Thanks pnthr,

I didn't realize it was as easy as a simple net search and sending the link to sounddomain. What a great service Sounddomain supports, welcome to the 21 century!

 

One thing to consider, though, is that if you don't have that much experience, crutchfield gives you all the master sheets for disassembly and such, mounting equipment, and harnesses you need, along with customer support to help you through. Food for thought, though you will save at sounddomain.

 

True rabidmonk, but I did notice one thing on Crutchfield. If I purchase the speaker Harness, they include the install sheet for free - strange, but that is what came up in the shopping cart. I guess if you get the $12 speaker harness from them, they include the diagrams....... I appreciate the help and your advice!

Great Forums here!

 

What "spearker harness" are you talking about? Are you talking about the HU wire harness? FYI - I didn't need any speaker wire harness when I changed my fronts.

There is no doubt that Crutchfield has some of, if not the, best customer service around. However, you can get most of the same info. that they send you, for free on the internet (sites like this one and others). Although you don't get immediate customer service and answers, boards like this one (and others) provide some good info and help as well. A deck install and intalling some components is something that many on this board could do in their sleep and are more than willing to help someone out with - if and when questions arise.

EDIT:
Is this the harness you are talking about?
Wire adaptor

You can get that if you just want to plug and play, but if you have a few extra minutes and don't mind just cutting the wire, you can go to your local Radio Shack and get somthing like this female connectors and just attach them to the OEM speaker wire and then attach them directly to the speaker. Whatever you feel comfortable with.

 

Yeah, the link you posted is what I found. I was thinking it would be easier to plug and play. What excited me was that when I put them into the shopping cart (to see shipping and tax info) I noticed that the diagrams were listed in my shopping cart for free - even with only the speaker harness and no speakers in the shopping cart. Could be a good deal $13.00 both the harness and crutchfield certified diagrams. I would have thought you would have to purchase the speakers to get the diagram, pretty cool that Crutchfield includes it.

 

as for cuttin ghte stock wires just make sure you have the positives and negatives correct otherwise it wont side right if one is hooked up backwards

 

Crutchfield can offer smoking deals - but usually it's on close out items - like the clarion HX-D10 and the Alpine 7995 deals that they had.

I would look at the total VALUE of each store, not the final PRICE. Price doesn't equal VALUE!! Sounds like you have already come to that conclusion.

[steps on soapbox]That's the thing that pisses me off about today's generation of e-shoppers. They buy things based on price, not value. They will drive to 5 stores to price match an item to save $15 on it. Or they will scour the internet to get some item for cheap, but with no warranty and no customer service. Where's the value people!!!

People also don't value their time enough - time really is money - you are not being efficient if you spend 1 hour to save $5 imo. Then again, it really depends on how you value each hour of your day.

People should start appreciating the value added services that come along with purchasing items at local retailers or more established businesses - if they don't, they will all be gone[/off soap box]

Sorry, had to get that off of my chest!!!

And yes, with some patience and our help you can easily get them installed your self. also, don't hack the car to save a few $$ - buy the harnesses!

 

I am not sure if you meant to say that I am missing the big picture or not rcurley. My intrepretation of your post is that I am focusing too much on the bottom line $ Price, and not what I get out of the deal.

Now, getting on my own soap box.
One bad thing about Forums is that no one on here really knows the other person. In fact, no one on here knows me from a hole in the wall, nor do they know my personal hourly rate. Only I can determine the value of each hour of the day for me. Now, if I tell you that my wife put a cap on the total price that I can spend, wouldn't you agree that I am confined to a price ceiling, even if I could get the $1000 HU for a discounted $299 at Crutchfield (a great value) I can't spend the $ in terms of price. I take offence that you assume that I have come to the conclusion that price=value. For me, a new deck and speakers is a fun project, not something I am trying to put together to compete with other nobs in their street cars. If I want to maximize the value of my components by getting the lowest price and putting them in myself, I don't see how you can say I equate price to value. And pardon me if I was excited that Crutchfield would give me the install instructions by purchasing only the harness and not the speakers. Come on - you must know that 1/2 of this audio crap is waaaaay marked up, since sounddomain can sell me the Infinities I am looking at for $115 (a bit less than the $200 Crutchfield wants for them) and sounddomain can probably still make a profit off my order. Maybe you didn't mean to offend me, and I appreciate that there are a lot of boneheads that purchase only based on price, but I am just suprised that you felt the need to vent on this issue based on this thread.

Anyway, you are a moderator, and probably have seen thousands of dumbass posts. I was just a little taken aback that this thread prompted such a reply. I am a reasonably educated person (pnthr30 can attest to that) adn I feel that value is completely driving my purchase decisions. Value is a totally relative term, and I don't think that I warranted a rant.

Also, my wife works in a brick and morter tack shop (sells horse riding equipment) and her store is taking a beating due to online commerce. AND, you are totally correct that these stores provide a very valuable service to people that get out into the fresh air and away from their computer to purchase things. That is the one thing my wife has done with her store - provide EXPERT advice for horse and rider, and sales are back up to pre-internet boom sales figures. So, again, I appreciate your argument, but was suprised my posts elicited your response.

I hope I don't offend - and I appreciate the forum posts a lot, in fact, in terms of value, these forums can't be beat.

 

lindsj - I aplogize if you misunderstood my intentions of the post above, I think if you re-read it, you will agree that I was actually commending you for taking the extra steps of doing your research for each place and evaluating the pro's and con's of each store - i.e. you were looking for the value of each proposition (crutchfield includes instructions, etc) rather then just going straight to eBay and getting it for bottom dollar.

I think if you ask around, I generally reserve judgement upon people and give my best objective advise around here.

The soapbox was not meant for you, or anyone in particular for that matter. It was more to be intended as a general complaint as to this particular industry where low prices have destroyed the idea of customer service.

again, sorry for any kind of misunderstanding - I actually think that you were going about this decision the right way...

just re-read what I posted:
so if I offended you - that wasn't my intention - that's why i hate communication on the internet sometimes - it's just letters on a screen that often are mis-interpreted

cheers!

Rob

 

Ok cool,

I know what you mean about intenet and mis-interpretation. I should have known a mod would not have flamed a noob. Didn't mean to get up to high on my own soap box. Just defensive - my wife tells me I should not be so high strung..... am working on it...

Again, sorry if I over-reacted..... and thank you for clarifying. I certainly like to hear a mod tell me I was going about doing something the right way!

Thanks again for supporting these forums.... I know you dont get paid for your work or advice on here