Ive noticed that alot of people say support the local car audio shops

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

keep_hope_alive. you seem like a very knowledngeble guy.... ...but luckly i found this shop not to far away and the installer, i think his also the owner, knew and answered every question I asked about the item I purchased.I was really pleased with their service.

thanks. i just like to share what i've learned over the years.

glad you found someone who listened to you and gave you the answers you needed.

some shops are bad. some shops are good. the good ones will never last if people bash shops they've never delt with and just shop online. you can't compare an unauthorized price with an authorized price. not the same thing. most shops price at M.A.P. just like the authorized shops, and the price should be the same. so you save shipping costs and have local representation by shopping local. i shop local for everything i can, preferably locally owned. i like putting money into my community.

 

[brodeisel 10+ year member]

i started this thread not for the prices. I wouldnt mind paying more to support a shop just my local shop *****. They treat you badly and then wont answer any of your questions. You have to pay them to have them talk to you which is dumb shouldnt you try to help them so that they will keep comming to buy products from you.

 

[lilboom 10+ year member]

I just corrected a system from a shop for at least the 3rd time.

Ill tell if you ask.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Signs of a good shop to me is 1 happy to answer my questions 2 don't mind when I come in just to hang out and 3 Have prices on the equipment I hate to have to ask how much is this on everything and 4 be happy to install something I buy off the Internet you would be surprised how many shops in my area that turn down install money cause the product was not bought from them

IMO #4 is huge. The internet is creating a paradigm shift in the car audio market. That genie is out of the bottle, it will never be put back. Local B&M's need to realize this, and shift their bread 'n butter from retail sales, to a more labor based service business. Many local B&M owners are very bitter over the internet sales, Ive had local B&M employees get very hostile with me when I explain that most of my purchases are via the internet (after they ask me, I never offer that info so as to seem like Im instigating an argument with them). They are only fighting the inevitable. There will always be a market for local sales, but not like there use to be. Getting past their bitterness, and adapting their business model to fit the paradigm shift, is the successful attitude to adopt.

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now.

 

[subzero 5,000+ posts]

I dont like shops.

 

[lilboom 10+ year member]

Thats why i am installer and not a retailer no one like retailers. They know crap about junk and dont like to talk without you paying them to tell you something that you already knew and told them before they started talking.

 

[Bad4health 10+ year member]

Haha i install and sell. im a triple threat lol.....sig worthy?

but yes most shops around here are ***** they dont kno what they are selling, what real rms is, big 3 is not known among them, grounding is futile, and their work is bad. ive fixed installs from EVERY shop around here. ill stayrt taking pics of the shittyness and posting it

 

[lilboom 10+ year member]

Haha i install and sell. im a triple threat lol.....sig worthy?but yes most shops around here are ***** they dont kno what they are selling, what real rms is, big 3 is not known among them, grounding is futile, and their work is bad. ive fixed installs from EVERY shop around here. ill stayrt taking pics of the shittyness and posting it

man speaking of grounds i had a beauty today im talking

get the drill make a hole and screw that wire right there..

i mean someone just did not have there meds

'

I just got done with 1 .and i am so upset that i did not take pic's i gave him a demo of my car and had him very impressed ,

did i mention that when the volume goes up the speakers cut out like the amped but there 6 speakers going straight to the deck only connected to 2 channels max doesn't fade/balance.

i didn't get a chance to get behind the dash to see what exactly was going on but im sure im about right.I should get pics/vid

 

[morespl 10+ year member]

