I saw Doberman's Best Buy post and now you people have me scared...
I currently have a stock radio with a JVC amp and 12-speaker Boston Accoustic set-up.
I bought a new head unit from Circuit City.com on sale and planned to let them install it, since it's free.
All they're gonna do is hook the new radio to my amp, right?
I mean, is there any way they can screw that up?
Otherwise, I'm going to pay my usual guy to do it to be sure it's right.
I know nothing about hooking this stuff up.
Thanks!
Steve
id pay your usual guy to do it
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
its not free, they will charge you for the adapter mount anyways, probably charge you extra as well for relocating the stock unit/ t - harness etc....(2000 + models only). Pay the extra 40 to 30 $ and save yourself the possible headache.
My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"
Agreed!
Not slammin' CC I bought my head unit, dash & antenna adapter, there. I installed it myself w/ the help of the J-Body Org.
Not bad for a Newb!!!
If you're asking on the quality if the job, it's a tough call. Personally I have never seen what I would consider a bad install come out of the Roadshop I work at, but with hundreds of stores, it's impossible to say that every one does a good job. IF they will do it for free I would let them do it. The worst that could happen is they don't do it right and you have to have your usual guy do it anyways.
-Chris
Circuit city installed my amp and sub, and they did pretty good job of it, although the guy who did it was a dick.
I used to work at a Circuit City as an installer. I know a lot of installers there. one of them has the current 2nd loudest official score in street A over 154 dbs. I bet thats louder than everyone on here. So not all CC are bad. Ive seen hacks. If thats what you're worried about then you can avoid them. They are gonna charge you for the dash kit which you need antenna adapter which oyu need if you want radio reception. and a gmrc 01 which you dont really need. if you run a fused wire to the pink wire in the ignition column you will be able to use your cd player but will lose your door chimes when lights are on etc. you'll need a different harness which is for the chevy tracker I believe 01 and up. then run the red wire to the wire I mentioned earlier.
the roadshop i worked at did very nice installs, they would hide the wires to the amps if the amps had endcaps and such. we never had many cars come back aside from valet switch problems and people changing the settings on their amps. considering that i would let them do a basic radio install. for you, i would take it to whoever did everything else. the equipment you buy is only as good as its weakest link which many times is the jackass installing it.
women are like cars you have to test drive the new one before you trade in the old one
lol the circuit city sucks here and messed up my moms car on the same note its not like everyone that works there is the same it all depends on who works there not the actual company just like everywhere else.. but a radio is pretty simple kinda hard to mess that up
I would just take it to the guy you trust. you trust him for a reason. Head units are kinda hard to screw up, but they are going to charge you for the adapter to fit the car, the adapter for the wires, that right there is 40 bucks with out taxes and thats if they cant find anything else to charge you for. The free install is only for a basic install which doesn't cover any of the adapters. it basically covers just sticking it in the dash, and slapping the wires together. Save yourself some worry and take it to your normal guy.
Donovan
Circuit City, Visions, Futureshop - avoid all these as if they were the plague.
If you can, buy the fit kit and install it yourself (really not difficult). If not, get someone at a bonafide reputable stereo shop to do it.
Free your mind - shoot your TV.
its not the stores themselves but the people they hire, i would never leave my car to someone who's skill i havnt verified. there are thousands of b.b. and c.c. across the country, asking some guy in florida if c.c did him wrong wont matter if your in ohio. if u know someone you trust to do the job previously. why would u not go back to him. i'd personally would rather pay a few extra dollars knowing its going in right versus trying to save a few dollars on someone who's skill u have no clue about.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography
no, i doubt anyone there even has skill
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
n8ball2013 wrote:I used to work at a Circuit City as an installer. I know a lot of installers there. one of them has the current 2nd loudest official score in street A over 154 dbs. I bet thats louder than everyone on here. So not all CC are bad. Ive seen hacks. If thats what you're worried about then you can avoid them. They are gonna charge you for the dash kit which you need antenna adapter which oyu need if you want radio reception. and a gmrc 01 which you dont really need. if you run a fused wire to the pink wire in the ignition column you will be able to use your cd player but will lose your door chimes when lights are on etc. you'll need a different harness which is for the chevy tracker I believe 01 and up. then run the red wire to the wire I mentioned earlier.
