Where do you buy your equipment?

[Superjay]

think if it this way...you can pay 125 for it, but when it breaks (or you break it, or whatever) you have to buy another one because there is no warranty. If you pay a little more for it, you get service. you get a guarantee that it will work for a proscribed period of time.

[papoose42]

yea but then you still could have a problem like my friend bought mtx subs from a local shop and paid out the ass for them and they blew 2 days later all installed by them and tuned and when he went back they said it was his fault for pushing to much power and there was nothing they could do so he called mtx and they said to send them direct to them when they got it they said the same thing it was his fault not covered under warranty.

[Freshman6969]

i buy alot of my stuff used, or i buy directly from the manu, such as DC audio for example, i had bought a lvl 4 15 off chewie on here, then bought the second one from the dealer, it was about 40$ more, but i also get a warenty for that sub, thats really the only upside to me at least, but jay and bill, alot of what your saying is true, shops round here are stright DUMB, cost me almost 700$ for 2 orion cobalts and a west coast customs 800watt amp, after realizing how much i overpaid i was like fuck that, and when i went back a month or 2 ago to see if he could do me a deal on 0g and i showed him my system he was like dc audio? what?, i also asked him if he had a termlab or some type of SPL meter, he was like whats SPL or a term what? this is why once i go to school for this stuff im opening my own shop...because after learning so much off here and the internet its self for over 2 years ive gained alot of knowlage, and with that knowlage i can provide suffecent service to customers, and do alot of custom stuff, like build boxes myself, scope the amps which nearly no shops do, have knowlage of what i carry, all shops need to sit down for half there shifts and scroll the internet, you learn alot

[Winn]

Sadly... My local dealer is full of idiots. They ran the wires under the car and it was hanging ( i had to fix it ) plus they maxed my gains out and set it to High pass for a sub? All they did was hook it up and immeadiately gave it back to me and just messed with the shit for a second to screw it up even more...

All shops care about is your money and will do a shit job atleast around here.

This was all before i actually got into car audio last summer...

So if i want ANY info i trust people on here...

[nCOMP1337]

as has been said before, i would be hapy to buy from a local dealer if my local dealers knew half of what they were talking about, and didnt think that kicker was as good as it gets

i spoke to ed and asked my local dealer if they were interested in running t3 audio, they ahd no idea what it was, i showed them some stuff and gave them a rundown from what i could get form the site and what ive seen on here and they just declined and said they arent looking to expand business and will stick with kicker, kenwood, alpine, which is ine and dandy for those they like those brands, and those brands make some good stuff, but plenty of other brands make better equipment, with more power, and at the same price or even less

the closest place to me that sells a brand that is no super mainstream, is over an hour away and its digital designs, which is a great company, but no offense to them, i am not looking to run DD, i dont want my brand preference limited by a dealer, and sadly dealers around here are not as lenient as other about selling outside their knowledge base and typical store merchandise

i at least tried to bring some better brands locally, no one wants to "expand"

i have a single FI SSD 12 right now and no one has heard of it, and i got it form sonic purity, awesome guy btw, but im running 200rms to it right now and people are quite suprised by it, sadly im asked if i have a couple kickers or mtx in my trunk, lol wonder what they will say when i get my AQ1200 for it

i dont have experience in actual install, my experience is completely research based, which i feel sould come before the install at least to an extent, its fine to leanr as you go, but why not build a good foundation of car audio knowledge before breaking right into it, i also did it this way due to lack of moeny to have any build experience, lol

unfortunately i cannot become a dealer and sell other what i consider quality brands, so like amny others in my position i will be stuck to online browsing or direct buy

but one thing i really like about these brands such as t3, smd/aa, fi, aa, sundown, dc, that have people right here on the site that gives great customer serviced we cant find anywhere else, and i think thats amazing, its like having an online local dealer right on smd, there are links to almost every major car audio website anyways on here, i dont see why online dealers (meaning the company igtself) tghat sells direct to public would be any worse than an actual local dealer, the guy running the company i feel would want me as a customer more than my local dealer that doesnt own or at least work directly for the brand he is selling

i am mostly against mainstream anyways, because to me it feels like they dont care, if you can find it at best buy or walmart, it has become a throw away in the industry, they make it for quick sell, such as the pioneers that are made just for walmart resell, now your local dealer may be able to get you some of the higher level products form these companies like solo x and pioneer champions and mtx 9500s or whatever they are for those brands, but id prefer to go to the source or at least a reputable community of individuals such as SMD...

theres a noobs two cents

[Superjay]

Sadly... My local dealer is full of idiots. They ran the wires under the car and it was hanging ( i had to fix it ) plus they maxed my gains out and set it to High pass for a sub? All they did was hook it up and immeadiately gave it back to me and just messed with the shit for a second to screw it up even more...

All shops care about is your money and will do a shit job atleast around here.

This was all before i actually got into car audio last summer...

So if i want ANY info i trust people on here...

go see Russell at Hitts Autosound in Beaufort...

[Winn]

think if it this way...you can pay 125 for it, but when it breaks (or you break it, or whatever) you have to buy another one because there is no warranty. If you pay a little more for it, you get service. you get a guarantee that it will work for a proscribed period of time.

Sonic gave my P3S a warranty of 2 years i believe???

[Winn]

Sadly... My local dealer is full of idiots. They ran the wires under the car and it was hanging ( i had to fix it ) plus they maxed my gains out and set it to High pass for a sub? All they did was hook it up and immeadiately gave it back to me and just messed with the shit for a second to screw it up even more...

All shops care about is your money and will do a shit job atleast around here.

This was all before i actually got into car audio last summer...

So if i want ANY info i trust people on here...

go see Russell at Hitts Autosound in Beaufort...

Why cuz he is actually smart? well there is some still out there but when your shop argues with you telling you. "you cant tune a ported box by port" then you have to give up

[nCOMP1337]

i must ask, does third party warranties such as squaretrade get honored by the car audio manufacturers?

[Superjay]

no, they cover the warranty by buying a new whatever you have warrantied, or pay for repair. they make their money by selling warranties that never get used.

@Winn - yes, he actually knows what he's doing.