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-   -   In-car Entertainment - Reliable Radio (Lamington road & Chembur, Mumbai) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/mumbai/126321-car-entertainment-reliable-radio-lamington-road-chembur-mumbai.html)

Service offered:

ICE sale & installs

Repairs of car audio/video systems

Repairs of home audio/video system


What I like:

Competitively priced
Specialist in ICE installs
Honest advise on the ICE fitments
Know ‘what he is doing’
Repair & installation under one roof
Flexible in timings

What I don't like:

A prior appointment for install is recommended

No home service offered


Pricing:

Very competitive for components and fitment charges


USP:

Been in the business now for over 40 years, and staff knows the job well


Contact:

Amol 98216 84884

Shop No. 30, Kartar Mansion, Tribhuvan Rd, Off Lamington Road, Mumbai 4

Also has branches in Chembur, Kolhapur & Chiplun.

PS- Reliable has been my one stop shop for car audio for many years, seriously recommended.

Dear T-Bhpians,

I have posted the latest details of my installation through Reliable in the ICE XUV500 section.

Anmol and his team is just great especially Zakir Bhai. Patient,practical and neat work. They do not give fancy claims and do their job sincerely.

What i liked :

Transparent dealing
Eye for details
Soultion oriented approach
Complete job for a long last,no short cuts
Honesty was evident

What is disliked :

Actually nothing

Prices :

Competitive
No pushing of high end products unless requirement exists

USP :

Really knowledgeable
Only delaing in ICE makes them quite professional

I write on this page, and still feel bad that I didn't do it earlier.

To wind up to how I landed up with Amol and Zakir Bhai. I have been going to my trusted accessories guy in Vashi for more than 4 years now, across the 3 cars we had during that stint. Never did they give me any chance to complain. Infact, the rest of the jazzing up my brute was done by them.

Fast forward to January 2015, and I had just decided to cancel my Ciaz booking for the NG Scorpio S4+. What made me do that is for another post, but with the challenges of the Scorpio presents to a city-run thoroughbred, is the fact that it has abysmal provisioning for an ICE. Some of the many problems are as follows;

a. There is no system provided for the variant. Which wasn't a big problem, what was, the cut-out on the dash provided is for a single din!:deadhorse

b. The rear door has a clink for the handle, looks very nice; but a royal pain for contouring MDFs (as we found out later)

c. The sheet metal (body structure) of the rear door is supremely hollow, but not enough to get an even mid-level speakers.

d. The S4+ variant comes with one lousy speaker on the driver door. (yes! you read it right. Just one. On the driver door. The passenger door doesn't even have a speaker ring!)

e. The biggest problem was self inflicted; but more on that as you read the rest of the post.

Now, coming from a well-appointed German hatch, I saw the sheer size of the Scorpio as an upgrade, hence it should looks and sound one like too. The Polo has a 2-Din touch, so the Scorpio should also have the same (minimum). With the intention I asked both the dealer and my trusted accessories guy for their competency in the same. I was met with an overtly un-assuring "We will try and work it out!" I didn't just plonk some serious money (for a middle class guy like me) for people to 'try working it out'. So I turned to my one-stop source for Automobile nirvana, team-bhp; and found Amol's coordinates here. What Kartik said about him only went further to give me some serious positive assertions - knowing well that the XUV is one of the most horrendous cars to ICE up.

One call to Amol on a bright sunny afternoon, and he clearly said that he has done similar work on a NG Scorpio and has figured it out well already. My tryst with him was decided based on my car's delivery date and the first thing I did after a long-drawn and horrendous registration process was to drive down to Reliable in Chembur.

Amol had the spices ready by the time I reached;

a. The Pioneer 2-Din BT
b. Infinity Ovals for the rear
c. JBL Components for the front

After he finished working diligently on a Etios, he backed up my Scorp to see what stood in front of him. What was standing in front of him was hours and hours of fine-tuned work that will eventually go on till well past midnight.

We started at 6 in the evening with the sun still gracious with its presence, and only after a few clicks did we have to turn on the lights at the shop. By that time, yours truly, Amol and Zakir Bhai had already cooked up a rapport that seemed much more than an hour.

I am going to keep the write-up on the process itself brief, so as to protect the ingenuity and diligence that Amol and Zakir Bhai has put on the car.

First Step: The Rear Door
By far the biggest challenge was to fit the Infinty's fitted on the rear door, since the depth of the speakers were more than the depth provided on the door. Some crafty MDF work & one-half hours later, we finally found a way to put those babies up for show. Sounds incredible, period.


