Went to Circuit City and bought the 100 watt, 8" bazooka tube, two polk speakers for the rear doors, 200 watt amp for the door speakers and had them install an interface deal for my ipod. Eleven hundred dollars and 14 hours of torture later, I'm trying to decide is it all that. Those people are some piece of work. $1,100

I did research here for I guess three weeks. It was all overwelming. To the point I knew I didn't think I could go to Crutchfield and purchase the stuff and make in happen myself. I wanted to go somewhere and put my hands on something and have someone help design a system that would work. I still don't know how to go about getting a system. The installer that put my stuff in took all day Saturday 10am to 5pm; I left and had to return 30 minutes later. There was no stereo, only the left channel; 3 1/2 hours later that was taken care of. Driving home trying to blast some tunes every thing goes silent but a slight bass. Sunday another 3 hours were spent figuring out why the damn thing won't play. The guy had sent speaker level signal to low level inputs. Needed to vent. Sorry, thanks for listening.

 

I'd never leave my install work to Circuit City...there's several around here and I wondered into the bay one day pretending one of the vehicles was mine. Not the best people around, and not nearly careful enough with the vehicles.

It took me less then 3 hours to strip everything all of the old audio stuff out of my truck, wire and install a new head unit, run wires for the amp, install the amp, install the sub, and install four speakers including two components.

I'll not count the box building for the sub since it took a day (curing time for the sealant).

It's not difficult to intsall a sound system yourself, take it slow and steady and check everything twice. Great sound for much less when you're done.

Then again, I don't trust anyone else touching my truck...

 

Chain store installers are... well, they're not the first people I would turn to. A professional car audio shop with a good reputation is the best place to go.

For anyone reading this I would suggest attempting it yourself if it is a simple plug and play install. Wiring is only the next step up in difficulty and requires nothing more then attention to detail and some patience. It's really a modification that can be done easily, and well, with minimal effort.

Now, when it comes to custom boxes I'm leaving that to the carpenters. Prefab for me.

 

I usually do all of my own installs - but the wife recently got a new vehicle and we're in the process of getting it all tricked out, including the sound system. The only thing we didn't already purchase elsewhere was the new head unit. We bought speakers, a module for keeping her onstar system operational, the harnesses, etc. We already had the amp and sub from her old car. She took it to our local sound/audio customizer shop and the price was only a couple hundred dollars to install and only took about 3 hours. I would never take our vehicles to bb or cc or any other chain stores like that. Their prices are outrageous, install fees are jacked up, installs are low quality usually, and the stories I've heard from others is just scary. Most folks that work at those places for installs are new guys just hired with no audio or install experience, and it just doesn't make sense to spend alot of money for quality parts and not have a quality final product.

 

Normal ones don't bother me. Did a custom fit for my Ranger and a friend's Eclipse. Never again...

No kidding. All they know is the more you buy is better for the company, get your car in and out as fast as possible, if it breaks later, well tough for you.

 

haha... $1,100... Thats 3x cost... Dont ever go there again.

 

And whats with the 14 hours? I could install all that stuff in about 3. And I am slower then most installers. :S

 

Although it may sound like alot for what he got - its hardly 3X cost. The fact that hes not happy does make it 3x worse tho.

If youre not happy go back to CC and make them work it out - they are able to do product exchanges - and they should service your install until its 100% to your satisfaction.

If you have questions regarding anything they have done post them here before you talk to them - we/I will give you the straight poop before you negotiate with them.

 

Lets see. This is what he said he got:

(1) 8" bazooka tube - cost is around $70

(1) 200 watt amp. We will go out on a limb and say it a decent amp. Lets say a Rockford Fosgate P2002. - Cost is about $100

(1 pair) of "Polk speakers". I will assume they are 6x9's sense those are generally the most expensive co/ tri axle speakers. Well will assume they are good quality speakers and put the cost at $150.

(1) "interface" for his Ipod. Well this could depend on what he is referring to. But the most expensive "interface" I have seen for an Ipod that allows you to hook it up to a head unit would be about $20 cost.

So lets total it up. Total = $340.

So Sln2po your right its not 3x cost. Its 4.17x cost... And I assumed he bought fairly reasonable stuff. However I guess we have to factor in labor. If they charged for 14 hours of labor at $50 an hour then the $1,100 bill would make sense. However that is still terrible.

