I recently went to a place nearby where a guy I knew from high school works. He said he would hook me up so I decided to give him my business. I've been there before, they do good work from what I've seen and very professional. I have the JL Audio stealth box and two JL Audio 10 inch subs in them. I decided to go there for the amp because they usually rape you on labor if you don't buy from them. He told me he took about 150 off the amp (Retail price is higher then ebay I assume) and will try his best with labor. Total with installation and amp would be around 750 - 850 depending on labor and how long it takes to put it all in. This including all the best wiring as well. Does this sound about right? Just don't want to be completely raped in the butt nor do I want a half assed job elsewhere.

The install includes:

New JL Audio 500/1 Amp.

All the Cables Necessary.

Amp Installation.

Sub and Sub Box Installation.



I'm new to the whole pricing scheme for sound systems in cars. I'm just wondering if this price is...umm not steep. Thanks for any help!

 

what kinda sub?

 

I think your paying a lot

 

and what county are you in?

 

he's in new jersey, i think thats a country that shares it's boreder with the USA

 

w3's I believe.

Morris County.

Any help would be appreciated as I can't get much answers elsewhere. I'm a regular on the 350zmotoring.com boards and it's pretty dead there.

 

how about u buy the stuff off of ebay, then take it a good audio shop, like sound of tri-state (which btw is in DE/MD/PA, located in a country called United States of America) and just let them put it together for u with their JL audio cables.

 

Well if the price let's say a $100 difference from other places, then I really don't mind. But if it's near $200, then I mind. Just don't want to be ripped off, thats all. Plus I want the warranty from the place if I buy the amp from them. The subs I don't mind cause then I'll just have a reason to buy better ones later on.

 

you are too far to travel to Burlington County, shame, but I'll say this. Without being friends with anyone, I had a full Z install done for 1200 labor
Sub-box
front and rear speakers
radio into JL cleansweep plus seperate volume control
Mp3 system, wireless LAN and controler
3 AMPs on custom fab rack in stock woofer space
they included all wires and cables and sound deadening in key spots.

Also, I did not buy half the stuff from them.


I think your buddy is charging you 4-5 hundred for the install, you can get that amp for 350. I think 200 is a good price for a friend, 300 max for a stranger.

 

you know I said County right?

 

So let's assume he is giving me the amp for 400-450 (going with retail here) so then 400 for labor I guess. I do know the amp install is $90 flat when you buy the amp from them. I assume they go by the hour on everything else so 85 an hour is average? Four hours = $340 (I don't think it will take that long) $90, then the amp. Hmmm, I'm thinking out loud here.

 

I left the guy a message to get back to me on each individual price. I was in a hurry and only asked for total.

 

I still think the buddy is shafting you

 

When he replies, I'll just post the prices he gives me. Once again, I'm not saying your wrong, but lets just see where he is inflating it.

 

I was charged 65 an hour labor FYI

 

I think Circuit City and Best Buy charge $70 for a sub amp install. They may not be the best place to go but that should give you a bench mark on the price. I wouldn't pay over $100 for an amp install. I think you should be paying this:

Amp - $400
Labor to install amp - $100
Wires - $75
Total - $575

You should just go ahead and install the subs yourself and then all you will have to do is run the speaker wire to the amp. I think for $100 the speaker wire to the subs should be included though.

I haven't ever seen shops charge hourly rates for install unless it is for something totally custom. Most places have a standard rate that they charge to install amps or cd players.

 

Well I know amp installation is $90, then whatever the amp costs (350-450 I guess), the wires, then the rest. I dunno, I messaged him and hoping for a message back real soon. I'll post what he says.

 

for what it's worth the JL stealth box installs in less than 30 minutes by my estimation including running the wiring into the compartment behind the seats. You can download the PDF installation manual from their website if you want to check it out, but it's frighteningly simple I assure you. As far as the amp install goes you could run the power wiring from the battery to the cubby in 30 minutes if you've done it before, anyone feel free to chime in if you think it would take longer, but that's my quick estimate. Hell I tore out the entire interior of my car including the door panels in less than 6 hours and that's the first time around for me, and I was taking pictures, labeling bags of hardware, and really paying attention to the details. When I say entire interior, I mean just that; seats, carpet, foam around the spare, all the plastic pieces except the one on the bottom of the strut, I left one survivor to tell the tale. The single biggest time consumer should be fabricating a "good" bracket to mount the amp, which on the outside would be an hour.

Parts wise you may wish to re-think "the best" wiring. Contrary to popular belief the law of diminshing returns does factor in here quite heavily. Prime example: Monster cable has made a fortune off of people who don't know any better and "just take the installers word for it". You can commercially buy most of what Monster makes for 25% what monster will make you pay retail. Sure you don't get the 50% thicker insulation, but when it comes to RF interference (which is what people believe the thicker insulation is supposed to prevent), I assure all of you the RF waves don't care about plastic, shielding the sensitive low level wiring in grounded aluminum is the only "real" way to protect against RF interference. Otherwise you can solve your problems by routing your wiring properly and giving Monster cable the finger. The really funny thing is everyone who has paid the outragous prices for Monster will tell you how much of a difference it makes. Mind you these are the same people who have never heard what their system would sound like with "regular" wiring, so truthfully they have no clue how much better it is if it's better at all. But I guess when you spend that kind of money you tell yourself what you have to in order to justify it to yourself.

Short answer, if you have your buddy doing the install; don't forget to bring the big jar of lube. If you go to someone else for the install; bring a big jar of lube. It's not super hard to do, all the instructions to do it yourself are readily available, and who knows you may decide you like working on your own car and you can take the money you were going to spend paying someone else to do what you can do and buy yourself something really really nice. Just my .02 do with it what you please.

 

I agree 100% with tattoo60012, the install is very straight forward. Its not difficult at all,,there are instructions step by step,,plus you have us here to walk you through it. His price is very high for that install. Do it yourself,,,we can help,,,save money, plus you will see how much you really enjoy quality,alone time with your Z........."you need that bonding"...LOL

 

i thin you hit it on the head...i think becuase you didnt buy the subbox/subs from them, they are charging you on labor big time...

i think fair price, properly installed, from a normal brick and motar retail shop should be in the 600 dollar range...

too bad, i used to be in sussex county, wouldnt have minded helping you with the install haha