Hi,

This has been asked many times but there've been few responses, so I'm asking again: can anybody recommend a good installer in the Bay Area? San Jose / Sunnyvale / Mountain View / Palo Alto or thereabouts.

Just to show that I've done my homework: otaku recommended AMS in Mountain View. I couldn't find it - there's something called "Bay Car Audio" at that location now, it may or may not be the same place/people (they do have the same phone number...)

I also found two recommendations on the web (here and here) for Performance Sound & Security in Campbell. It sounds like a very good high-end place, although it might be pricey. I'll probably be checking them out on Monday if nothing else gets suggested.

Thanks muchly,
Borislav

I too am curious. Both I and a cohort have Audi TT's and our Empegs should arrive next week. I've heard some negative comments on Monney, but might give them a try - because the owner is super interested in doing an Empeg install and says they have done three TTs.

Anyone have someone in the Bay Area they were truely impressed with. I might just burn a Saturday and do the whole thing myself.

-Kevin
Belmont

check the Becker CDR220 thread, dtrounce reported about good results from someone in the bay area that has done several empeg installs. I installed my own...

-gbeck

#080000480
18GB Red, Waiting for Amber screen...

Can't help with installers; I too did my own V70 wagon, and the GTI is next. Save for a niggling ground loop, no worries.

Bay Car Audio is a couple of blocks away from AMS.

I've used AMS before, and quality varies greatly by which installer does the work. On one installation, I've had 2 installers do the work simultaneously, and one of them did a great job the other one rushed the job and screwed up my right mirror control. I had a car alarm installation there a different time, and they miswired the brake lights and as a result I didn't have any brake lights, I picked up the car at close time, and they locked up and left I started up the car and checked everything, did the walk around for scratches and realized the car didn't have tail lights on but they left for the day and had to drive home at night with no tail lights.

That was not as bad as Monney Car Stereo in Serramonte, who grounded something incorrectly, handed me the keys, and everything seemed fine. But on the way home, it got dark, I turned on my headlights and the fuse blew and all my dash lights and headlights went right out! I pulled over to a gas station put in new fuses and every time I turned the lights on, both the headlights and dash fuses blew so I ended up driving back at night not knowing how fast I was going with my parking lights on. Scary! I had a speaker installation at Monney and they wired the front left to the rear right, the front right to the rear left, the left rear to the front left and right rear to front right and completely did a half assed job by scratching my dashboard near the din slot. When I took it back, they reversed the front and rear, and then I had my front lefts and rights reversed! Monney Car Stereo at Serramonte was basically if it wasn't one thing screwed up, it was another. Monney also broke a cup holder, and during an amp installation screwed up my rear seat hooks, so the rear seat was not mounted correctly. It seems they needed to remove the rear seat to mount the amp and didn't bother to check to see if it was properly lined up and bolted on. On a different occasion, (the reason why I had to keep going back to Monney was they kept @#$%ing up didn't details and I had to keep dropping it off) -- so on a different occasion, they said they didn't want me hanging around the shop, so they gave me a ride home. When they called to say they were done they couldn't give me a ride back to the shop cause the guy left. Geez! So they said they were going to drop it off at my place, and 4 hours after close time they showed up. wtf? I'm imagining the joyride scene from ferris bueler here... There was another occasion where they did something funny mounting some deep speakers and messed up a rain shield and on a bad rainy day all this water came pouring out of the door speakers. Needless to say I was pissed and though there was no permanant damage, I didn't like seeing water pouring out of the speakers.

Remember don't pick up the car close to close time, and do a full inspection of every switch, light, option and feature before leaving. If even a minor detail is out of place, insist to have things fixed. Be completely anal or get screwed.

I guess comparatively, AMS is a little better and screwed less things up, but really, they do screw things up....

Calvin

Calvin, your experiences are the reason I prefer to do all installation work myself. If you've got the proper parts and the master sheets from Crutchfield, and you're reasonably good with tools and solder, then you're likely to be better off than having some so-called "pros" do it.

Tanstaafl, did you ever get your master sheets from Crutchfield? What did you think of them?

