Doc Fluty
Junior Member
I shoot cars for magazines. This months cover of Modern Mopar Magazine features my work as well as recent features in Rides, Texas Finest, ect. After doing this for about 7-8 years I decided I wanted to build a cover car for myself with the hopes of maybe PASMAG or similar audio related magazines.
So after the custom made forged wheels, suspension work, engine goodies and more I decided to get a full on bad *** audio build. I have never had a high end car audio build before so the whole experience was new to me. I watched youtube videos from Car Audio Fabricators and others describing best practices during installation and solid brands to choose from. So one night late night I researched a set of Focal KRX3 3-way components and found a good price from amazon.com. I spend at least $500 a month from amazon and have always had issues easily resolved if something popped up.
Well, sure enough after getting the speakers installed by an authorized Focal dealer (I didn't know of one local when buying from amazon before) it seems I blew the 6" 3/4 woofers using the factory head unit. I posted a video online of the sound using a 60hz tone via youtube so people can hear the noise and advise me if it was blown or what. I got blamed for blowing them because I used the tone. I just wanted to listen to the speakers I bought 3 months prior and knew the amps wouldn't be done for at least another month or more, so i thought the head unit would be fine. I was wrong. I never played tones through the woofers, i just did it for that one video because i thought people wouldn't hear it through the music via my phone camera.
I imagined if i bought a TV, baby swing or rice cooker and it just stopped working after 45 days, I would assume some sort of facotry repair or help... but Focals answer (and people here) was "you're SOL, you should have known better than to buy from amazon, buy another set for $500".
Moving forward to the trunk build. The local Focal authorized dealer was supposed to call me after they got done with a Lexus install in january to let me know when to bring my car in for them to hook up the Focal Amps, 33kx sub and Audison Bit One I bought from them.
After a month of no call and the stuff just sitting in my garage, I call them to ask if they forgot about me. Well, seems they were waiting for me to call and that guy with the lexus never even dropped the car off and blah blah.. month wasted. So i take my car there and drop it off to get the trunk done.
I stop by two weeks later and we have a piece of wood in the trunk with the amps screwed into it, that's about it. I stopped by a week later and some body filler was done. I remind them that this build was to be done by next wednesday for a cross country trip to a large show I was going to. After speaking to the fabricator about it he tells me that he keeps getting pulled off the build to do deck installs and fuses and they are just not letting him work.
I talk to the front guy about it and he says that's what happens when you drop the car off feb 5th, after all it's his busy season. I reminded him that's why I wanted to drop the car off in January but they told me to wait for the lexus.
So the day I go to pick my Challenger up I see 3 people back there working. It has been one guy for months back there but all of a sudden two other guys have been pulled from another store for help to get my stuff done wednesday night. Thursday morning I was having an exhaust put on and friday was leaving for a 4000 mile trip.
So things are still being worked on wednesday night. The paint I was supposed to get never happened and they covered it in suede. They ask if i can bring it in thursday to tune the audison, I say fine. Once we fire it up the fancy Focal 33kx rattles like crazy. The installer says he thinks the spider is coming lose or whatever, so obviously they can't tune it.
Since I was leaving for California the next day they couldn't overnight a new woofer so the guy on the phone (orca rep?) told me to just go into a local focal dealer when in SoCal and they will swap it out for me when i get there. So i call up multiple focal dealers in SoCal and they all offer excuses as to why that can't be done. Many just didn't have one in stock and the others didn't want to have to eat the cost of the woofer if it was the original shops installations fault and instructed me to call Focal directly to see if I can just stop by the factory.
So i call the factory and they tell me how they don't usually work directly with the public, don't have any 33kx in stock and I would have to mail them my woofer so they can test it to see what is happening. So, basically I'm out of luck, again. They is no way to get me a woofer in time for the show. The Focal rep said he would offer a swap of the new Focal K2 sub but it is a 12 inch and not a 13 like i have so it won't fit in my installation.
So, i go to the show, tell everyone who has been following my build on my facebook fan page, forums, ect how much of a headache this build has been. How I spent over $8500 on a set of front components speakers and one sub and can't seem to get right.
I get back home and drop the woofer off last week Wednesday to be shipped off to focal and called today (tuesday) and they still have it at the store. It wasn't shipped because they didn't have an RMA since easter jacked up the schedule with Focal... so i missed the Mopar show in New Orleans the week before, the Battle in Bama this past weekend and I guess a few more upcomign national car shows because I don't suppose i'm getting a new woofer anytime soon and have a big hole back there.
Truth be told though, I'm not mad at the shop... I can see how some things turned out. However, I really think if they didn't wait to fire up the sub the day I was leaving after having the car for a month we could have caught the issue sooner.
