YOUR LOCAL CAR AUDIO SHOPS

[djphilly 11]

Is it me or does some of our local audio shop now a days don't know squat about car audio. I decided to start this topic so that people can share any of their experiences with your local audio shop about the shear ignorance of some of these people. I'll share first:

I decided to call one of my local car audio shops here in houston,tx just to mess with them and see what they really know about audio.

ME: I'm running 3000 watts rms and my lights are dimming. what can I do about that.

SHOP: "I have some capacitors here that will help with that. 2 5 farad caps should be enough to stop the dimming. what kind of amps do you have?

ME: soundstream and sundown audio.

SHOP: whats SUNDOWN?

ME: It's a really good audio company.

SHOP: never heard of them. Must not be a popular comany

ME: what are some of the better subs out there right now?

SHOP: Kicker L7, JL W7, I also have some Q powers that a hit hard.

ME: what about sound proofing and deadening.

SHOP: we don't sell that here. it doesn't do much anyways.

ME: I heard it can help with the quality of the sound of you system and stop the rattle.

SHOP: No, it takes away from the bass.

ME: ok, i see about the caps and call you later.

SHOP: ok bud.

after he said that about the sound deadening I had it. had to get off the phone before i call him out of his name.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORIES. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY THE SHOPS NAME IF YOU DON'T WANT.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

When I was just starting out at 15/16 years old, well before forums were out there, a Sound FX salesman suggested going with a pair of 10's and a single 15 all powered off the same amp.

[rodneydude23 5]

I told some guy to build me a box for my btl and he suggested I buy w7's and when I said I wanted ported he said a sealed box would be louder?? Dumbass.

[blue fury 3]

Maybe 5 years ago, I went to a place looking for advice to get to where I almost am now- a stereo with around +3000 watts. The lady told me "You don't need that much power. It's pretty hard to get it anyway so you might as well abandon that idea"

I think I'll go back when after I get the subs and ask if they think my stereo has enough electrical support.

[MarAha 0]

Me and my cousin went to Audio Express. One of the most popular shops in Arizona. We asked them how much it would cost to make a box for my 1 12" Eclipse Titanium and they asked how big we want it. We said about 2.5 ft^3 vented at 32 hz and the guy started laughing and said "hahahahha...how many watts are you going to run to that? 25 watts? Anything more than that and the box will fall apart. Are you guys joking right now?"

To this day, I'm still wondering why he would think that.

[jcarter1885 995]

I called a shop about them making me a box for 2-12" Kicker CVX's and we couldnt even get to a price for the box since we were arguing about how much room they need. I told him I wanted a ported enclosure around 4-4.3ft^3 @ 28-32Hz (still undecided). He said well me personally I like 50Hz for tuning, but I was like well Im down with that so that was strike 1. Strike 2 came when he was telling me I should throw each sub in 1 ft^3 of space and Im telling him Kicker recommends 1.75-2.25ft^3 but he is steady trying to explain why his 1ft^3 enclosure per sub would be better so I just ended that call, he didnt even make it to strike 3.

[bigrank916 72]

Mine is in the off topic section under "badmouthing my setup". I go in lookin for 1/0 ring terminals and the owner asks whats up. Sooo...

[blue fury 3]

I actually went back to that shop today and who greeted me at the door? The same woman. I went there to find an interface to put in a radio for my dad's silverado and just stuck around for a while to see what has changed since they moved to a different location.

I just asked to hear a W7 since I have never heard one before but she didn't have one hooked up. Ok, that's fine no problem. I asked what was comparable and she pushed for a Mojo. She hooked it up and played some techno bass demo cd and OH THE PORT NOISE lol. The box was made by them (no logo or company sig on it) and it sounded like hell on the really low notes. I asked her about the port noise but it seemed like she didn't hear me even though she looked right at me as I asked her. I knew it'd be a waste to hear the other subs in their own boxes when their pride and joy sounded like ass.

Next I asked about the hiss from the speakers. She didn't even ask what my setup was, she just went through the basic check list like I was brand new to it. As she named off things, I eliminated each one with my reason. After she ran out, she started her sales pitch of the entry line of memphis amps... again without asking what my application was.

If she didn't assume all the time, I would've talked to her maybe another 5 minutes or so. I just left after she tried to convince me to get a 2 channel amp rated at 200x2 @2 ohm... just about a perfect mismatch.

Edited September 27, 2009 by blue fury

[jonbearsmt 919]

this topic has been done so many times.. but its allways funny!

me and the local shops have a love hate kinda thing going on........ they love to call me with questions and i hate to pick up the phone.......

