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<blockquote data-quote="Chromatic" data-source="post: 8233021" data-attributes="member: 659121"><p>Agreed.. 90% of the Brick and Mortar Car Audio stores here in Birmingham have died.. If they didn't go in the Recession they eliminated themselves and the "car audio" market in 2010 or so.. ie: Tweeter, Circuit City, Sounds Great, and a dozen other independently owned shops.</p><p></p><p>Now we have two shops left in the "nice" part of town.. and a few in the "not so nice" part of downtown.. I went to the two in the reasonably nice part of town for quotes on just 2 front speakers and a sub -- Both were $1600-$2000 for $99 front speakers.. and a generic box just thrown in the hatch with a 10" sub. I was not going to do the install myself.. but well.. that changed my mind in a hurry -- I ended up spending a little under $1000 (because I also bought a new headunit in the process) and putting in the setup you see as my signature. Which is 10 times better than what these shops were trying to put in for crazy prices.</p><p></p><p>I would bet the speakers and way I installed, with custom Sub box, and everything fabricated so you cannot tell a "system" is in the car until you turn it on would have cost me 3-4k easily at one of these shops. With the amount of labor I put in myself that would have been worth it,.. but there is no way these shops (from the way they treated my interest in a stereo) were going to do half the install job I did (and this was my first install).</p><p></p><p>But,.. it is a shame the shops have really taken a huge hit in many areas. Now the few shops remaining can price gouge you AND offer terrible service when browsing and shoddy installs because you have no other option except for something like "BestBuy".. and they know this. Which is why I encourage anyone with any inkling of mechanical know how to do their own work, unless they just have gobs of money to spend.. and if they have unlimited funds to go find a reputable shop who will do a great install with great equipment.</p><p></p><p><em>Just wanted to note/add: That I'm not saying all shops are out to get you, and do bad work. There are some wonderful shops out there that do grade A installs,... they are just few and far between these days.</em></p><p></p><p>Also the internet has been a huge factor on these shops.. it's hard to compete with some of these places online,.. the one thing the shops have going for them is I would say 98% of people aren't going to install themselves. So I asked out of curiosity what prices would be if I brought in all the equipment (the guy even asked me "Are you bringing us the wiring kit?") .. I was like, sure,.. why not. -- It was still over $1000 to install 2 speakers and a sub with my own stuff from multiple shops.</p><p></p><p>But, I digress.</p><p></p><p>Out in California I imagine the market is pretty saturated for Car audio,.. does this equate to better pricing when shopping around? Or not so much?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chromatic, post: 8233021, member: 659121"] Agreed.. 90% of the Brick and Mortar Car Audio stores here in Birmingham have died.. If they didn't go in the Recession they eliminated themselves and the "car audio" market in 2010 or so.. ie: Tweeter, Circuit City, Sounds Great, and a dozen other independently owned shops. Now we have two shops left in the "nice" part of town.. and a few in the "not so nice" part of downtown.. I went to the two in the reasonably nice part of town for quotes on just 2 front speakers and a sub -- Both were $1600-$2000 for $99 front speakers.. and a generic box just thrown in the hatch with a 10" sub. I was not going to do the install myself.. but well.. that changed my mind in a hurry -- I ended up spending a little under $1000 (because I also bought a new headunit in the process) and putting in the setup you see as my signature. Which is 10 times better than what these shops were trying to put in for crazy prices. I would bet the speakers and way I installed, with custom Sub box, and everything fabricated so you cannot tell a "system" is in the car until you turn it on would have cost me 3-4k easily at one of these shops. With the amount of labor I put in myself that would have been worth it,.. but there is no way these shops (from the way they treated my interest in a stereo) were going to do half the install job I did (and this was my first install). But,.. it is a shame the shops have really taken a huge hit in many areas. Now the few shops remaining can price gouge you AND offer terrible service when browsing and shoddy installs because you have no other option except for something like "BestBuy".. and they know this. Which is why I encourage anyone with any inkling of mechanical know how to do their own work, unless they just have gobs of money to spend.. and if they have unlimited funds to go find a reputable shop who will do a great install with great equipment. [I]Just wanted to note/add: That I'm not saying all shops are out to get you, and do bad work. There are some wonderful shops out there that do grade A installs,... they are just few and far between these days.[/I] Also the internet has been a huge factor on these shops.. it's hard to compete with some of these places online,.. the one thing the shops have going for them is I would say 98% of people aren't going to install themselves. So I asked out of curiosity what prices would be if I brought in all the equipment (the guy even asked me "Are you bringing us the wiring kit?") .. I was like, sure,.. why not. -- It was still over $1000 to install 2 speakers and a sub with my own stuff from multiple shops. But, I digress. Out in California I imagine the market is pretty saturated for Car audio,.. does this equate to better pricing when shopping around? Or not so much? [/QUOTE]
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