I'm not even mad at Focal... I can see that my woofer is being discontinued and how not many dealerships would have a $1000 woofer sitting around. But I don't like that it seems that every dealership and even Focal wanted ME to call around to dealers looking for a sub woofer. I can't imagine many other industries in which the customer is told to call random shops until he can find one that can help. I would have like for someone to say "I understand sir, let me find one for you and get back to you".
My car was prominently featured at that Mopar show in Irvine. I had an interview about it with Fiat Corporate (check their youtube page) and even discussed it with the Head of design for Dodge and SRT Mark Trostle, Jeff Gale (head of design at chrysler) and other representatives from Mopar as well as other SEMA quality car builders who I have met through my photography. Everyone agreed that it looked awesome... but when they asked if I could turn it on I had to explain to them the embarrassment that would ensue if I did.
All that being said, as someone who build custom cars every 3-4 years, I can see why there is often less than 5% of cars at the national shows that I go to that have full audio builds. At the most I see is a amp, couple of kickers and the logo of the car maker embossed somewhere.
I doubt I ever do a high end car audio installation again because of this headache. I'm sure the shop where I bought all of this gear is tired of seeing me. But what am I supposed to do when I pick the car up after a month and the $1000 woofer is blown? I get the feeling that I am becoming a "problem customer" even though I haven't set out to be that way.
I know of at least 3 other high end car owners who have SEMA builds say they have skipped audio builds because of watching my issues from september-march. One other guy said he will only do what companies give him in sponsorship products, he won't spend his own money on it.
Side note: some credit goes out to Hybrid Audio for reaching out to me about swapping out my focals, but I had to turn them down only because i didn't want to have to rebuild the custom a-pillars and doors again. So some companies seem thoughtful. I i do decide to do audio builds again, I will give Hybrid Audio strong consideration based on their customer service even though I wasn't a customer.
I really like car audio, I already have ideas on ways I want to redo the trunk, but because of cost, location, ect I don't think I can put myself through that again. I'm considering buying a router and learning woodworking myself through CAF and other means lol.
this long *** thread wasn't mean to lay blame on Focal, the shop or absolve myself of being naive. I just wanted to express why someone who wants to get into car audio will leave the audio scene and probably speak unfavorably of it going forward.
Here is a picture of my car as it sits now and a shot of the good looking, but almost divorce causing Focal installation.
Thank you for taking the time to read. If you want to see more of my photo work or to follow along of future mods follow me at http://www.facebook.com/docfluty
So after the custom made forged wheels, suspension work, engine goodies and more I decided to get a full on bad *** audio build. I have never had a high end car audio build before so the whole experience was new to me. I watched youtube videos from Car Audio Fabricators and others describing best practices during installation and solid brands to choose from. So one night late night I researched a set of Focal KRX3 3-way components and found a good price from amazon.com. I spend at least $500 a month from amazon and have always had issues easily resolved if something popped up.
Well, sure enough after getting the speakers installed by an authorized Focal dealer (I didn't know of one local when buying from amazon before) it seems I blew the 6" 3/4 woofers using the factory head unit. I posted a video online of the sound using a 60hz tone via youtube so people can hear the noise and advise me if it was blown or what. I got blamed for blowing them because I used the tone. I just wanted to listen to the speakers I bought 3 months prior and knew the amps wouldn't be done for at least another month or more, so i thought the head unit would be fine. I was wrong. I never played tones through the woofers, i just did it for that one video because i thought people wouldn't hear it through the music via my phone camera.
I imagined if i bought a TV, baby swing or rice cooker and it just stopped working after 45 days, I would assume some sort of facotry repair or help... but Focals answer (and people here) was "you're SOL, you should have known better than to buy from amazon, buy another set for $500".
Moving forward to the trunk build. The local Focal authorized dealer was supposed to call me after they got done with a Lexus install in january to let me know when to bring my car in for them to hook up the Focal Amps, 33kx sub and Audison Bit One I bought from them.
After a month of no call and the stuff just sitting in my garage, I call them to ask if they forgot about me. Well, seems they were waiting for me to call and that guy with the lexus never even dropped the car off and blah blah.. month wasted. So i take my car there and drop it off to get the trunk done.
I stop by two weeks later and we have a piece of wood in the trunk with the amps screwed into it, that's about it. I stopped by a week later and some body filler was done. I remind them that this build was to be done by next wednesday for a cross country trip to a large show I was going to. After speaking to the fabricator about it he tells me that he keeps getting pulled off the build to do deck installs and fuses and they are just not letting him work.
I talk to the front guy about it and he says that's what happens when you drop the car off feb 5th, after all it's his busy season. I reminded him that's why I wanted to drop the car off in January but they told me to wait for the lexus.