[Burbarry 0]

There is a shop in town that me and my friend go into just to see the new product lines in person. But, we never buy from them since it is main stream and over priced. They know this and right when we walk in they say oh come to check out the new stuff. If we do buy anything that is mainstream it is off of ebay or direct. They found this out when the other day we were in the store and the Kicker rep was there and started talking to us asking us how our install was going. The store was like WTF, and now acts like there to busy to demo out the new stuff for us, and makes remarks like just call the dealer and ask them to demo it for you. Our new goal is to have them sponser us. I am not sure how easy it is going to be since we only buy odds and ends from them, but I will let you guys know what comes out of it.

[nem 2,019]

Back in the late 80's and early 90's the shops were better educated in their equipment mostly because that is all they did and they cared. Today it is all about the dollar. Thank god for SSA and all of the manufactures on here.

[coobies5 43]

always get a laugh out of topics like these

[todd.brust 29]

Fortunately, I work at the local shop. Me and the other installers enjoy our jobs and are all knowldgeable in the area of mobile electronics and audio in general. Our car audio manager was an installer before he worked the desk and doesn't work on commission. We all have attended some sort of schooling related to car audio installation.

And in defense of demo rooms, its hard to demo a sub in a big room. Especially the lows, cars have a lot of cabin gain for low frequency. I've heard horror stories about shops though and seen a few bad things too. I had a car come in and i was checking for rattling back speakers. Come to find out they were never screwed in, just set in place.

[jcarter1885 995]

Fortunately, I work at the local shop. Me and the other installers enjoy our jobs and are all knowldgeable in the area of mobile electronics and audio in general. Our car audio manager was an installer before he worked the desk and doesn't work on commission. We all have attended some sort of schooling related to car audio installation.

And in defense of demo rooms, its hard to demo a sub in a big room. Especially the lows, cars have a lot of cabin gain for low frequency. I've heard horror stories about shops though and seen a few bad things too. I had a car come in and i was checking for rattling back speakers. Come to find out they were never screwed in, just set in place.

Wow is all I can say about that rear speaker situation, not all shops are bad. I found one here locally where me the owner and employee sit down and have long talks. Everything I want to do, they have good advice on or bad advice on and its logical(they dont try to sell me anything just know that we are helping each other). But yeah most shops only want comission.

[ppiflat10s 3]

And in defense of demo rooms, its hard to demo a sub in a big room. Especially the lows, cars have a lot of cabin gain for low frequency. I've heard horror stories about shops though and seen a few bad things too. I had a car come in and i was checking for rattling back speakers. Come to find out they were never screwed in, just set in place.

my friend bought some alpine comps a while back, and since I dont live up there anymore I couldnt give him a hand installing them, he took them to a shop. I told him to do it himself and was giving him ideas of making them work (doesnt just fit right in w/o work) but he has too much money to do things himself I guess,

anyways, his right mid cut out eventually and when he popped off his door panel to check it out, he then had to pop off the other doors panel to see if they had forgotten something, or if they just did it like that on both sides...

THEY STUCK THE MAGNET TO THE OUTER DOOR SKIN TO MOUNT THE MIDS!!!!!

my entire life I have paid to have 2 things done, and it was because I tried and couldnt do it myself. it sucks that you cant just trust that a "pro" will always do it right, but you cant.

[porkchop 304]

man, we have a couple of shops in Indy, that are crap. I know there is some talented young folks on here that would give anything to have opportunity to own a shop. when you walk into these places that i am refering to, there is a sense of stuck up snotty nose lil sh*ts , i have seen times we walk in , look around 15 minutes , leave, never a word spoken to us in the way of a greeting or to offer a service.......wtf!

i will say the most recent one i found, up north, i would like to go back a few times, day and night differance.

it all comes down to people skills, some shops realy lack that..............well mids stuck to the doors .........thats just f*ing gay! lol

chop

[SmokeyDog 6]

local shop in my area is non exstint. there is one and they never have anything. they dident even have 2 gage wire they had 11 feet of 0/1 bought that. ask what i wanted for told them to up grade my big 3, the guy looked at me like i was a ghost. asked him a few ? got bullshit responses. oh to add i bought the wire and ask if they had and ring tremals the awnser no. then i asked for battire tremals for the 0/1 he tried to give me a pos. and neg. for 4 gage max wire. so i left the next week i went back to see if they had any 2 yet , still no. paid 3$ a foot for the 0/1 when asked how much the 2 was i was told 4 a foot go figure need less to say i dont even show up there anymore.

[shizzzon 461]

a well known competitor in MECA in the drive by section represents a local shop in my area as his team name is the shops name...

Anyways, i met this conceited guy the other day... god, what a douchebag...

I respect the shop he represents because his kids went to the same school i did so know them pretty good and that's their business but this guy that represents them is so.. man, he deserves to be smacked.