Second Step: The Tweeters
After deliberation of close to 15-20 mins, regarding the best possible position for the little devils, we honed on to the position of my choice (much to the disagreement of Zakir Bhai, although he knows better). Meticulously Amol was sifting between calls from his wife because it got late and my constant bickering of the positioning of the tweeters.

Third Step: The front door speakers

As said earlier, Mahindra has managed to waft off as much as it could. Providing speaker rings for only one door was plain and outrightly miserly! After rummaging through some wood-work that was already there, Amol and Zakir Bhai finally cut out a perfectly contoured speaker ring that could support the JBLs and still fit within the door limitations without an issue.

For all, please let this serve as a precaution. If you want to just plonk the speakers on the company provided provision, your window will not roll down completely. Now don't ask me why Mahindra didn't do this, beyond me! :Frustrati


Fourth Step: The big one! (Caution: Don't try this again)
It was already close to 9 and my wife was giving frantic calls to find where I am. So was Amol's. Zakhir Bhai was smiling away with all his maturity and 'been there, done that' look on his face.

This was the business end of the installation, and also the reason why I chose Reliable; and they didn't disappoint one bit. Just to sum up what was required and what were the challenges;

a. The cut-out provided on the dash is of a single Din. So one has to cut out a perfect provision for a double, ensuring the plastic dash doesn't crack and at the same time, the provision doesn't have rough edges or else it will peep out from the side of your deck.

b. Once you take out the plastic dash, you will realize that the tray provided inside the dash is not enough for a standard 2 Din. The specs are specific and I guess Mahindra gets it custom-made for the higher versions. Amol and Zakhir Bhai cut it out with the help of a paper-cutter (yes! one paper cutter because if you use a machine cutter it will go through the plastic and damage the pipes of the air-conditioning that's right behind the tray.

I am saying this again to warn people, you don't want to see this happening to a new car. And you don't want a novice doing this for you, because if it goes wrong, you may end up with a broken dash and a messed up air-conditioning system.

c. The tray ceiling is slanted. Hence the deck will not go in straight. We are planning to get a custom-made faceplate made for my car. Right now its fitting well, but all the three of us are a bit of freak as far as perfection goes. Infact, while cutting out the dash, I was imploring both to take a easy way out and prompt came the reply "Acche se nahi karenge toh apne ko bhi mazaa nahi aayega" (If we don't do it properly, even we won't be satisfied.

This coming from two very tired people at 1 'o clock in the night. I can't thank these blokes for what they did. Now I have them on speed-dial and a friendly neighborhood shop that I can trust with everything that's got some tune on it.

(I tried to pay them extra for staying uptill those untold hours of the morning, but Amol smiled and returned it! Crazy but supremely professional).

I, hereby with all my humble powers of being a team-bhpian whole heartedly endorse Reliable Radio; specially Amol and Zakhir Bhai. They are an extremely professional and 'reliable' unit that shouldn't be over-looked if you want your car to sound nice. I got what I wanted, a good installation for a good price.

P.S. Kartik - they still remember you

Got the Aux cable installation done by Amol in my Civic. Super professional approach and nicely done. Strongly recommended for any kind of ICE work in Mumbai. :thumbs up

I had called these guys for a Pioneer hu but their prices are not the best for most components of a sound system. I think its best to source everything yourself and take it to them just for fitting since they seem to be experts at that.

Amol and Shakir bhai, hence Reliable Radio Service has become my preferred destination for getting good, reasonable yet skilled work done on my car audio setups.
As a customer, I demand a lot of perfection and immaculate levels of finish, and only Amol and team have been able to achieve them as per my standard. (The Gold standard was always Ajay Kamath, but now his company does more of home audio and automation)
5 Stars to the guys, who relentlessly work behind the scenes to make the audio installations in my cars as trouble free and long lasting as I expect them to be.

Special attention is paid to terminations of wires, and soldering and crimping is preferred by them at terminals, rather than insulation tape or just jointing wires.

THey also repair home audio appliances and my home subwoofer and AV receiver are with them currently.

Recently visited Reliable Radio, Lamington Road to get my very close friend's Vento Trendline ICE'd. My impressions are as follows: -

1. Prices are competitive upfront. Hence very less scope and need for bargaining.

2. They give good recommendations, but do not overly try to force anything on you. They genuinely try to understand what you want. So their advice can be taken seriously.

3. As a customer, you get good respect. But there are no cheap popularity stunts. It is all natural and straightforward.

4. The installation is done meticulously with attention to detail. All your requirements are accommodated without a fuss. Do not hesitate to share what you have in mind. They will surely workout something.

