NOT so good install experience

[velko 10+ year member]

So I got all my toys together and took them to the nearest place in Hollywood - just because it was within walking distance to work. I could drop it off and then pick it up. Took the dude a solid 8 hours.

I picked up my 97 Accord and as I was driving noticed that there was the accleerator whine! DON'T THESE "PROS" care or check out their work? NO!

Also - WHERE'S MY DYNAMAT THAT I PAID FOR? I opened the armrest - no Dynamat but they were already closed.

So I'm taking it back tomorrow - paid $358 for the install of my Van Gogh 320.4, Infiniti comps front and Infiniti 6x9 in rear, a new Alpine 9830 and a Kennwood woox powered sub in the trunk.

Will let you know what happens - should I NOT take "can't do anything about the noise" as an answer?

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[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Will let you know what happens - should I NOT take "can't do anything about the noise" as an answer?

Absolutely not. It is likely a grounding problem....with with the amp or the headunit. But they can do something to get rid of it, make them. It isn't an unfixable thing.

 

[s5pitfire 10+ year member]

Why not intall it yourself??? Coulda taken the $350 you spent on installation and buy stuff

 

[velko 10+ year member]

Why not intall it yourself??? Coulda taken the $350 you spent on installation and buy stuff

It woulda taken me 4x the time to do it myself. Plus I live in a condo and can't install anywhere.

But isn't that what a "professional" is supposed to do? Here in Los Angeles NOBODY seems to give a flying **** about anything - from top to bottom, whether your pizza delivery is late and wrong to your car repair guys - they **** up ALL the time and NEVER say "I'm sorry."

So - if this guy tries to give the line of horse shit - like - "we tried everything we could" - how should I respond? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/pissed.gif.9f665f96bc89e98e708dabd4580bb591.gif

 

[Einzee 10+ year member]

ask for a refund or file a small claims report. a call to the BBB (Better Business Beareu) may do a little something to get them motivated. Look around. Are they like certified by an install "union"

The most likely thing to happen is they will fix but they will sell you more stuff. filters etc...

 

[s5pitfire 10+ year member]

It woulda taken me 4x the time to do it myself. Plus I live in a condo and can't install anywhere.
But isn't that what a "professional" is supposed to do? Here in Los Angeles NOBODY seems to give a flying **** about anything - from top to bottom, whether your pizza delivery is late and wrong to your car repair guys - they **** up ALL the time and NEVER say "I'm sorry."

So - if this guy tries to give the line of horse shit - like - "we tried everything we could" - how should I respond? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/pissed.gif.9f665f96bc89e98e708dabd4580bb591.gif

That reminds me, i ordered 3 medium pizzas for $18 w/ tax and delivery, it was about 30 minutes late, so i got a FREE large pepperoni pizza as well as $5 off the price.

If i were you i'd go to an empty parking lot and try to install as much as i could.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

So - if this guy tries to give the line of horse shit - like - "we tried everything we could" - how should I respond? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/pissed.gif.9f665f96bc89e98e708dabd4580bb591.gif

Tell them that if they can't fix the noise without adding any additional components, then you will take the car to a competent installer and have the other installer bill the shop that did the original install. They may also try to sell you a line driver or something......don't take the bait. Make them try everything with the wiring first; New ground location for the amp, a few new grounding locations for the headunit, etc etc. If they are actually competent at installing, they should be able to track down the problem. And those "ground loop isolators" are generally a band-aid, not an actual fix.

 

[Dir3ctor24 10+ year member]

I had a similar experience with Tweeter. What you want to do is be very professional and tell them what you want. Do NOT go in and yell or act like an a$$hole. NO ONE wants to help an a$$hole.

BEFORE they give you any BS...ask to speak with the manager of the store, and explain the situation to him AS SOON AS YOU WALK IN. Also, check up on their return policies before you go in. Tell them that there was NO problem with the car previous to the install, and that they SHOULD HAVE checked it prior to installation.

If they try to sell you more or get more money, tell them that you demand a FULL refund. No one should have to deal with someone else's mistakes. The customer is ALWAYS right.

Good luck.

