12V When Money is No Object

There are a number of car audio/automotive shops around the country led by craftsmen that take 12 volt to a level of artistry. One of the leaders in this elite group is Ai Design, a shop that has won accolades from Road & Track and MotorTrend.  Bloomberg News called it  “the world’s most exclusive audio shop.”

Located in Tuckahoe, NY, not far from New York City, Ai Design counts among its clients celebrities and even royalty.  Back in 2005,  it made the New York Post, after customizing Diddy’s van.

Cars are sent to the shop not only from around the country but from Europe. Jobs at the facility typically run upward of $20,000 but some can go into six figure territory.

Why does someone ship their vehicle over from across the Atlantic to this particular shop?  “It’s nearly 100 percent a trust thing,” said owner Matt Figliola. He set a standard of meticulous attention-to-detail in car audio.  When clients saw the audio systems, they asked Figliola, while the car’s here, can you fix the window or repair the seats or Figliola suggested a repair here and there, until the shop had branched into vehicle customization.

At Ai Design, there are anywhere from 50 to 60 cars ‘in process,’ which includes off site work.  When we visited, an Aston Martin was off receiving a transmission from the Aston Martin plant in the UK.

You see things at Ai Design, normally not associated with a car audio shop.  For instance, there was a military helicopter FLIR Talon camera system installed on a 2016 Cadillac Escalade with a joystick in the console to control it.  An off the shelf camera wasn’t enough for the client, it had to be military spec.  So, Ai Design submitted special military paperwork in order to get the equipment.

There’s a lot at the shop about fabrication, but Figliola is also a stickler about sound.  He prefers raw drivers to off-the-shelf car audio speakers, particularly the flexibility he gets from the drivers used by loudspeaker suppliers. These include Scan-Speak, Peerless and SB Acoustics brands.  “You get more power and range but you get the ability to choose a more directly applied application to the location. …So it’s not a sales call, it’s engineering. I know the type of sound I want,” he said.

Ai uses only OEM quality electrical supplies, which are five times more expense; and everything is soldered, which a lot of shops do now, but few did when Figliola started.

To track all the jobs, there’s a “Battleship” board that shows the actual layout of the shop and its offsite storage areas and 3rd party locations with actual 3D printed cars stuck to the model in their true location at the shop or elsewhere.  (See photo towards top). It’s the same type of a model used in a submarine, said Figliola.

Amid the Porsches, Mercedes, Alfa Romeos. Hummers, an Audi RS2 and Chevy Caprice police car, to name a few vehicles on the floor, was a late 80s red Lamborghini Countach similar to the ones in the iconic Alpine ads. When they began discussing which radio to install, it seemed natural to carry out the theme and install a legacy Alpine 7909 deck, with the famous green Chiclet buttons, just as in the ads. Except this one would be updated with Bluetooth for easy phone integration while a discreet backup camera was added to overcome the Countach’s legendary poor rear visibility.

Wiring on the cars is accompanied by professional plate descriptions in the event any other shop works on the car as shown here. Ai Design’s phone number is included in case of questions.  Said, Ryan Offenhartz, Ai Design sales manager,, “I don’t know of any other shop that puts their phone number on the wiring.”

Ai Design is a “maker’s” paradise and all of the 13 employees are skilled to the point of artistry including three fabricators and three CAD designers, although the count isn’t accurate as some cross into other positions. There are also three 12 volt electricians.  Don’t ask Figliola how many installers he has on staff.  He’ll tell you not to use that term. “Everyone has their specialty and everyone overlaps each other. They are ALL technicians.”

Figliola began experimenting with 3D printing about 8 years ago.  There’s a $250,000 CNC system and other machinery in one room with an intense vacuum and dust collection system but that’s not enough to keep the greater area dust free so Figliola installed ceiling high commercial pneumatic doors, the same kind you would see walking into a department store at the mall.

Figliola’s job as he sees it is setting a very high standard, (OEM or better) and keeping his skilled craftsmen interested in the work.  Once they are not interested, the quality goes down.

One of his fabricators is very creative and particular about his work.  “He’ll get disinterested quickly. It’s my job to keep his interest high. Strategically a car is many jobs in one, …delegating who gets what, it’s like choreography.”  Figliola sees himself balancing each job; no one person works on any one car, and fabricators, etc, are assigned to the type of work that will keep them happy.

How did he get to this point?  Thirty years ago he began with the idea of fabrication (and also sound) as the goal.  “I didn’t want to move boxes. It was never the goal as it is with many car audio places. For them, the installation is a means to an end, for me it was all about the installation and the product was a means to an end.”

There was no showroom, no demo board or sound room. Sometimes there was no demo car. “The work I was doing usually sold me.” Eventually, he moved to a commercial location and began turning SUVs into luxury vehicles, riding that wave for many years, until he began more general restorations.

Figliola has never seen most of his clients in person.  Communication is by email and phone. The only deference to customer comfort at the facility are professional looking bathrooms and a small conference table that fits four comfortably by a coffee machine that has very good coffee.

In our next story on Ai Design, we’ll discuss where Figliola sees his business and the industry heading.