YOUR LOCAL CAR AUDIO SHOPS

[ppiflat10s 3]

"Im sorry sir, Im trying to see this from your perspective but I'm having a hard time getting my head that far up my ass"

[Enellz 2]

I barely go to shops, so I really dont have nothing to bad. Other than a guy asking me to try out the new Orion HCCA.

[SmokeyDog 6]

fFound a custom shop today, now I knew of this guy for many years. He’s the one that made me want more. He had a ford with a blow thought. Well I found where he moved to and went and seen him to day. At first he did dent remember me. And gave me that snob look and attitude, Talk for a few then I ask him about a few things told me I need a cap and explained to me about what a cap does. After he was finished I said a cap really not another battier. He stops dead and says well 1 or 1.5 frads wont do you need a lot I am like some around 25 he’s like yea then he asks me what I got in the trunk and his whole attitude changed. Told me the real story I would like to call it (loll side note kriss kross jump just came on in my itunes made me laugh) anyways said yea another Betties is better with an alt upgrade. And all that other stuff, Started talking about the outrages 10000 watt war horse from kicker. He told me he had to get back to work at first, but as the guy picking up his car was standing there he was still going on and on. Got a shop I can stop at now and get some advice. Oh and if you live in mass area Phillips glass company is the shyt fix my rearview mirror for free and they never even meet me.

[ppiflat10s 3]

doesnt sound good to me, when he thinks you dont know anything he tries selling you on cheap crap you dont need, then once he figures out you might know what your talking about he gets honest.

[Mac N Cheese 90]

i wanted to see how much a shop would charge for a big 3 upgrade...pretty much not knowing what the heck that is and i had to explain to them....asking for a buck 40 and i said uhhhh....yeahh ill call ya back hahah

[bigger_george 2]

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.

I would pretty much agree with you on this even though I haven't been there in a long time. Most stores here blow you off if you don't want any of their "standard" services. They just want the big bucks and to rip people off.

[ncacoates 104]

Iv had good and bad experiences. As for the Freemans car audio stores they are a bunch of over paid pricks. All they want to do is bad mouth everything other than JL. Not to mention the wanted 6-800 for a box for the x-cons which they also stated were hunks of shit. Anyways Tremorz Autosound is my place to go. Good people, friendly and far more knowledgeable than i am. I can hang out there and shoot the shit for hours and hes more than willing to help me out for free.

[CadillacMatt 31]

When I was first starting out in car audio, I went down the street to a little shop down the road, and I asked him what the difference between ported and sealed boxes were... he told me "You're not really going to notice too much of a difference " and even I, being unknowledgable in car audio, knew this guy had no idea what he was talking about

[aviator08 0]

well went last week to a shop to get a quote on a box for a crew cab truck and I was quoted at $700 because those trucks are rare and its a real tight are to work in, when I told him about the sub I wanted to put in a DD sub he laughed then said dont waste your money buy a small w7.

[AZ TC 1]

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.

Audio Express is a joke. They have no selection, and their staff is horribly unknowledgeable (if that's even a word). I went in there when I was 17 to get a deck for my car. I told them my price range ($100-$150) and that all I wanted was something that could read MP3 CDs, and they said they had nothing in that price range. I look around, and they had 3 that were. But, I decided to look elsewhere. Got a Sony deck from Best Buy for $35 less then what they had at Audio Express. That place is a joke.

[creatormass 1]

I heard of a shop in Portland Maine that did an install of front door speakers. They were smaller that the stock ones and instead of making a custom baffle to mount the new speaker to, they just covered the factory hole with DynaMat and then screwed the speaker right to the DynaMat. This was just of many horror stories I heard about coming from them, just wish I could remember the name of them.

