So I have a friend, a good guy, who is in the car audio business, sort of. I don't know what the hell I'm doing stereo-wise so he recommended equipment to me. A component system, with door panel speakers, tweeters, a new head unit, and a new amp. He offered the parts and labor to me at a discount.

He took about 8 hours to put it all in, and I do believe that he was working as hard and as fast as he could. But the results are horrible, and I guess there's more to do. The sound sounds like it's coming entirely from the back of the car, and the volume and clarity he talked about aren't there at all. This whole setup is basically no better than the stock sound and he said he used the speaker wire that came with the stock speakers to run to the new ones. Now, on this last point, using the stock speaker wire, is that a big deal? Also, he has offered to fix everything so that it sounds good. But I'm now skeptical. He said that the amp and so forth was not "tweaked." Should I let a pro shop work on this or give him a second chance? Sigh, to make matters worse, my gf almost dumped me last night for having to break plans three nights in a row. I had no idea the install was going to take so long I'd have to cancel plans with her. Grrr... this really sucks...

 

the speaker wire should not make the difference..unless you are going super high end..it could be the amp that he hasnt set the gain on or the x-over yet, but he should have done that when he turned on the car..play around with the head unit a bit..turn up the treble..put the bass up to wear the speakers dont distort..if all else fails..sue him

 

i would let him try agian if he offered to do it for free. Since it already sounds horrible, he probably couldn't make it sound any worse right? What did he use for speakers, amps, head unit?

 

8-hours is pretty quick actually.

If good components were installed it just needs tweaking which can make a world of difference. Most head ends have the ability to adjust crossovers with high-pass and low-pass settings, gain controls on the amps, parametric equalizers, loudness, and even good old bass and treble controls. Often the difference between a good system and a great system is the tuning.

 

why dont you list the equipment he used and describe how he did each in detail?

but honestly, having read your post, your friend is probably one of those people who are SEMI into car audio installation...i know a ton of people like this, infact, i know people like this who are principal installers at shops :O

meaning if you get htem to swap a headunit in a civic, or tap a amp and a sub, they can do fine, but when you get into a vehicle that i would say is a bit more specialized like the Z, he may not have the experience or skills to do a proper job.

i also agree that 8 hours is VERY fast for anyhting htat sounds good in a Z...i would say even if i worked full speed and everyhting went through trouble free, it would be about 12-16 hours at LEAST before i can deliver what i would consider a basic SQ install..neat and tidy...

so...i am not sure if i would let him try again, i know from personal experience that when installers go above their limit, and espically if hes doing it for free, he may start getting frustrated at the car and cut corners and perhaps screw things up a bit...then you are worse off than you were before.

i would say thank him for his time, perhaps ask him to take out hte stuff , and then find a qualiyt installer...

just my two bits, again, i am PURELY GUESSING on your friend, i am not factually blaming him at all.

b

 

Well it doesn't say that he did it for free nor does it say that he will fix it for free. If he charged you for the install, then you should make him stand by it or refund your money so that you can get it done correctly.

 

what did he sell you part # please

8 hours is fast not slow so him failed to take his time

how much did he charge

 

p.s.

my general rule:

mother of all f***-ups: Rushing
father of all f***-ups: installer doing something above his skill and experience

a less capable installer, working within his/her limits and taking the proper time, will almost always turn out a better product than a more capable installer pushing beyond his/her install envelope and rushing

 

Tuning would make it sound a lot better. After all many aftermarket headunits have lots, and lots of options. When I installed my new HU, I was still tweaking it every now and then months after I installed it to get the sound I liked best. Redoing the speaker wire would be a pain, but it may slightly improve the sound. You may or may not even hear the difference though, depends if you have good ears :P. It might just be a placebo effect to some people.

 

The G/F issue has been overlooked, if she was going to break it off over plans being scrapped 3 nights than it's time to look elsewhere for company.

 

If you think it sounds worse than stock then he messed something up. Even adding an aftermarket head unit and nothing else will dramatically improve sound quality. I also don't think it's possible that used a lower quality speaker because the sotcks one's are amoung the worst I have ever heard.

 

hahaha wrong thread i'm assuming

 

no, he mentioned it at the bottom of his original post.

 

This makes me want to take my car to a professional installer... hummmm

I donno..

 

do you really have any professional installers in CN

 

Oh yeah… Sounds familiar… I’ve been there. I am a 12 volt idiot (who has even less knowledge on car audio-visual systems) with a bad DIY habit. When I couldn’t get it working myself, I got a buddy (who thought he was an expert but truthfully didn’t know much more than I did, just sounded as though he did) to help. After getting the whole thing installed and working (finally, much more the 8 hours), and a couple of chips in a panel and some other stuff damaged and then repaired (more $$), the result was… well let’s say… disappointing.

So, I managed to break my DIY habit, did the research, and located a couple of decent installers in my area (Minneapolis, MN). I envy the guys in CA because you have some very good installers (and you see some of them generously providing advice on this Forum). In my city, 99% of the installs are done at Best Buy and Circuit City. They don’t charge much for the labor (sometimes nothing), using this as a leader to sell equipment. The really good installers charge for labor (at least $50+/hr in my area) and do not carry many product lines simply because they are doing more difficult and diversified installs to meet the requests of customers willing to pay for professional installs.

Here are a couple of things I believe are important when dealing with high-level professional installers.
1) If you want a good job, you must be willing to pay for it. When you try to get a bargain, you are really asking for something from nothing. You need to pay a fair price for a good job. You are paying for labor (i.e., expertise) in this scenario.
2) Repairing a botched install can sometimes cost more than if you paid the installer to do the job from the start. When the installer has to ask you what that blue wire you installed is for, and you tell them that is the wire you put in to connect the “thingy” to the “watchma-call-it, ” you are going to pay for disassembly on top of the correct install.

Just some thoughts. It’s probably obvious to most of the readers here, but it took awhile for me to catch on. --Spike

 

Spike- Who did you have install your system?

Tuning can make a huge difference, however a minimal amount of tuning should result in significant gains from stock. If he spent ten minutes tuning and it doesn't sound better than stock, I'd say you better start reading and figure it out for yourself, or pay to get it done right.

 

what parts did he install?

 

Looks like you've got a theme going here on advice. You can ignore the one about the speaker wire. That will do you no good at all. Can you drive around with it the way it is? Do you have a camera? I would get as much back from the guy as you can for the labor, post some pictures here, cool off for a few days, and start asking questions. If the original install is not totally screwed up you could probably get some help here to make sure it is good enough and get it setup right without starting over. Hopefully he did all the difficult work for you and did a decent job. At the worst, if you stay friends with him over this and you get in over your head then you can appologize and give him another chance if he is the only thing you can afford. BTW, what does he have in HIS car and how does it sound? Probably should have checked that first if you did not.
If you feel like that is more than you want to do on your own or we can't convince you to feel comfortable with it then also get some money back, cool off, and start heavily researching installers in your area and be prepared to spend some $$$.
Bunch of different directions but think out your situation and what you can do about it.
Post something with some information, we'll still be here

 

My order of importance:

#1 install quality
#2 tuning (really should be part of #1)
#3 Component quality

I have more peole ask me to tune their install than anything. If I was doing an install, I would never consider turning it over to the customer until the tuning was buttoned down. NEVER! It's a matter of pride in your work and protecting the equipment. I'd even eat the time if the install took longer than the initial estimate.

I agree... tell him thanks and take it somewhere to get tuned. But if Circuit City is your only option, (like spike100), I'd read up on how to do it yourself. At least you knew it sounded bad. Could he not tell?