Re: The Downside of High-End Audio Installs The moment you add a sub, your front/rear sound balance goes for a toss. If it sounds right for you, your back seat passengers are getting their heads pounded. If it's manageable for them, you are probably not getting your money's worth of bass.
Tuning - this Needs to be emphasized a lot. Anybody can install high end equipment, but especially for SQ installs, getting them to sing is an entirely harder job. HPF/LPF/TA, parametric EQ, Automatic tuning, deciding which crossovers to use (HU vs Amp vs Speaker), where to position them, which amps and speakers sound well together, You need an experienced installer to take care of this. For people living outside Delhi/Mumbai/Bangalore/Cochin/Chennai - Options are rather limited.
Regular maintainence - Congratulations, you decided to drive 200Km to the expert and get your ice installed and tuned, but that's only half the journey. During your service, your local ASC might end up disconnecting and reconnecting wires the wrong way (I've lost track of how many times I've recieved my car after a service with speakers in the back wired in the wrong polarity. If the battery gets disconnected, then the HU settings get reset, and you'll need to set it properly again. RCA's might be loose. I know how to troubleshoot and fix these things, but if you don't, you end up with an underperforming setup.
Lack of flexiblity - If you've installed component speakers (especially 3 ways) on door pads, or ORVM pods, or AC vents, then removing and refitting them is going to be beyond the scope of most ASS. If you've put something in your rear tray, or a sub, if you need to transport something big, and you need to remove them, god help you!
If you've set up an overly complex setup ( carputer/Tablet connected to HU via BT/Tablet or some sort of interface directly to an amp) - then setting it up and configuring it each time is a headache. Or you might want to change the configuration to suit your modes. This might even happen with your audio settings on your HU. depending on the genre, you want it to shine, so you might end up changing the audio settings (not just eq) with every song or CD
UPGRADITIS - I am so surprised nobody has mentioned it. You install your megabucks setup, think its awesome, and then you read a review, or hear xyz's cars which have the new kryptonite tweeter which has a slightly better high end. It starts you thinging. If you sell your current comps for about 80% of what you bought it for, and throw in another 5K, you get your ultimate listening experience again...... Until the next sub comes along which seems to have that thump which you feel you've been missing so far. Another 10K seems quite reasonable.
You start listening to audiophile soundtracks, or if you have an SPL setup, the ones which have monster bass. Eventually, that will be all you will have with you in your collection, until one day you are on a road trip with your friends, and you hear 'Pehla Nasha' on the radio, played through the crappy OE speakers, and it sounds so beautiful, all those memories start coming back, and you realize you havent played it in a long time in your car. Apparently even the flac has recording flaws which are painfully obvious when you're listening to on your system.
And then you wonder. Was it worth it all?
Last edited by greenhorn : 15th November 2013 at 12:57.
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