___________
Tony Fabris

did you ever get your master sheets from Crutchfield? What did you think of them?

They were good as far as they went, but they really only covered the areas that would be dismantled in a normal, sane installation. I was hoping for information on how to completely remove the dashboard assembly, how to work around the airbags without getting killed, how to remove interior trim panels that were in no way associated with the factory speakers but will have to come out for the setup I am planning.

In other words, I could see exactly how the original factory system was put in, buy my installation is going to go so far beyond that that I still need a lot more help. Fortunately my stereo installer has seen a lot of car interiors come apart and has pretty good instincts about how things work.

I've gathered up just about everything I need for the installation now (amplifiers; equalizer; all the speakers except the five MB-quart midrange which are on order; the internal modules for the amplifiers (crossovers and remote volume controls); the large interior trim panel which will be the basis for the custom sub box; the fiberglas cloth and epoxy resin to build the box; the 1/4" aluminum plate to build the amplifier rack; oops... I need to get the L-pads and the cooling fan too.) Check your email -- I've sent you an updated drawing.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

They were good as far as they went, but they really only covered the areas that would be dismantled in a normal, sane installation.

True. They pretty much cover the factory mounting points rather than complete disassembly instructions for the entire interior of the car. Still, for someone who doesn't know how to properly dismantle even the factory mounting points, they are a godsend.

I'm so very glad I got those master sheets before trying to dismantle my dash or my doors. In both cases, there were "hidden" screws under certain "secret" pry-up points that I didn't know existed. If I hadn't looked at those master sheets, I would have cracked some plastic or put screwdriver gouges in visible places.

Check your email -- I've sent you an updated drawing.

Got it. Nifty stuff. You should convert that to a .GIF and share it here on the BBS.

___________
Tony Fabris

Thanks for all the responses in this thread, they were very helpful.

I decided to go with Monnéy (note the spelling, pronounced moh-NEH). I sent them an email on Sunday, Leo Monnéy (the owner) answered on Monday, said he is interested in doing the installation and left me his cell phone number. I visited the Redwood city store that evening and talked with him about equipment, installation options, etc.

I drove there again on Tuesday morning. Selected all the equipment (I bought amplifier, subwoofer and 4 coaxial speakers from them). Leo was willing to match the Crutchfield prices, his were generally higher. There wasn't that much of an overlap between his and Crutchfield's product line, though, so that only helped a bit. I did end up spending more money that I was planning to, Leo is a good salesman and I'm not much good at haggling.

I left the car for the day, Leo gave me a ride (30 miles) back to work. He called me again later in the day when they were done and drove me back to the store.

When I first tried the empeg in the car there was audible noise. They were able to fix it on the spot by adjusting the gains and crossover settings at the amplifier. There's still a little noise left but it's only audible if you put your ear to the speaker. Other than that, the installation was perfect. Really neat, no side effects.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the service I received. I guess it really helped that Leo took personal interest in the empeg and dealt with me from start to finish. He knows about the bad experience Calvin had in the Serramonte store and was trying to reestablish a good name.

Calvin's experience
David's experience
http://www.monney.com

Borislav

When I first tried the empeg in the car there was audible noise. They were able to fix it on the spot by adjusting the gains and crossover settings at the amplifier. There's still a little noise left but it's only audible if you put your ear to the speaker.

What is the loudest DB setting you can play your Empeg at right now without distortion?

It should be 0db. If not, then you can back off those amp gains even farther and reduce the noise even more.

On the Mark2, you should be getting no noise at all unless they did something clumsy with the grounds, or if they ran the power cables along next to the audio cables.

___________
Tony Fabris

It should be 0db. If not, then you can back off those amp gains even farther and reduce the noise even more.

I do sometimes listen to some of my quieter albums at 0db, so I don't think I want the gains any lower. But it's not really a problem at all, the noise it only audible if you press your ear against the speaker grill and it's kinda hard to do that while driving.

Borislav

Btw: We are going with Monney also. Two TTs and two Empegs. One of our empegs has arrived - the other was accidentally unshipped, but the Emfolks quickly fixed the problem.