What I am trying to say is he got ripped off very bad. Just wanted to make sure he knows that. $1,100 around here will get you a CD player, two subs, an amp for them, front and rear speakers and a wiring kit all installed by real installers… And I am not talking about crappy stuff. I am talking about mainstream product.

 

SPL Im not going to get into a pissing match - Maybe DCSMith will be kind enough to itemize what he bought for us.

 

8" bazooka 100 amp, $200

Polk Coax, 5x7, 100

200 watt "kicker 2 ch amp, $200

The ipod interface was from best buy the just installed it $50

$260 was for labor

The rest was for two sets of RCA cords @$50 and $75

Adapters for speaker wire to RCA 2ea. ?$

Power supply that was for 2 amps ?$

 

The one set of RCAs was for four ch They taped over 2 they didn't use; that's one set was $75.

Now the volume is ok at best. If I turn it up much the sound goes off. I think the final price ended up being $1031. It was over $1100 before they gave me $105 back for "some of the labor and some on the RCAs."

 

As I think I mentioned above, they sold me an adapter to go from speaker level to RCA and then f.... that up. My question is should they have just used the speaker level inputs thus saving me the cost of the two adapters and of course the labor to install said...

Additionally, as mentioned the volume is not such to be impressive; however, the "tech guy" said it is normal for an amp to clip. He turned to gain down to about 50% so as to eliminate the clipping. When I realized the thing wasn't much louder that the factory head, I cheated it up to around 75%. It still shuts down when it's getting pretty loud.

I do want to go back to them for more money back or make the thing sound go.

To address why I didn't go to a sound shop, I actually did. The lady I talked to spoke in generic terms to every question, e.g. where will you mount the amp. "Well it depends on the truck, all of them are different." "No lady they are not all different; I just told you it was 2005 lariat super cap 4x4, 5.4, two tone, with 18" wheels (and it's sitting right out side the door," I said. That wasn't an exact quote. I actually wanted a stealth box. I think she said $550 plus about $250 to $350 for the amp, plus speakers and labor. But I just needed to figure out what I wanted.

Just a little tid-bit of information, SPL-TECH, and maybe you are well aware of it, some customers don't know what they need that is why we come to the so called expert. Someone knowledgeabe in sales would damn sure go a long way in that bussiness. When I get ready to purchase something like that I do try to get a little educated about what I'm after. But I need someone to sell me on what makes sence. They sold me at circuit city but it wasn't what makes since.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcsmith

8" bazooka 100 amp, $200

Polk Coax, 5x7, 100

200 watt "kicker 2 ch amp, $200

The ipod interface was from best buy the just installed it $50

$260 was for labor

The rest was for two sets of RCA cords @$50 and $75

Adapters for speaker wire to RCA 2ea. ?$

Power supply that was for 2 amps ?$

Well the first four items sell normal for retail. However you got ripped on the RCA's. Those RCAs you got are one of those deals where the business sells you product you dont need. $75 RCA cable belong in $5,000 car audio systems. Not $1,000 ones. The $20 RCA's would have been fine. I guarantee you that you would never notice a difference between them. You could have done better on the amp and sub price wise. That Ipod interface has a high markup. That cable you got probably runs $10 - 20 cost. I dont know what this "power supply for amp" is but it sounds like another one of those things that they sell you that you dont need. The only thing I can think of is they are referring to the power wire and fuse holder for the amps.

Over all you did not get ripped off very bad. However you could have done much better.

And in reference to going to the other shop; you got generic answers because you were talking to a girl. I am not a sexiest however I have talked with installers from all over the USA and in four years I have only seen one female installer. And she wasn’t even an installer. She just attended the same installation school I did and she went off to work in a non-car audio position. So dont talk to girls about stereos. You should have asked to speak with an installer or the floor manager or if all else fails go somewhere else.

 

I appreciate your comments. You may have detected I have gotten a little hot under the collar. I just called and explained to the manager my dissatisfaction. After about 45 minutes he offered $50 store credit. Weak, but I took it. He said I could us it toward a different amp that might help with volume. The different amp was not his idea, but mine. He said he wouldn't charge labor for the amp swap. I am not planing to throw good money after bad. I'm hoping $50 dollars will get a better one. I honestly don't know what to do. I wanted to be proud of the new system; I only feel empty.