So, a guy come in today BS-ing about building a crazy daily system. He wanted to be heard "from like 4 blocks away". He goes on to tell that another local shop was saying they build daily street systems, and our shop "only build's competition systems, that why they are louder."
Wow...
So, the daily pounders I build that out perform pretty much everything they build (for the price) and sound great on any music are 'competition systems'? I didn't know that....lol.
So, they agree we build better.....so it must be 'competition'?
Shops do that stuff all the time to crush the competition. They also lie like that to get customers. I was actually inside a shop when a customer of theirs was up in the air about buying an amp.They actually told the guy that the new RF stuff was better than the older products ( you know the Rockford fosgate older punch series amps)during the time when they had a large recall due to board failure. They said that just to make a sale.
well sadly selling car audio is like selling a car, it's half shopping smart and half not getting butt raped in the process. it doesn't help that the shops cant get better dealer pricing on parts, then they haft to pay all there over head, bla bla.
what you need to do is have something like 3 cars a 130's car, a 140's car and a 150's car. maybe offer something like drop in pricing, that way people get what they want and you have a system they don't haft to make much of a choice. maybe i am just talking out of my a.s.s.
I think the main cause of the downfall of many shops is the internet. I personally would rather pay an extra 50 bucks for something local with a warranty. But other say no way im gonna buy it online and do a hack job installation myself.
i would be more willing to pay more for an item if it included installation fee's. not saying new wire runs but maybe rca's and mounting the amp setting the gain, ect. if that 50-75 included warranty as well, i would be buying from shops more.
me to deathoob, but in most cases the knowledge that the some what well read D i y'er can sometimes. rival a lot of the workers that install. Car installation seems to be a dying art, like most things involving working with one's hands. I remember when the average shop owner was 35 + years old, and knew his stuff. Mecp seems like it is almost a thing of the past. Though i must admit that the most bad azz installer i ever knew, did not have a certification.
The thing alot of people dont realize is when small shops are already fighting the internet for prices you cant expect free installation. Most of the local shops around me basically only make profit on installs.
true story joe shops local here tell me they can drop prices to come very close to internet prices, but they would only do so if i were to pay for them to install, because the guy straight up told me thats where he really makes his money to keep his shop running but im not really the type of person to pay for something i don't need and i can do a great install myself to save the money. and like said above, installers don't really have that much knowledge, it is quite easy to become a "certified" installer and when talking to some of them they don't even know what the big 3 is, but they tell me about installs they have done with memphis's 1100 watt rms amp. where they have installed 2 of those and a 4 channel amp on top of that and its crazy loud.. well its hard to believe all that when they don't seem to have proper knowledge about running the electrical to supply that power makes me really not want to put my money or trust with them and the thing is, all of the equipment i have i bought brand new, but i got them for very cheap, just finding the right people that have brand new stuff and not got a chance to install but now need to take a huge loss selling it so they can pay their bills. it takes alot of patience but you can find the things you want for great prices. like recently i just bought some brand new Re xxx comps for a price i wont say, but i guarantee nobody else will be able to ever get them cheaper than i did without stealing them lol
I was a little young at the time but i remember my uncle telling me stories when he worked a family stereo shop. He said he used to have people come in and drop thousands on equipment with out the slightest worry in the world. They would say a want whatever it takes. This was in the early to mid 90's i believe. Although the economy does have something to do with it but i believe most of it is due to the internet. It really is sad that theirs not more local shops that actually know what there doing these days. Not only that but Everyone and there grandma goes to best buy and thinks they got the best equipment in the world.
well sadly canaan cant be in every town, i would totally pay to come and rent a stall to work in per hour. that would include tool use and small things like terminals. thats really what i want.
I'm not the best installer, hell I know quite a few people that I would consider friends that are better than me w/ 12v Audio and other electronics. Many of them I met threw competing in USACi all over the south. Some of them have left the industry for bigger and better things.
BUT....I will tell my customers the truth. I won't SAY I can make your system sound the way you want it to....I WILL SHOW THEM. I'm not this amazing guy that customizes your vehicle w/ insane fiberglass work and vinyl/suede/leather everything, but I will break things down for you and try to help you understand just what you can get for the $ you are planning to spend.
If you come in wanting 4-15's in your trunk car, and if I can't persuade you that you can't get the performance you want w/ 4-15's....hey, I'll just loose that sell. I would rather sell you something that will actually work and sound great in the vehicle, if not, just let the other guys down the road build it...then come crying to me when your buddy w/ the same car out performs you w/ 3 less expensive 12's.
again, you are just making the point that i rather come to your shop if you where local, as long as you didn't have the high and mighty feel about you. hell the only thing my car probably really needs is some one to set the eq's right beacouse my ears are odd.
That would just mean that I'm not open to learning. If you are not open to learning, just give it time, you will be beat by 'the next best thing' and never know it was coming. (usually a year late).
As for setting and EQ, that is going to be totally personal preference. I have set EQ's for so many people to a nice flat response for the highs/mids, only to see them show up a week later w/ the highs PEGGED because it sounds better. Many people love crazy highs, but I want mine smooth.
Rule of thumb....'the customer is USUALLY right". You just have to work w/ them to show them the sound they were really looking for.
Flatten out that lower eq to 0 instead of +3. Use the sub control for that freq range instead of the EQ.
If you have less than 200wrms on your mids (or you have low-end to mid-end mids that will not extend to lower freq), try to low-pass the subs at 80-100hz.
Play around w/ the Q-factor on your EQ bands.
Also.... Its better to reduce than boost. Think about that when tweaking the EQ.}
I have a question thats been bugging me. Canaan whats the right setting for the ssf? Ive always kept it a little less than what the box is tuned at. Lately ive been reading in a couple diferent places that it should be set at tuning. Comments/thoughts?
^ and thats the way ive always done it,but ive also read that it should be set to what the box is tuned to also. Same with the lpf,ive heard 50,60,80,100. Ive always set mine at 80. So what is it?
And maybe thats just what it comes down to,personal preference. It just makes me curious when people have different opinions on things. Canaan since you do this more than the average person, if you would please: Lets just say in a basic install Hu,amp,sub,nothing fancy. What level do you adjust things to? From treble,mid,bass to sw control,ssf,lpf,hpf,Q-factor. So many people do things differently,makes me wonder sometimes.lol