Jay

iTrader: (3)

Tommy from music box is a great guy and an awsome installer !!

BUT if you want something over-board crazy system and set ups, then give PACIFIC AUDIO AND ALARM a call. They're in Placentia off 57 fwy and Chapman ave.
http://www.pacific-audio.com/

I took few of my "****/particulate" customers w/ high end cars there to get the systems and alarm done. Expensive yet PERFECTION !!!!

GL

JAY

slowIST

iTrader: (4)

Jay and Eric at Al & Eds Northridge did my first build. They're hella cool guys, friendly and nice to deal with. BUT, the pricing was waaaay too high for the work. They completely deadened my doors. (pic 1)
They installed a rockford 3sixty.2 processor that never really sounded right, and was wired incorrectly (navi and bluetooth cell phone came from the rear left speaker) he said the processor needed to be wired that way and tried to push another sale on a different processor from audio control to fix the problem. Music sounded like it was 'under-water' and very flat. To the point where lyrics sometimes could not be made out. I left disappointed when he said that was the way the car was supposed to sound.

The amp rack looked cool (pics 2 and 3) because he used carbon fiber vinyl and etched LEXUS into a small piece of plexi. The amps never got enough air flow, was scorching to touch, and eventually caused my jl HD 4 channel to crap out. Also, I wasn't very comfortable with the box just sitting there. I final destinationed myself getting into an accident and have a 10w7 missile in the trunk.

It was hard to be mad at them because they're cool guys. But I started my search for a better shop.

I stumbled upon FX auto design (a vendor on the forum) when I bought carbon fiber foglight covers, which are excellent quality btw, and I had them install coilovers. I met one of the installers, Chan, while he was installing a couple of subwoofers in a white IS250. I asked if there was anything he could do to help my situation.

Best place ever. He decided to rebuild the whole trunk, using suede. pic 4 shows the building process. He retuned the 3sixty.2 processor and essentially re-wired the whole car. Thats when he found the out of phase speaker, and the problem to the navi and bluetooth sounding distorted and coming from the rear. Long story short, he gets the car sounding like it never has before. Everything nice and crisp. Perfect midbass. Tweeter, midbass, and subwoofer all blend very nicely.

You'll see in the pictures, the amps seem a little out of place under the plexi. Thats because I'm using a 300/4 slash amp for now. Just trying to find the time and money for another HD 4 channel after Al & Eds sent my first to heaven. It will then match the left amp and everything will be centered. This current set-up never has any overheating amp problems. Chans massive suck and blow fans in the amp rack work great. The best and most important part about my experience with FX auto is the fact that they don't need to put any other shops down, and they don't need to be cocky about their work. Jay at Al & Eds says a lot of things, he's worked on Pacquiao and De La Hoya's cars, and Lamar Odoms GTR to name a few. Chan at FX let me use his computer while I waited for my car. I stumbled upon pictures that he said I could look through. Ferrari's, Lambo's, Bentleys, etc. all lined up for install by Chan. He didn't even need to say anything. There were 100's of behind the scene pictures of hard work and labor. The website doesn't do him justice, though it is still under construction. Take a look for yourself. http://www.fxautodesign.com/ click on gallery and look under the gallery tab.

Sorry for the extra long post.

Cliffnotes: I saw that someone else recommended a shop that raped me pretty hard. I had a horrible experience with AL & Eds Northridge, but that's not to say you will too. FX auto saved me, and they're a vendor on this site.

Peter_Klim

See, that is the kinda shiet i've always heard about from Al & Eds. I hate chain shops of any kind.

Your install looks nice and clean SlowIST!!

Someone mentioned Pacific Stereo - that is where I plan to purchase the head unit from.

Thanks to everyone!

Peter_Klim

I just called Tommy @ Musicbox. He told me he wouldn't do it: "Nobody changes the stock head unit in that car". Very dissapointed