Amol is a great person, having good knowledge, patience and hands-on skills. He likes his work and in my case got engrossed completely as if it was his own car. He has a good ear for sound quality and meticulously set's-up crossovers and EQs.

My Jetta underwent a tire change close-by whilst the Vento was being ICE'd. Amol went out of the way to get me a parking space when I got the Jetta back. These small things make a lasting impression...

Whilst we were at the shop, an elderly gentleman approached us for casual talks. He had all praises for Amol and his father. People around also visited the shop whilst we were there and the general impression I got was that they are well respected.

OVERALL, AN OUTSTANDING EXPERIENCE. Highly recommended. There are very few shops like this. We must patronize them.

When I bought my car last year, I was looking for a reliable installer to put in my old gear in to my new car. I am stickler for detail and wanted to keep the original look of my car without disturbing any existing connections.

No wire cutting although the harness was not available for the Freestyle. Thankfully my old amplifiers had line level inputs that are being used from the speaker end points. There is very small amount of hissing that irritates when things get really quite, but I have now installed a switch to cut off power to the amplifiers to get rid of the noise when I get irritated.

To say that I am impressed with their work is an understatement. Amol went to great lengths to fulfill each of the challenge that I presented him. I have been listening to the music now for almost a year and I am a happy customer.

The stock music system of my 5 year old Grand i10 conked off and thus started the search for a good repairer/installer. Buying a new original system was out of question looking at my plans to sell of my car max by next year, I got contact of Reliable. True to their name they are the best in their field. He managed to get hold of second hand system, installed it and here I am using it hassle free for some time now.

Can someone send me their Chembur's address and phone number?

Tried calling on the number on the visiting card uploaded in the previous posts but not able to connect.

The Chembur branch of Reliable Radio has been shifted to new address. It is on the same road i.e. V. N. Purav Road but shifted exactly next to Garnish Hotel near Indian Oil petrol pump. It is just before 3M car care center at Chembur. The furniture work of the new shop is still in progress and as per Amol shop will be fully functional on 10th January-2020. The contact number is same as mentioned in previous post.

I was there for uninstallation of music system from my car which I have sold to dealership as exchange for my new Hexa. I uninstalled two amplifiers, sub-woofer and wiring and made it to sound like stock music system. Very professional work by both Amol and Zakir bhai. Both are gem of the persons and expert in their works. If you want their service please call before visit as the parking might be issue there.

Visited the new Chembur shop of Reliable Radio few days back to get my Etios ICEd. The focus was to have a VFM upgrade ie good sound quality, max useful features at reasonable rate.
Basis my reading of posts in this thread, I called up Amol, told him about my requirements and fixed up appointment. It's recommended that prior appointment is taken.
Summarised below is my experience, hope this helps.:thumbs up
Amol suggested few options for head unit and I opted for Blaupunkt San Marino 330. It was fairly priced (approx 9k), had mobile mirroring (upto Android 8), Camera connectivity (reverse camera), seperate mic.
Btw there has been a price increase of stereo system due to disruption of imports from China (COVID 19)
Zakir Bhai suggested to go for oval speakers (choose copy of Pioneer speakers) and he tuned the Equaliser for good effect
Fitting took 5hrs (little long as they had to attend few other walk-in customers with urgent requirements)
Overall as other members pointed out, they know their job and are professional, will give right advice along with options.
They also remember many (some of whom are repeat customers) BHPians very fondly and Zakir Bhai was happy when I showed him the thread (he still doesn't use smart phone)

After reading the posts I have also decided to get my Honda City ICE upgraded with them. Do they also do the Damping ?

But I am unable to contact them as the numbers provided are not working / switched off.

Even Justdial is showing the same numbers.

Can anyone please help with the updated numbers so that I can take an appointment and go there.

Thanks

I have contacted with the same number as given in the thread, they do end to end audio works.

I had given my Mosconi One 120.4 amplifier to them for repair last week as the amplifier was giving intermittent sound. I was expecting it to be some major problem with a heavy bill but all it required was a general service which was due to moisture and carbon collection over age. The amp is now working flawlessly and they charged me only Rs. 850 for the same.

My only gripe is that installation is a challenge and a pain during the monsoons as there is no shaded area to work and work is done on the side of the main road. I could bear it as it was only a amplifier install but it can be challenging to do an entire audio install in those conditions.

Very honest and professional team there though. Highly recommended. Very happy with the work done.