[djphilly 11]

There is this shop in Houston, tx called Master Car Stereo Plus. they are the most over rated shop i have seen in a long time. and they do alot of shady stuff in their installs. I have gotten a numerous of their clients that come to me for advice and custom boxes. One install that they did that stood out to me was so crappy. they were using 4 guage cable for 3000 watt planet audio amp and had a cap installed with all 4 guage. and this power wire was cheap. 6 guage in 4 guage casing. they also had a external crossover they were using and they spliced in the 10 guage power wire into the 4 guage power wire for the amp as it was coming into the dash and put tape around it. not black electrical tape, regualar duck tape. relays were every were with no protection at all just flooping around in the engine bay and trunk area. the guy had pop trunk and led lights that were cheaply installed. i don't know how they get away with all that they do.

[arthurk 0]

A local shop here in Indy, Soundsational, is a total expert shop and they are very versed in all of the off brands as well as the name brands. They also have mad fiberglass, box building, fabrication skills and are nice people who love to talk about anything related to cars, audio, or music. I wrecked my car and was very upset and called Brian , the owner and he offered to help fix it himself in his shop. Not all stores suck and this one is awesome. Not everybody want's to be a DIY kinda guy. I am an expert in other areas and would rather hand my keys to someone, pay the bill, and get on with life. Most adult professionals such as doctors, lawyers, etc. work 80 plus hours a week and the last thing they want to do is work on a damn car stereo. Also, I get sick and freaking tired of seeing people with hideous installs. They wouldn't last a second at an IASCA event where install, immaging, etc. counts. A big ass ported box uncovered with no staging up front is just ignorant.

[djphilly 11]

A local shop here in Indy, Soundsational, is a total expert shop and they are very versed in all of the off brands as well as the name brands. They also have mad fiberglass, box building, fabrication skills and are nice people who love to talk about anything related to cars, audio, or music. I wrecked my car and was very upset and called Brian , the owner and he offered to help fix it himself in his shop. Not all stores suck and this one is awesome. Not everybody want's to be a DIY kinda guy. I am an expert in other areas and would rather hand my keys to someone, pay the bill, and get on with life. Most adult professionals such as doctors, lawyers, etc. work 80 plus hours a week and the last thing they want to do is work on a damn car stereo. Also, I get sick and freaking tired of seeing people with hideous installs. They wouldn't last a second at an IASCA event where install, immaging, etc. counts. A big ass ported box uncovered with no staging up front is just ignorant.

I agree, not all shops suck. but I think it should be know that some of the shops that do bad installs or are not knowledgeable of product should be put on blast. just like you said, had it over to the professionals. But what if the susposed "PROS" really are not what they say they are.

[aviator08 0]

A local shop here in Indy, Soundsational, is a total expert shop and they are very versed in all of the off brands as well as the name brands. They also have mad fiberglass, box building, fabrication skills and are nice people who love to talk about anything related to cars, audio, or music. I wrecked my car and was very upset and called Brian , the owner and he offered to help fix it himself in his shop. Not all stores suck and this one is awesome. Not everybody want's to be a DIY kinda guy. I am an expert in other areas and would rather hand my keys to someone, pay the bill, and get on with life. Most adult professionals such as doctors, lawyers, etc. work 80 plus hours a week and the last thing they want to do is work on a damn car stereo. Also, I get sick and freaking tired of seeing people with hideous installs. They wouldn't last a second at an IASCA event where install, immaging, etc. counts. A big ass ported box uncovered with no staging up front is just ignorant.

I agree I wish I could find a shop that knew what they were doing so I could get my alarm installed but when all the shops around suck you got no choice but to do it your self. the shop where I got my tint dont installed a basic alarm in my friends car omg that thing was so crappy wires hanging out horrible install. Like I said wish I had a good shop around here.

[Notorious97200 339]

The last time I went to one of the very few audioshops we have here, I was looking for 0 Ga connectors (for batt, ground,...).

When I came in, they told me : "what a big size wire!" as if they never use that size !!!

I could only find one connector there!!! And I was lucky because in the other shops, I couldn't find any !!!

But I live in a small island, only 400 000 people.

Everybody run Audiopipe, Pioneer, or ...

If you have some money you can get Focal or Davis Acoustic speakers : but you have to know what you want, because the advices are not so good!!!

