Politely state why you would/would not have your speakers, amps or HUs installed at Best Buy or Circuit City.

My dad and I are at a standstill on who will install my future audio system; me, or the employees of aformentioned stores. I simply do not trust them pulling off my panels, installing Dynamat (which I do not want for the sheer price; $1/sq. in. compared to eDead, $1/sq. ft.), and installing speakers, of which I do not want as neither of the stores carry Kappa speakers.

My dad believes that I am destined to break my door panels, among other things, and thinks that the people of CC/BB will get the job done right.

I have spent countless amounts of hours simply researching and gathering all the knowledge I would need for my install; terminals, wire size and length, how to understand wattage, voltage and impedence, concepts of noise and interference, where on the firewall to run wire, parallel/series wiring, speaker sizes, speaker mounting and spacing, speaker size adapter rings, battery terminals, fuses, distribution blocks, amerpage, how to set the gain and crossovers, sound deadening, understanding pre-outs, hi and lo level inputs... the whole sha-bang. I have also read Mandos's guide to stripping out the entire interior below the dash to a damn T. I'm confident in my ability to install everything, and don't even know what there is to break on my door...

As a lot of you know, this car could probably be disassembled with a socket set and some free time. It's just not hard!

Thanks for reading, and thanks again for any responses.

~Zac

 

i installed everything myself and have never messed with any audio system before! everything worked on the 1st try too! took me my whole weekend but i did it and saved some money and made me feel good about it. I also dont want anyone else touching MY car besides ME!

i installed...
Alpine HU w/ iPod control
CDT Components w/ MDF baffels (which i made)
JL 500/1 & JL 300/2
JL 10w6v2 ported
All Stinger wires!!!

 

No one touches my car unless it is body work, warranty work or if I am in a crunch and dont have the space or equipment to do the work for some reason (And it has to be done right then).

Plus, I love doing everything myself, be it remodelling, mechanics, etc... and you can bet when I have the space to do it I will learn how to paint a car :D

 

Save your money and do the install yourself. Figure if you do somehow manage to snap a panel in half, I bet it will still be cheaper to replace than getting it installed a BB/CC. Plus I just don't trust them.

I made the mistake of letting them install my first system for me. After 2 amps fried within a year, I ripped all the wiring out and redid it myself and guess what, nothing for the next 3 years. Weird huh.

 

LOL....i work for BB as a mobile electronics installer....lemme tell you that not all BBs are hacks...sure theres a lot of them out there....and now i believe every BB is required to pre-check the vehicle in and specifically write down everything and have you sign off...so you know that they didn't cause any dings or scratches or broken panels before they work on it without you knowing...but again i know of some other BBs in my area where the installers are hacks and usually those customers end up coming to my store ____ed off and we get the awesome job that those installers started and couldnt finish...

 

I didn't trust myself to do my audio setup. Some I did myself, but the rest, I went to circuit city for. They gave the best prices by FAR and I got to be buddy buddy with the head tech and he ended up discounting the work anyway. I only let him touch my car and I always hung out when he was doing it. After a while, I began to trust him and I would easily bring him the car. In fact, not related to circuit city, when I was installing my nav/dvd head unit, I had a little trouble, so I gave him a call and he came to my house to help me out. I'd go back to circuit city, but quite honestly, only to somebody I trust. There is another circuit city that I had a BAD experience at. Luckily, since all of their work is guaranteed, I had one circuity city fix the botched job of the other circuit city!

Their work is warrantied for life and when/if you sell the car, they will reinstall all of the original gear for you free of charge and give you back all of your aftermarket stuff.

Hope that helps!

 

Maybe your dad's just motivating you when he said that you'll just rip those panels off and end up trashing your car. Have the confidence to do it yourself. You just need the right tools, time, and people here on SL. You can do it... :D

 

x2 ScioniZed

The BB near my house is run by monkeys, but the one 30 miles to the south is a pretty clean affair. I asked the local monkeys how they connected a ground wire. They said "we just bolt it to the chassis." The other guys said "we sand the paint off the panel, bolt down the ground, and then cover it with silicone to seal it." Hey, I *like* that answer.

Was your old man going to pay for the cost of the install?

Otherwise, do the install at a buddys house or something. Easier to ask for forgiveness...

 

well you have to learn sometime. I'd rather learn on my own car if i were you. Than to take a chance on someone who really doesn't care because it's not their car!

Do it yourself, take your time. Hey maybe you could get your dad to help along with you. A nice father/son bonding moment!

I think you'd do fine instead of BB/CC, just take your time. Crutchfield has excellent instructions. Even if you don't buy from them the equipment, you can buy the instructions!

Or find a good diy photo shoot here on scionlife.com

 

its an awesome learning experience that is very similar to many cars... so you can apply any of the stuff you learn to future installs. and i must admit its almost addicting (at least for me ) once you do an install. and since you install it yourself, you get to know and appreciate your car more, and gives you bunch of ideas of what you can do, and if something goes wrong you know where and how to trouble shoot it. do it yourself, take your time, you wont regret it

 

Howd you guys learn to install your systems? Body shop class or watching someone do it?

 

i learned by first watching how someone did it. then helping installing it. and finally doing it on my own

 

I've dedicated 90% of my life to reading SL.

 

Just read as much stuff on here and other sites as possible. If you are just installing your basic HU, speakers, amp and sub, it is straight forward on how to do it. Look at Mandos guide to strip your car to run the wiring and you should be set. If you want to get into box building and fiberglassing, I'd recommend trying to find a mentor type of a person and watch them. Most people just build a box to fit their trunks, but it is actually a lot more complicated than that to get a "good" box built.

The one thing I still suck at, but am going to tackle anyway is tuning. I've always just set my system to where it sounds good, but this time I'm actually going to do it the right way to get the most out of the system.

 

Just do your homework here on ScionLife and you will be fine. Everyone is super helpful and you can download the manual to get specs and such.....

 

When I was 16, I just bought a new system and installed it. I learned enough from my dad (a mechanic) helping him out at his shop when I was a kid before that to get me going, and just took my time. Since then I have recieved my electrical certification, bachelors and masters degree in electronics and engineering and have done a lot of construction and custom cabinet work.. so I have been blessed to have a lot of opportunities to learn. But really, just have someone help you out, take your time to always do it right (solder/heatshrink instead of crimps, taps and tape) and you will learn as you go. None of my education is as valuable as the experience's I have had actually doing the work. That is the only way to really apply your learning and become good at it. Not to mention it saves you money and is fun :D

 

Don't get frustrated if you mess things up. It's part of the learning process. You'll learn by the mistakes that you make.

 

The thing is, i'm positive I can do all of it myself without breaking anything.

 

just take your time with it. . the tC can be a bit tempermental at times. . lol and finding a good ground is always fun. .lol

 

Going to ground to the rear seat bolt through a distribution block for the planned two amps. I know how to prep the area too, i.e. sanding and cleaning.