speaker able to reproduce the spectrum of frequencies of three speakers combined with the same details and same sensibility. The speaker is revolutionary because just in 2.5 inches there is a whole world of music, no need of a crossover (just a subsonic filter) and easy positioning in the factory locations and/or on the poles of a car. Less weight (only two smaller speakers, instead of a 2 way system).

2015 • The first 3” Midrange with High-Tight basket. The High-Tight material has been utilized strictly for speakers of larger diameters and never before for such a small speaker. The fiber has been balanced to provide a rigidity similar to steel and a substantially better resistance to traction without decreasing the sound dampening performances, a small miracle in miniaturization.

2016 • First WMT to hit the market. When the WMT concept has been presented in 2014...it seemed to be just a dream impossible to make it happen. In 2016 the speaker evolved from concept to reality. Once again IIAF is the reference in the market. • CVD Audio purchased IIAF brand from the Italian company. To date all speaker and subwoofer production remains in the same factory it started in back in 1979.

2019 • Italia Hifi develops BL1, BL3 & BL5 for competition in the US Market. • Italia HiFI develops EL1 to launch for the US market and international markets. • Introduces the BL6 line to perform for toughest audiophiles.