90% or so of the loudest dbDrag install in the world look like ass, and are very messy. So what is your point of 154db's? How high a SPL score is in one vehicle has NOTHING to do with the quality of work on another.
Circuit City will do the "labor portion" of the install for FREE, a NORMAL drop in install that is.
Probably gonna be extra for the amp hook up. Parts will be "OVERPRICED" and you will more than likely be told you "need" the relocation harness for your stock Headunit.
You can do it yourself, so why not do it? Any ?'s about the install, I'm sure you will be able to find here. Or pay your usual guy to do it.
BTW
if you buy Metra parts
You'll need either a MET99-2001, or the MET99-3301 dash kit
and the Correct harness is the METGMRC-01, which is cool, we all have forgot to turn our lights off once or twice. This will save the headache.
Or you can get the MET70-2003 Wire Harness, it comes with the fuse tap to run to your fuse box and a long enoug wire to do so
The antenna adaptor is the ANT40GM10
One more thing, they DO NOT CUT ANY WIRES AT C.C. , they use "Smartharness" plugs, so they will simply plug it into your radio, and plug the other end into your car.
sndsgood wrote:its not the stores themselves but the people they hire, i would never leave my car to someone who's skill i havnt verified. there are thousands of b.b. and c.c. across the country, asking some guy in florida if c.c did him wrong wont matter if your in ohio. if u know someone you trust to do the job previously. why would u not go back to him. i'd personally would rather pay a few extra dollars knowing its going in right versus trying to save a few dollars on someone who's skill u have no clue about.
sndsgood always puts it best. I have customers that come back daily to me but i have customers who don't know me and would rather i don't touch their car which is completely understandable. Pay the extra go with who you know.
James its not the point of it looking good. I know what you mean about em looking like ass. but it takes a little bit of knowledge and ability to make something that loud. I've also seen the mans sierra and its knock you out the truck loud and still is awesome sounding when he wants it to. Just making a point you can't generalize all CC installers together. every shop has someone who isnt as capable. Not just CC and BB
Same here, I work for ccity, and i know there's certain people in the roadshop at my store that i would let install anything in my car, others not so much. It's not a question of whether ccity can install the cd player, it's if the particular installer can do it, or feels like doing it well. and as for the free installation, it only covers labor, which is like $40 normally.... a simple head unit install shouldn't be much of a problem, though, being that that's probably one of the main things that they do every day.
did my own setup for the first time on my camry, except either the HU was crappy or my camry's wiring harness is a little different than the regular camry (because the red and yellow wires HAVE to be connected together in order for the HU to get power...
)
Pretty much, go to walmart, spend the $10 CDN for a wiring harness for your car (it will list the compaitable cars on the back) and rip out your stock stereo (you could find help for that here), put on the harness, buy a crimping kit ($20 for one with everything you need, maybe even $15), and do it yourself. Honestly, its not that hard, all of the wires on the harness should match up to the HU color for color. BOTH the harness AND the HU should have a sheet/book explaining what each wire is. the one on the harness explains what each wire on the stock radio harness is for too
But, if you're still not sure of your skill, just take it to the guy who usually does it for you. I wouldnt let anyone but me or someone I trust (not a stranger) to do it (usually I'd do it so I can learn more about cars and stuff)
Gonna be doin a radio install on my bro's intrepid when he gets a new unit and a proper mounting kit (my camry, the HU slips right in, no kit needed
)
Anyways, good luck
If you do it yourself, please save yourself some headches and solder the connections. Crimp conntections might hold for a while, but the air in the crimp will deteriorate the wire over time. Plus I don't trust the job those cheap crimpers do anyway.
-Chris
