stopgo

Hi all,

I don't know much about car audio... just enough to know that the factory Blose has to go. I think I've settled on a JL amp and Boston Acoustics speakers as a first step.

So, after a recent visit to the local Tweeter store, I'm left scratching my head at the list of charges they want to whack me with, which is as follows:

- $1399.97 (2x BA 6.5 Pro-series sets, 1x JL amp)
- $79.99 x 3 (5-year extended warranty on equip. Yeah... like I'm gonna pay for that. But the salesman was almost pathologically insistent about it)
- $65.00 (Labor for the amp install)
- $75.00 x 2 (Labor, 2-way OEM component speaker lab (???))
- $80.00 (Labor for bypassing factory amp)
- $50.00 (Labor for spacers to accomodate the BA's)
- $24.99 (High to Low level conver. (What is that, anyway?))
- $1.00 (Installation materials)
- $150.00 (Misc. materials... RCA's, power wire, speaker wire)

That's a whopping $520.49 (excluding the $239.97 for the extended warranty I'm not gonna buy) for parts and labor on a set of equipment that retails for $1399.97.

Someone, please, give me a sanity check. Of that cost, $265 is for labor alone, resulting in better than $33 an hour (giving the benefit of the doubt that it'll take a full 8-hour day to replace four speakers and an amp)... which I find absurd. Is this normal for retail car-audio shops (Forgive my ignorance... I've been out of the country for awhile)? And at this point, am I nuts to think that this is a project I could do at home (I've done a couple of installs before, but never including an amp, and never on something so valuable as a Z)?

Cheers,
Scott

Zaph32

The high-to-low converter takes the speaker-level outputs from the head unit and converts to RCA line-level outputs for use with your amp.

The Bose is a nasty system - to improve on it, you basically need to gut everything - so their charges to bypass the factory amp seem valid to me.

$265 in total labor - trust me, it's WELL worth it! I spent a week redoing my system (fronts, rears, and a sub including home-run power to the battery) and I still may yet go back to a good shop to reduce rattles.

As for what you could do yourself...I can't speak to your skill set, but here's my take:

- Front speakers are not very difficult, chance of damage there is low. You can mod the built in speakers to use as spacers for the new ones pretty easily (search my posts for this.) I spent 3 hours total to replace both fronts. However, the fronts I put in were not separates like yours with the crossover, so there's extra work to get that stuff sorted out.

- Rear speakers are a pain and the chance for damage here is high. (I made a minor dent on the body trim while leaning into the car, and scratched some of the back plastics during rear reassembly.)

- The amp run is kind of a pain but isn't TOO bad when you already have the back disassembled.

- Installing a sub in the stock area can be a serious problem due to the gas tank on the bottom and metal tabs on the top.

- Getting to the wiring behind the radio is not too hard, and the chance for damage is low.

My motivation for doing it myself was only partially financial - I also didn't trust anyone to work on my car. However, this install really broke my spirit. If I had it to do over again I would definitely let a professional do everything, especially for only $265!

You might consider bringing your digital camera when you drop your car off. Take pictures around potential damage areas. The doors, the dash, all the back plastics, and outside as well - around the door sills, rear quarters (where they will lean in), and the front quarter near the battery (where they may also lean.)

Most good shops will repair any damage they cause. I had a very high end shop here once drill through a power window motor on my Boxster - they ordered a Porsche OEM part and repaired it 100%. Make sure the shop you choose is willing to do the same.

Also, if possible, see if they have pictures of sample work done to a 350Z - if so, they already have experience in taking it apart and have learned what to watch out for.

Sorry for the long winded response - but in general I think the prices for labor sound fair, and I don't think they are screwing you. And I don't think I'd go the DIY route.

Zaph32

BTW Bostons are wonderful speakers that you will be extremely pleased with. Especially when driven by a nice amp like that.

Zaph32

One more thought (sorry for the multitude of posts)

You said they are looking at around 8 hours for the whole deal.

I think that's probably pretty accurate - again search my posts to read about my experience in detail (where I include time spent on each portion of the install.)

nlauri

iTrader: (1)

I know my installer spent alot more than one day and his chrages were similar to the ones quoted you. Building the box for the sub and fitting into the stock space was a pain and took him a good 4 hours just on that. No he had never done a Z before but he read up on the threads in this forum and so was prepared. I bought my components on Ebay because they are much cheaper than at a local shop unless you know someone. I still have some sub rattles that I will have him work on when I decide how to replace head unit while leaving stock in for the look. I know nothing about installing but I have the pixes from my install and know from going to the shop how long and hard he worked on it! Good luck. Anything you do will improve on the Bose!

stopgo

Thanks very much for all the feedback, guys. Since I won't be installing a sub (yet) I think I'll give the speaker install a go by myself, and leave the more complex stuff up to the pros. Either way, I'm pretty sure that anything will be an improvement on the factory system.

If I remember, I'll post some pics (especially if there's any damage that results).

Thanks again,
Scott