I've dealt with all forms of car audio over the years and learn more and more daily. I have 6 shops from me with in 20 miles. I understand that a shop can't beat internet price but treating people different pisses me off. I have one shop that is racist against white people, another shop that doesn't have a consistant price to save the life. Most the shops I go into are not dealers say they are but they just get the merch from a distributor. Then most shops don't take there time just yank things out break clips then ca glue the stuff back together and don't tell ya. I ask the people in the shops questions I know the answers to and most the time they give the wrong answers it's hillarious. Another thing I notice is people go to shops and tell them build the best box for my car that is gonna be the loudest. So the guy build the best design he thinks with no experience with the vehicle then the person complains when someone has the same setup and they hit harder. But they fail to realize the guy has tried multiple boxes to make his system perform at its best. Remember in the end will only get what you pay for and unless you tell the person what you want you can't complain about there work. It's funny though me and my buddy went into this one shop I had a soundstream xxx 6500d in my car and a ss xxx 15, my buddy had a orion hcca and a d5000. I ask the guy what the best equipment you have? can you get a ss xxx 15 he said I can get anything then he ask what my friend has in his charger. My friend tells him then he proceeds to try and sell him alpine type rs lol. The way he went about trying to sell em was hillarious this was 3 monthes ago. His exact words were I have this new product on the market not alot of people that have heard about them so I say what kind of speakers are they I expected him to say dd, fi, assendant, sundown, then he say's there alpine type rs and I can do them in a custom box like this one as he is pointing at a prefab box for $500 I started laughing and walked out. The thing is we told him what we were running before he tried to sell the type rs.

 

[d77543020 10+ year member]

Another sign of a bad shop to me also is one who bashes anything they don't sell,if they tell me there overprice w7 is better than dc audio I walk out,or if I say sundown,fi,or aq and they don't know what I'm talking about then I'm gone

 

[ktraughb 10+ year member]

We will install anything you buy from anywhere. You still get a lifetime workmanship warranty, the only difference is that if there is a problem with your product, ill pull it out and then its your responsibility to send it back for warranty. If it came from of course ill send it back, and if its In stock and unclaimed ill install a new product then and there on warranty. And as for pricing depending on the product you have to sell at certain points. DD for instance you must sell at map. Now some of my other companies don't care as long as you are buying.

Often times I only mark up enough to cover shipping and my time, especially knowing that most of the time the money to be made will be on the install. This is what I have to do especially to compete with some of this internet pricing. Most of the time I can match a price, but I do tend to lose on shipping if I don't buy a huge order.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

^good policy.

if you buy something somewhere else, you can't expect the shop to warranty the product, and if it fails, you can't expect them to warranty the installation/removal of the equipment. that is where you're "savings" are negated. buy from the shop and they should warranty both the product and installation so it's not a hassle for you.

if you can't install it yourself, buy the products from someone who can. let them warranty the package. if you have a favorite installer who can't get access to the gear you want, then discuss it with them ahead of time so they understand and maybe they'll even consider picking up the line.

i spent an hour in a big box store (American TV) yesterday talking to the car audio sales guy cuz i had time to kill. the install bay was closed otherwise i would have hung out with the installer. the sales guy had good knowledge of products and their installer has been there for 7 years. they have minimal come-backs meaning he's doing good work. their biggest downfall was the lack of specialty products and that anything upper end or vehicle specific had to be ordered. They use PIE/Pac-Audio interfaces. Being a big box store, they are limited to non-premier lines from brands (i.e. no eXcelon).

They had a nice new Kenwood demo board where they could demo 3 different systems (different price points) and they could push a button to switch between speakers powered off a head unit vs off an amplifier, then another button to add a sub. excellent demo. They're getting a full Focal demo board in sometime as well, which should help sell the Focal speakers they don't have installed.

They, like many other shops, have an single baffle sound board - so when you play one speaker you have a dozen or so passive radiators, adding midrange and midbass distortion and phase interference. some shops even leave empty speaker locations open - worsening phase interference! the best shops i've heard had separate sealed enclosures for the speakers - which is representative with a proper install. i'd also like to see proper tweeter installations that minimize diffraction - and thus give a smoother response. i hear shops tell me that they don't want to give a false impression and prefer the speakers sound better installed than in the board. sadly, it results in lower sales when speakers don't perform.