They all don't even know how to make a slot port box, or how to tune a ported box with a simple round pvc port. They can only make it by ears : you have to like what they like. Don't ask them for a ported box tuned to xxx Hz : they will not know how to do it !!!!!!!!!

Thanks to the internet (ebay and ssa)!

[RE XXXv3 31]

At one shop I went to, they didn't build boxes or do fiberglass. I asked about a high powered amp and was told a kicker 2500 for 5000, I said they are on ebay for maybe 400, I was told the 5000 is better because it has a 1 or 2 year warranty, you could buy 10 of them off ebay with 5000! I asked about a box for my 1500w sub and was told that these two smaller subs in a box for 475 was better, they were on sale clarion shallow mount 10's in a triangle box or something. I carried the sub in and they've never seen a sub like that.

Edited October 7, 2009 by RE XXXv3

[djphilly 11]

I was talking to a guy at a local shop and he was telling me that he had a friend that has 3 pioneer premier spl subs that was hitting 229db. I just laughed in his face. he was looking at me like I was the fool.

[jcarter1885 995]

I was talking to a guy at a local shop and he was telling me that he had a friend that has 3 pioneer premier spl subs that was hitting 229db. I just laughed in his face. he was looking at me like I was the fool.

I would of slapped some fucking reality in is ass to wake him up while laughing at him, if he was hitting 229dbs then everyone would know about it by now (do TL meters even go that high, I would of said what did he use to measure it if they dont).

[RE XXXv3 31]

229dB?! That's gotta be a large asteroid impact noise. The other three shops I went to were OK, but one of them charged me $300 for a single 12" box.

[jcarter1885 995]

229dB?! That's gotta be a large asteroid impact noise. The other three shops I went to were OK, but one of them charged me $300 for a single 12" box.

Im sorry I wouldnt have paid that, I stop buying boxes after being charged $280 for a ported enclosure for 2-12"s (great box, just not worth that much to me when you can build your own for under $50-$100 depending on size and materials).

[djphilly 11]

I was talking to a guy at a local shop and he was telling me that he had a friend that has 3 pioneer premier spl subs that was hitting 229db. I just laughed in his face. he was looking at me like I was the fool.

I would of slapped some pucking reality in is ass to wake him up while laughing at him, if he was hitting 229dbs then everyone would know about it by now (do TL meters even go that high, I would of said what did he use to measure it if they dont).

the funny thing is that he was so confident in what he was talking about. i told him that the record is held by dd and stetsom at like 181. somthing. he was like well i know he hit 229db. YEA RIGHT!!

[coreycgarner 1]

I agree, there are a lot of shops around that just fill you with bs to make a sale! I work for a shop that people are able to come and hangout after shop hours and bs about spl building and random things.. I really enjoy starting friendships with my customers.. well i use the friendship to keep my customers coming back. Word of mouth is the best advertisement for us and all the other shops in the area just don't understand how we have so much business..

[djphilly 11]

I agree, there are a lot of shops around that just fill you with bs to make a sale! I work for a shop that people are able to come and hangout after shop hours and bs about spl building and random things.. I really enjoy starting friendships with my customers.. well i use the friendship to keep my customers coming back. Word of mouth is the best advertisement for us and all the other shops in the area just don't understand how we have so much business..

x2. I just started my own business in houston,tx and i'm operating out of my garage right now until i get the funds to start a store front. I get NUMEROUS, I mean NUMEROUS people coming to me about what another shop said about product or how things are supposed to be done and everytime i have to school them on what is right and it blows their mind on how much they were misinformed. I think it's rediculous how some shops prey on the customer.

[coreycgarner 1]

x2. I just started my own business in houston,tx and i'm operating out of my garage right now until i get the funds to start a store front. I get NUMEROUS, I mean NUMEROUS people coming to me about what another shop said about product or how things are supposed to be done and everytime i have to school them on what is right and it blows their mind on how much they were misinformed. I think it's rediculous how some shops prey on the customer.

I get that alot ! what makes things even better is those people watch me do something very simple (basicly common sense) and they are amazed. LOL.. love my job!