So the day I go to pick my Challenger up I see 3 people back there working. It has been one guy for months back there but all of a sudden two other guys have been pulled from another store for help to get my stuff done wednesday night. Thursday morning I was having an exhaust put on and friday was leaving for a 4000 mile trip.
So things are still being worked on wednesday night. The paint I was supposed to get never happened and they covered it in suede. They ask if i can bring it in thursday to tune the audison, I say fine. Once we fire it up the fancy Focal 33kx rattles like crazy. The installer says he thinks the spider is coming lose or whatever, so obviously they can't tune it.
Since I was leaving for California the next day they couldn't overnight a new woofer so the guy on the phone (orca rep?) told me to just go into a local focal dealer when in SoCal and they will swap it out for me when i get there. So i call up multiple focal dealers in SoCal and they all offer excuses as to why that can't be done. Many just didn't have one in stock and the others didn't want to have to eat the cost of the woofer if it was the original shops installations fault and instructed me to call Focal directly to see if I can just stop by the factory.
So i call the factory and they tell me how they don't usually work directly with the public, don't have any 33kx in stock and I would have to mail them my woofer so they can test it to see what is happening. So, basically I'm out of luck, again. They is no way to get me a woofer in time for the show. The Focal rep said he would offer a swap of the new Focal K2 sub but it is a 12 inch and not a 13 like i have so it won't fit in my installation.
So, i go to the show, tell everyone who has been following my build on my facebook fan page, forums, ect how much of a headache this build has been. How I spent over $8500 on a set of front components speakers and one sub and can't seem to get right.
I get back home and drop the woofer off last week Wednesday to be shipped off to focal and called today (tuesday) and they still have it at the store. It wasn't shipped because they didn't have an RMA since easter jacked up the schedule with Focal... so i missed the Mopar show in New Orleans the week before, the Battle in Bama this past weekend and I guess a few more upcomign national car shows because I don't suppose i'm getting a new woofer anytime soon and have a big hole back there.
Truth be told though, I'm not mad at the shop... I can see how some things turned out. However, I really think if they didn't wait to fire up the sub the day I was leaving after having the car for a month we could have caught the issue sooner.
I'm not even mad at Focal... I can see that my woofer is being discontinued and how not many dealerships would have a $1000 woofer sitting around. But I don't like that it seems that every dealership and even Focal wanted ME to call around to dealers looking for a sub woofer. I can't imagine many other industries in which the customer is told to call random shops until he can find one that can help. I would have like for someone to say "I understand sir, let me find one for you and get back to you".
My car was prominently featured at that Mopar show in Irvine. I had an interview about it with Fiat Corporate (check their youtube page) and even discussed it with the Head of design for Dodge and SRT Mark Trostle, Jeff Gale (head of design at chrysler) and other representatives from Mopar as well as other SEMA quality car builders who I have met through my photography. Everyone agreed that it looked awesome... but when they asked if I could turn it on I had to explain to them the embarrassment that would ensue if I did.
All that being said, as someone who build custom cars every 3-4 years, I can see why there is often less than 5% of cars at the national shows that I go to that have full audio builds. At the most I see is a amp, couple of kickers and the logo of the car maker embossed somewhere.
I doubt I ever do a high end car audio installation again because of this headache. I'm sure the shop where I bought all of this gear is tired of seeing me. But what am I supposed to do when I pick the car up after a month and the $1000 woofer is blown? I get the feeling that I am becoming a "problem customer" even though I haven't set out to be that way.
I know of at least 3 other high end car owners who have SEMA builds say they have skipped audio builds because of watching my issues from september-march. One other guy said he will only do what companies give him in sponsorship products, he won't spend his own money on it.
Side note: some credit goes out to Hybrid Audio for reaching out to me about swapping out my focals, but I had to turn them down only because i didn't want to have to rebuild the custom a-pillars and doors again. So some companies seem thoughtful. I i do decide to do audio builds again, I will give Hybrid Audio strong consideration based on their customer service even though I wasn't a customer.
I really like car audio, I already have ideas on ways I want to redo the trunk, but because of cost, location, ect I don't think I can put myself through that again. I'm considering buying a router and learning woodworking myself through CAF and other means lol.
this long *** thread wasn't mean to lay blame on Focal, the shop or absolve myself of being naive. I just wanted to express why someone who wants to get into car audio will leave the audio scene and probably speak unfavorably of it going forward.
Here is a picture of my car as it sits now and a shot of the good looking, but almost divorce causing Focal installation.
Thank you for taking the time to read. If you want to see more of my photo work or to follow along of future mods follow me at http://www.facebook.com/docfluty