 

[OLD_SCHOOL 10+ year member]

There is NO REASON why that car should whine it's a grounding problem probably a 1/2 *** amp ground . they can fix it with no additional line drivers or noise suppositories MAKE THEM FIX IT

 

[velko 10+ year member]

My install cost $385 - correction. Awright - so I went in there and spoke to the owner. The first thing I said is there is no Dynamat - he pried open the door and showed me the Dyna - it wasn't across the whole surface of the door - it was just around the speaker hole. He said he charges $280 to Dynamat the whole door - sounds pretty f-in steep to me! I wasn't gonna argue with the dude.

As for the whine, he turned both gains down to about 25% - he said the amp (which is in the trunk) was so far away that it would always pick up noise. Now, with the gains set at 25% there is no accelerator whine - but then that affects my volume, correct?!

I wasn't gonna argue, I was very nice about it. He said the ground was under the back seat - that it was fine and I said can you move the ground, he said there was no reason to and that there was only one ground place for the HU. I didn't have the time or bloodpressure to start arguing because I didn't want to start going off - I have a VERY short fuse when it comes to this bullshit.

So, what I'll wind up doing is going to a REAL place - maybe I'll try to fix it myself.

 

[drkodin 10+ year member]

My install cost $385 - correction. Awright - so I went in there and spoke to the owner. The first thing I said is there is no Dynamat - he pried open the door and showed me the Dyna - it wasn't across the whole surface of the door - it was just around the speaker hole. He said he charges $280 to Dynamat the whole door - sounds pretty f-in steep to me! I wasn't gonna argue with the dude.
As for the whine, he turned both gains down to about 25% - he said the amp (which is in the trunk) was so far away that it would always pick up noise. Now, with the gains set at 25% there is no accelerator whine - but then that affects my volume, correct?!

I wasn't gonna argue, I was very nice about it. He said the ground was under the back seat - that it was fine and I said can you move the ground, he said there was no reason to and that there was only one ground place for the HU. I didn't have the time or bloodpressure to start arguing because I didn't want to start going off - I have a VERY short fuse when it comes to this bullshit.

So, what I'll wind up doing is going to a REAL place - maybe I'll try to fix it myself.

alt whine has nothing to do with the distance the amp is, he just knows that you aren't too familiar with installing and was giving you a bullshit excuse. go back, tell him he is full of shit, and make him fix it. with that head unit the gain will usually be around 1/2 on most amps, at least they have been on the ones that i have installed. If you want you can drive down to me and i'll fix it for you, but the drive is going to take 1hr+ because i'm south of Irvine.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

I wasn't gonna argue, I was very nice about it. He said the ground was under the back seat - that it was fine and I said can you move the ground, he said there was no reason to and that there was only one ground place for the HU. I didn't have the time or bloodpressure to start arguing because I didn't want to start going off - I have a VERY short fuse when it comes to this bullshit.

Tell him that the amp will not always have noise.......it is a grounding problem, usually a problem with the HU's ground. I agree that he is trying to feed you a load if shit because he assumes that you don't know enough to try to correct them. Alt whine is generally caused by a difference in potentials between the HU ground and the amp ground. Power flows the path of least resistance, so if there is a different in potential between the HU and the amp ground, then it will use the RCA wire to flow to the equipment with the "better" grounding point.

 

[velko 10+ year member]

Dudes - I appreciate the feedback but to me, honestly, it ain't worth the time to deal with this joker - he did the hard part of the install. It really isn't worth it to me to go and battle it out because I wouldn't trust him to fix it properly at all. There's so much other bullshit I have to deal with that it isn't worth the trouble.

Lesson learned - if it smells like shit it must be shit.

Now the other issue - on my amp he set the fronts to high pass instead of full - why? Because I alerted him to the fact that on the front Infinity comps there is a jumper setting for CONTOUR or FLAT and I told him set it to flat. In the Infinity manual it says that CONTOUR takes out some of the midrange (I don't know why you'd wanna do that) and I didn't wanna have the midrange reduced. So I set the switch on the amp to full and he said you didn't wanna do that because "now you don't have a crossover" - and I'm thinking, if there's no crossover (which he thinks is disabled) then the **** speakers wouldn't work at all. Then he says if you leave it on FULL (as opposed to LP or HP) that the tweeters would eventually blow.

Sounds like this PRO doesn't know what he's talkin' 'bout!

 

[OLD_SCHOOL 10+ year member]

give me the guys name and phone number and i will call him and set him straight

 

[LBX2G 10+ year member]

yo man did u say the amp was in the trunk and the ground was under the front seat. **** that is a long *** ground. And there is ur problem.