Most of you guys really know your sh.it when it comes to audio. I'm a novice and still learning 4 years in the making.
I was just curios as to how many people here do audio for a profession or hobby? If so were you schooled or self taught? Also how many years experience do you have? Are you an audio O.G.! Fill us in
I have been working at a shop for 2.5yrs, been messing around w/ 12v Audio for 8yrs (since I was 16). Been competing in USACi SPL for 7yrs....used to build boxes online and ship them out to make $ for weekend trips to USACi shows.
i got my first car, (that was all mine.) the radio was c.r.a.p. and so where the speakers, didn't know how to take door panels off back then so i just cut holes in the panels to get in. started adding amps but they where installed for me but i was watching very closely, asked lots of questions, watched them blow up alot of my equipment, watched them make a big fire hazard out of my car. then i decided i could do my own work. so the past 4 years i have been doing all my own installs as well as for my friends. nothing has died besides 1 fuse.
I started some years ago by going to shops and watching people install.I gradually picked up a little more knowledge Now i can due simple installations such as radios ,amps, kill switches ,car alarms( most times the two go hand in hand now) remote start etc. BUT I HAVE TO HAVE A SCHEMATIC. I almost got a chance to become a sales guy at one audio shop, but it unfortunately became defunct. Now here I am. I have one unfortunate draw back, and that is my limited experience with some audio brands.
i am no professional but have a good knowledge about car audio, been at it for 5 years or so, built many systems myself, and have been a go to guy for all my friends, installed many many systems for people and lately i have been building alot of Re systems for people locally, make a small profit off it, but its simple and doesnt take me long to do plan on opening my own home audio shop when i finish school and use my knowledge to build systems for people i have no problem at all making custom enclosures
Its great working at a Pawn/Car Audio shop. I get alot of hands-on time w/ the brands we carry, and at the same time I get quite a bit of hands-on time with all the other brands sold locally. I see a pretty diverse offering of systems. Not only can I sell our equipment, but I can take the 'other guys' stuff and build to compete w/ them with their own brands!!! (that gets interesting sometimes, lol)
I could come out of a car installing a boss HU, w/ audiobahn amps, lanzar subs, and power acoustik highs....then jump into a full DD build. Then build a box for a JL w7 13.5, then build a box for a Kole audio sub. Then its back into a vehicle to fix a "my buddy said he could make it slap and I should bridge my amp" install.
lol... yea, I actually had the guys from another local shop come in and ask me for a box design last year....about 2 weeks before the audio competition we were hosting. They had 4 crossfire subs on 2 crossfire 600d amps. Sadly, they didn't even know how to strap the amps They just kinda had them gain-matched...told them strapping would be at least a 1dB gain due to the loading issues I could SEE when the subs played.
I saved up and bought my first system when I was 17. I remembered growing up and all my older friends having systems in their cars and I just knew it was something I had to have. I knew the basics back then but didn't have much knowledge on the technical aspects. If I knew then what I do now, I could have did a lot more. I got into systems though because of my love for music. I believe now adays I'm into it just because it has turned into a fun hobby of mine. I enjoy every aspects of it. I'd say 75% of the knowledge I have learned has came from this forum. I joined years back under a different name I've long lost and had to make a new one. The rest of what I've learned has been from self experience and helping friends buy and install systems.
SKD, I have learned alot about car audio from this and other forums also. I picked up the REAL basics here on ecoustics (and thanks to BCAE1.com). Not just listening to friends that 'know how to make it beat'.
My first system was 2 kicker c10's and an IX402 that I got for Christmas. I soon upgraded to an Adire Brahma MKII 10" and JBL bp600.1...and never looked back I broke into the 'unreachable' 140dB+ range w/ 1 10" (according to my local shop back in my hometown) thanks to the box calculator on BCAE1.com
I have been in car audio since I was around 15, so over 20 years. Owned a speaker cabinet company and built thousands of subwoofer boxes and installed hundreds of systems over the years. Consulted on another hundred or so installations (home, theater, and car). Degree in Audio Engineering. Been on four world tours, seven U.S. tours, and hundreds of studio sessions as a musician so I have seen and heard state of the art audio systems on a regular basis. Toured with Freddy Fender (R.I.P.), Melissa Manchester, Juice Newton, Paramore and a few others as FOH and/or monitor engineer.
I've been messing with car audio since I was 16. I'll be 25 on the 27th of July so I'll had around 9 years of just hands on experience. I have learned a lot from just trial and error. Also, I do a lot of reading and research on car audio topics and theories. I'm always up to learning new things pertaining to car audio. I do all my car audio installs and what not purely as a hobby. I would love to try to get into it as a profession but I live in a small town in southern Indiana so we don't really have a lot of shops around. It's pretty bad though, when you do walk into a shop and you are 10x's more knowledgeable then their employees, which is what tends to happen when I go to any of the more local shops around my area. Lesson to learn is that southern Indiana sucks! lol!
I've been into car audio since I was ten or so. My cousin had a system in his '87 Mustang and I fell in love with it. I got my first system when I was fifteen to put into my '93 Mustang. I installed it myself and ever since then I've been doing installs for my friends and neighbors for $20 an install. Even if it takes me eight hours to or more to complete the install, I won't charge any more than that. I just take it as a new experience every time I do one because It's always a different car/truck that I can learn how to install a system in. It's just a hobby for me but it is something that I love to do more than anything else around my shop. Other than working on motors, car stereo installs is just as great. Just watching it run/bump for the first time and knowing it works is a great feeling. I've never installed a system or rebuilt a motor that didn't work on the first try.
Not a pro at all but loved bass since I was 15 or so. Going on 24 years??? Did some ghetto stuff in my day like cutting the sheet metal in the panels of my 1982 Buick Regal to install some 10" subs in the back. That's right, I cut the holes and dropped them in. Problem was the sub was deeper than the cavity behind the panel lol. I've had Radio Shack gear, pawn shop subs and boxes, even built a half dozen or so myself. I even built a few I never got around to install. One of my ancient POS subs I even sent to Canaan to blow up. He made a vid of it too lol. Good times.
Hey Paul dont knock that old Radio Shack gear dude! LOL Pyle Dryver used to be the shiznit when you could get it from them back in the day. And some of those old Radio shack car amps were fairly rated with decent internals. lol
I am going to go out on a limb and say that can not be good for the subs. I have never seen a product called " Bass Boost in a Can". lol (....... now with .6 more decibels !). Heck electrical bass boost on your amp is not really recommended. LOL
I've had their EQs and power boosters and believe it or not still have some of the stuff lying around somewhere. Cheap thrills. I know I still have a ghetto "Urban Audio works" amp too. 20 year old crap from the auto store. All chalked up as an education.