How conceited do u got to be to tell me my XS Powermaster batteries are crap, in his own words, and i should go with his local $50 group 31 hookup on batteries he sells to his friends when after doin research, he's sellin rebadged and sometimes refurbed batts with no known specs other than group 31..

He then tells me to train my batts so they hold a 13.8v charge for comp use or i'm not gonna do good... yea ok...

then one of his friends tells me to wire my 2 xs batts in series for a quick monsterous burp at 26v....

See what i mean? This guy has by far killed the image of this shop since every trophy in the shop is by him and his conceited ass decisions....

He did a 132 in driveby couple yrs ago. He's not completely dumb in the field but he doesnt do the builds... He has someone else cut hit pieces cuz he is lazy and just wants to glue them in...

Give me a break...

What is this, lazy spl now..

There is another shop close or in E-town Called Audio-to-Go. I never go there but i hear the people who run it all used to compete for a LONG time and sell some pretty good reputable brands.

[djphilly 11]

there is a shop here in houston called bico stereo and they are the only shop in the houston area that I would buy anything from. they sell alot of great brands and they know there stuff. NO B/S when it comes to getting questions answered. and the good thing is, if they don't know the answer, he will get me an answer by making a call.

and i agree on the whole commission thing. product knowledge isn't key anymore in some of these shops.

[patented17 21]

The last good shop, that I knew of in Houston was Innovative Rides. Where my buddy brad used to work. It was located in a rough area, I would say that would be the only con.

Edited September 28, 2009 by patented17

[vic713 1]

there is a shop here in houston called bico stereo and they are the only shop in the houston area that I would buy anything from. they sell alot of great brands and they know there stuff. NO B/S when it comes to getting questions answered. and the good thing is, if they don't know the answer, he will get me an answer by making a call.

and i agree on the whole commission thing. product knowledge isn't key anymore in some of these shops.

The one off i45 is ok, 1960... not so good.

[djphilly 11]

there is a shop here in houston called bico stereo and they are the only shop in the houston area that I would buy anything from. they sell alot of great brands and they know there stuff. NO B/S when it comes to getting questions answered. and the good thing is, if they don't know the answer, he will get me an answer by making a call.

and i agree on the whole commission thing. product knowledge isn't key anymore in some of these shops.

The one off i45 is ok, 1960... not so good.

no the one in the woodlands area. thats the better one

[slim2fattycake 85]

There is a shop in town that me and my friend go into just to see the new product lines in person. But, we never buy from them since it is main stream and over priced. They know this and right when we walk in they say oh come to check out the new stuff. If we do buy anything that is mainstream it is off of ebay or direct. They found this out when the other day we were in the store and the Kicker rep was there and started talking to us asking us how our install was going. The store was like WTF, and now acts like there to busy to demo out the new stuff for us, and makes remarks like just call the dealer and ask them to demo it for you. Our new goal is to have them sponser us. I am not sure how easy it is going to be since we only buy odds and ends from them, but I will let you guys know what comes out of it.

lol. If I was them I wouldn't demo stuff for you either. I do work so that you can decide on which product to buy from someone else?

Also, when was the last time 2 gauge wire was inquired about even on forums? lol. It was probably cheaper for them to get 0 gauge then 2 gauge so thats why they told you that.

[bassahaulic 155]

There is a shop in town that me and my friend go into just to see the new product lines in person. But, we never buy from them since it is main stream and over priced. They know this and right when we walk in they say oh come to check out the new stuff. If we do buy anything that is mainstream it is off of ebay or direct. They found this out when the other day we were in the store and the Kicker rep was there and started talking to us asking us how our install was going. The store was like WTF, and now acts like there to busy to demo out the new stuff for us, and makes remarks like just call the dealer and ask them to demo it for you. Our new goal is to have them sponser us. I am not sure how easy it is going to be since we only buy odds and ends from them, but I will let you guys know what comes out of it.

They are pretty mean IMO. When I first went to the shop I now regular, I got the demo's of the systems, radios, subs, amps and all. Even now I go in and nothing has changed, if I have a question I get answered, and I hang out for a while all is cool. They know I buy from else where and have no problem with it. Maybe bring them customers to make amends.

[bassahaulic 155]

The closest shop to me, Innovative Audio, is awesome, I almost never buy anything, and they know I buy other places for my big stuff. But they treat me nice, let me chill and all. Hell, I even get to demo the shop vehicle if they don't want to, I do quick system checks in the parking lot if they are busy, I help make sells, I read all the secret stuff, and all this started from just hanging out NOT buying anything. I bring in customers for audio and tint work for them and they hook me up with their prices when I buy stuff and the use of their bay when I need.

Most the other shop in and around Baton Rouge SUCK!!!!! They are all mean, think they know it all, and have their heads stuck so far up their own asses they are turning inside-out.