What I want to see is a shop with two car doors in it. one untreated and representative of 95% of all door speaker installs, and the other properly treated so people see the benefit of deadening, seals, and proper installation techniques.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Another sign of a bad shop to me also is one who bashes anything they don't sell,if they tell me there overprice w7 is better than dc audio I walk out,or if I say sundown,fi,or aq and they don't know what I'm talking about then I'm gone

i agree shops shouldn't bash brands they don't carry and that is a huge pet peeve of mine. that goes for all forms of audio.

but you can't expect anyone to have experience with every brand, especially brands that are mostly pushed in forums and lack marketing. if a shop hasn't heard of a brand, it's the manufacturer's fault, not the shop.

hell, just yesterday i heard some kids say "what's Rockford Fosgate? I've never heard of them." i had to laugh, but it goes to show that marketing needs to keep up with the time. with car audio mags disappearing, where do you go to see ads?

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

f u c k all yalll peace out im leavn b4 baned cause ima leave wit me dignity as the best troll to ever trolll this forum... i got da record please remember me ill miss yall

cool story

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

Not all shops ****. Here in the Tampa Bay Area, theres a TON of shops. Between Tampa, Clearwater, St Pete, etc, theres a bunch of good shops. When I was first starting to get into the car audio scene in late 2005, early 2006, I was a guy who didnt know I was in one of the most happening car audio places in the country. I would go on forums and everyone would just say shops ****, dont go. So I never did. Then after I started going to shows and meeting people (we have more shows than pretty much anywhere else in the world in this area, maybe tied with the Ohio area) I learned that not all shops are bad. Many of the people I would go to competitions with or meet at the shows were shop owners or people who worked at shops.

Many of the shops around here are owned by people who have been in the business for 25+ years, and are legends in the car audio community. I can drive over to St Pete and get an install done by Ed and Jethro Eason for instance. Ed and Jet have been in DB Drag since the early days, and were some of the loudest people back then. Jethros van still to this day can bassrace a 159ish, and hasnt been touched in about 5-6 years. Between the two of them, they have more world championships and world records than I can count. Or I could drive up the road and go to Mild 2 Wild, where Carlos Rodriguez is the head installer. He can get you loud, he was the SS 3-4 World Champ in DB Drag in 2008. He beat out second place (some guy in Europe) by like 5db. I can also drive down to Seffner and get Tommy McKinney to build my stuff. He is the undefeated 5x DB Drag 159.9 Bassrace World Champ and the 5x Bassboxing Heavyweight World Champ. Or I can call up Frankie Rio in Tampa and have him build my car. He is one of the few guys in the entire world to Bassrace/Bassbox a 160+, with his own vehicle. About 10 minutes from my house is Car Tunes, where the head installer is a guy named Mark. He is a certified MECA judge and has quite a few championships under his belt as well. They dont sell cheap equipment either. Ed and Jets main brand is Ascendant Audio, Tommy sells Incriminator and Crossfire, Frankie sells Crossfire, Carlos does Ascendant and Crossfire, and Mark sells Treo. All of these shops are within a 45 minute drive of me. This isnt even counting the loud people across the state who owns shops and do great work. Its not around ,e, but up in Georgia, Neil Barber owns his own shop and he does awesome work. One of the best installers out there, not to mention, one of the loudest.

Theres another place in Tampa called Livewire that isnt a shop in the sense they dont do installs or anything like that, but its a car audio wholesaler. Most of the stuff in this shop is cheaper than the best prices I can find on Ebay or Amazon. Its just a big store in the crappy part of Tampa with a couple million dollars worth of inventory in there. They have every major brand, and a ton of pro audio equipment in there. Great place to be. Its like buying online, except cheaper, and local.

It just isnt fair to say that all shops ****. Maybe if where the OP is in Iowa, there isnt much of a car audio scene, but if youre in the right place, there are shops. Obviously youre going to pay some money to get work done by people with names like this, but it is good work.