[Mack]

I bought a used car with an existing Alpine aftermarket system
installation. It has two 500w amps in back, subwoofer box + battery
combo in the trunk. The radio controls are integrated with the car NAV
system. It's a very high end system according to people who know
better than me. And also a JL cleansweep that is supposed to reduce
hiss, but apparently doesn't work in my system. Also the amps don't
turn on sometimes and when they do, bass response is nil.

I don't know who did the original installation so I took it to
Tweeters to get a quick estimate to fix things. They say that the best
thing would be for them to rip out all the wiring and re-do it
themselves. I asked about a 1 to 2 hour examination to diagnose the
problem first instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and
the service manager said the installer would not want to do that
because it would probably not be enough time to figure out the
problems. The material and labor estimate was in the neighborhood of
$700 and they said it would be no higher than $1000. This includes
only new wiring, but no other new hardware. I think this is highway
robbery, but that's just an instinct. Only material cost was $209.95
for JLA 91661 Amp Power 2awg wires for two amps. What should I think
about this and any options? My car has premium hardware but it doesn't
work!

[Branden Nelsen]

I would defiantly get another opinion on that. Any person that runs a
reputable shop should be able to narrow down where the issue lies at within
the 2 hours window for ALLOT cheaper then that, if its a wiring issue. I
would say within an hour, would be a better time frame to find the issue. I
wouldn't goto them, that is defiantly a rip off.

-Branden


"Mack" wrote in message
oups.com...
I bought a used car with an existing Alpine aftermarket system
installation. It has two 500w amps in back, subwoofer box + battery
combo in the trunk. The radio controls are integrated with the car NAV
system. It's a very high end system according to people who know
better than me. And also a JL cleansweep that is supposed to reduce
hiss, but apparently doesn't work in my system. Also the amps don't
turn on sometimes and when they do, bass response is nil.

I don't know who did the original installation so I took it to
Tweeters to get a quick estimate to fix things. They say that the best
thing would be for them to rip out all the wiring and re-do it
themselves. I asked about a 1 to 2 hour examination to diagnose the
problem first instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and
the service manager said the installer would not want to do that
because it would probably not be enough time to figure out the
problems. The material and labor estimate was in the neighborhood of
$700 and they said it would be no higher than $1000. This includes
only new wiring, but no other new hardware. I think this is highway
robbery, but that's just an instinct. Only material cost was $209.95
for JLA 91661 Amp Power 2awg wires for two amps. What should I think
about this and any options? My car has premium hardware but it doesn't
work!

[Christopher Ott]

"Branden Nelsen" wrote in message
...
I would defiantly get another opinion on that. Any person that runs a
reputable shop should be able to narrow down where the issue lies at within
the 2 hours window for ALLOT cheaper then that, if its a wiring issue. I
would say within an hour, would be a better time frame to find the issue. I
wouldn't goto them, that is defiantly a rip off.

-Branden


"Mack" wrote in message
oups.com...
I bought a used car with an existing Alpine aftermarket system
installation. It has two 500w amps in back, subwoofer box + battery
combo in the trunk. The radio controls are integrated with the car NAV
system. It's a very high end system according to people who know
better than me. And also a JL cleansweep that is supposed to reduce
hiss, but apparently doesn't work in my system. Also the amps don't
turn on sometimes and when they do, bass response is nil.

I don't know who did the original installation so I took it to
Tweeters to get a quick estimate to fix things. They say that the best
thing would be for them to rip out all the wiring and re-do it
themselves. I asked about a 1 to 2 hour examination to diagnose the
problem first instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and
the service manager said the installer would not want to do that
because it would probably not be enough time to figure out the
problems. The material and labor estimate was in the neighborhood of
$700 and they said it would be no higher than $1000. This includes
only new wiring, but no other new hardware. I think this is highway
robbery, but that's just an instinct. Only material cost was $209.95
for JLA 91661 Amp Power 2awg wires for two amps. What should I think
about this and any options? My car has premium hardware but it doesn't
work!


Paying for skilled labor is an unfortunate fact of life. You have a custom
install with no schematics. Somehow the radio interface has been wired to
the OEM Nav system but you don't know how. The state of the wiring is
unknown and due to the fact that the system doesn't work correctly, it's a
likely candidate for being the problem. You should absolutely get another
estimate, but be prepared for it to hurt. After all, if it was easy, you'd
do it yourself right?

Chris