I was making some changes to my F250s stereo today. It was installed by one of the biggest shops in Memphis before I bought my truck. When I pulled the HU I found the rear pre outs were run to my sub amp. I hooked the sub outs up & looked more. They ran 2 sets of speaker wire from the amp under the back seat to the factory speaker wires behind the HU. I run new wire from my amps to my speakers on my installs. They had the 4 speakers hooked up in a 2 ohm load on a cheap Kenwood amp. It was barely able to run them. I knew my system had problems because the HU crossover didn't work & I had no fader. It sounds great now. I hooked my rear speakers to the HU.I replaced the Kenwood with a Phoenix Gold 475 Titanium & hooked the sub outs to my JL Audio 500 sub amp. It hits hard & clean now. All the radio controls work.I put a wire from my Accessary input behind my HU to attach my mp3 player too. It sounds much better than the radio type connection I was using. Why do shops do such shoddy installs. Just a few minutes to check the connections could have fixed most of my system. I will do my own installs in my rides. They saved about $10 by not running new speaker wire but they had the carpet up it would have been easy to install. They didn't put a grommet on the number 4 power cable where they pulled it through the firewall. Cheap crappy install. The wire could chafe & short out. I can't believe the crap some shops do. To make it worse they are about the largest shop in Memphis Tn. There are hundreds of systems there like mine running around town. Rant over. I'll have it right today & safe

 

Ran into similar schmucks when I redid my factory tunes on the 08. Here in Chicago, the problem seemed to be the volume of installs at the supposedly better shops. In and out was all that seemed to matter. You simply cannot replace a fairly complex system in an hour. I don't care how good you are.

Although I really didnt have the time, I opted to take the truck out of service for a couple of days and do my own. Gutted the interior to make everything smooth and neat. Real plus here was being able to sound mat the cab floor, rear cab wall, inside of door skins and the pillars on a standard cab. Also modded the factory speaker openings in the pillars to accept 6 x 9s. Been about a year, no problems at all and sounds awesome, like sitting inside a speaker enclosure. The sound deadening really cut down on road noise too. Wired my sub up to the upfitter, looks completely factory. I really couldn't find a shop I felt I could trust.

 

It comes down to installer experience and the time savers they use. Few shops/installers/mechanics give projects the attention that a dedicated enthusiast will put into their own vehicles.

 

I neglected to mention the assistance I received from ^^Reax, the aftermarket king of FTE. Thanks again!

 

I found a great shop in Memphis. All their installers are certified & they take pride in their work. A 10 minute inspection of my truck before they buttoned it up would have found the flaws. I know the people who own the shop. It was a great shop before they bought it from the old owner. The new guys hire anyone off the street to do installs cause they don't care about quality its the number of installs they care about. I enjoy doing my own installs now. After 20 yrs of messing with it I can do most any type of install I want. My next project is building speaker pods for both trucks. I have 3 way components for both of them.

 

I think a good amount of where people go wrong is in the research.

You wouldn't let a shop put a lift kit on your truck without first asking around about them right? And you sure wouldn't let them install it in an hour either.

Car audio as simple as it looks can be very complex to do correctly. Every part you change or add will have a direct impact on the rest of the system.

People are often quick to swap out a deck without thinking about what it will do to the speakers or stuff like steering controls.

Or upgrading speakers without thinking of what affect it will have on the deck and it's output.

It compiles quickly when you want to upgrade a good amount of the system without thinking about the big picture.

Shops aren't any better. Sadly most are out for the quick buck because if they really you told you everything you needed to have what you expected in an install, you would passout when they told you the price.

So they sell you what they have to and what will get them the most ( and sometimes very low ) profit If you are looking a 100 deck, then they are looking for the fastest and cheapest way to put it in.

Sadly the consumer for the most part doesn't care about quality. Everyone is so price driven that they really miss the big picture until it goes all wrong.

I do installs for customers all over the country. Most of these projects are high end and most are brought to me after they have been taken by a shop, or a few shops. Most of these cars are here for a few weeks while things are done correctly.

A good basic install of a deck and 4 doors will be a full day. Add amps and sub boxes to that and if a shop doesn't ask for your car for a few days, then move on.

This is an industry where you really get what you pay for. Sadly it isn't the gear you should pay for but the people putting it in. If you want to trust the 16yo kid to install that lift kit then you really can't complain when thew wheels fall off

Sorry for the rant

Bill

 

Thats not a rant Bill, thats good advice.

 

i don't have a lot of ripe old age under my belt, but i do agree that the "quality" has gone out of what some places strive about....... now it's more about "quantity" and the low cost of employment to handle a high dollar job.....but that's a whole subject in it's self.

when i started to get into some audio, i was lucky to have a very knowledgeable friend that we ride atv's with that has a lot of experience. another friend of ours was building a "audio pipe" (if your not familiar with the term, most would say an ATV audio system) with 4 speakers. well he made the set up, installed a small cheap amp, and wired up his speakers....... after he got aggravated with it not sounding good, he sold it to well "us". me and my friend took it apart and noticed that he had the speakers wired up in a 2ohm load, to an amp that is NOT 2ohm stable. we rewired it, bolted it back together, and sold it back to him, LOL!

not to mention research, google, audio forums ect are filled with great knowledge.

 

I would say that 90% of shops do not have the proper equipment to setup a system. Gain matching and amp settings are most of where people go wrong.

The old saying of setting the gain to 1/2 or 3/4 is way out of whack. It's not a volume ****.

People are more likely to blow speakers and subs just because they didn't know how to properly tune their system

 

Not counting, I've only seen one RTA and that was at installer's institute. ears might get you close, but not nuts on.

 

A decent shop can at least get close using a DMM. Haven't seen too many shops with a O-scope let alone an RTA

 

II showed us how to tune with a 1k tone and an oscilloscope, but wasn't as into the DMM method. Mostly because they thought most amps don't reach the potential the manufacturer claims.

 

I agree the DMM method can be flawed. but it could be a good start for some shops

When I use an Oscope I like to use pink noise. Sometimes when someone scopes say a sub amp at 50hz, they will still have clipping issues in the other ranges.

 

The shop I use in Memphis has a RTA. We used it when I installed my 15 band EG. They have a lot of equipment & well trained staff. Several of their installers have been in competition or are still competing. The shop has built a van that won many contest around the country. It made a couple of audio mag articles. If you want a serious install done, they draw a blueprint of the project ,discuss it with the customer, offer advise on changes they think will improve the job. Then they can give you a honest bid & estimate of the time it will take. It will not be cheap but it will be right.They draw a plan of any job that involves more than 1 or 2 pieces being changed. Its the only way do do it. I draw up every install I do now before I ever get near my rides.I make a list of everything I need in parts from my drawings. I can do my installs right thanks to shop in Memphis teaching me the basics.

 

Careful what you think about RTA's. I own an RTA, but that doesn't make me good at installing a system. An installer's ability to buy test equipment does not make them qualified to perform their job well.

I learned most of what made me good at this well before owning the RTA. (And I'm not even in the audio business)