hey, this is more of a aid for everyone than a question. i've been looking at building up my new system for a looong time and i figured i'd share with you guys some good sites to buy from or get info

www.sounddomain.com is great for info in their forums, along with a large selection

www.carmedia1.com, www.ikesound.com, and thezeb.com have all been refered to me as great online seller with very good prices.

one thing to remember though, not all audio companies warrenty online sales, so watch out for that.

good luck to everyone

 

So your reffering us to sites that you have never used....Super

 

<---- 100 Posts! Finally!

Maybe the point of this post is to rate the sites for first time buyers who don't know who is a fraud and who is a reputable supplier.

Good point CAMpR30. I know Memphis does not authorize online sales at all except on used items. I also hear thezeb.com is a great site...carriring CDT, Focal, MB Quart, and others doesen't hurt their reputation either!

-Matt

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1984 Camaro Z28 - Black w/ Grey int.
-GM Goodwrench 350 with Edelbrock 600 Carb, Edelbrock Preformer RPM intake, AC Delco plugs, 8mm AC Delco wires, 14" Accel filter, Homemade Cold Air Indctn., Edelbrock Chrome valve covers, breather, and Air cleaner.
- Profesionally Built Turbo-350 with 2500 RPM Stall converter, Hurst shifter, & one wicked shift kit.
- Eagle Alloys 15" Alum. Rims surrounded by P235/60R15 BF Goodrich Radial T/A's
-Comming Soon:
3.73's, MAC Cat-Back, hollowed cat., B&M Megashifter, & Paint: Navy Blue Metallic w/ Silver strips
Pics at: http://members.fbody.com/flashz28/

 

I ordered my subs from www.matrixcaraudio.com and everything went great! I also heard good things about www.mmxpress.com they have a great selection!

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yellow 86 Camaro
LG4 700R4
ROH RH 17x9
Bridgestone Potenza RE730 255/45ZR17 all around
Pioneer head unit
Kenwood speakers
Infinity Beta Digital 300 amp
2 Infinity Perfect 12s

Now KYB equipped!!

 

Just for kicks and curiousity, I was looking through the mmxpress site. Check out the cheerful, appreciative message that they got for selling Earthquake stuff online :

http://www.mmxpress.com/EARTHQUAKE.wav

Car audio companies do NOT like dealers selling their stuff over the internet.

 

I got my CDT seperates from www.sounddomain.com , and they came just fine; I'd recommend them. They even threw in a Cascade Audio door kit, which they sell for $45. Not only are CDT Audio speakers high end speakers which sound incredible, they also authorize internet sales, so you can order them from places online and get a factory warrenty. Plus right now some of their components come with free coaxials (rear fill).

- Mike

 

89transam, yes i have used a few of these sites myself. i just ordered my alpine type-r 12" dvc from ikesound on sunday. it has already been shipped and on its way. free shipping and they send ups, so you can track your package. any of the other sites i've research for many hours and would not recommend them if i wasnt sure they were good. nobody likes to get screwed over, especially when it comes to their cars. trust me, i've been down that road before.

 

www.usacaraudio.com

www.salesco.com

www.ubid.com is what I recommend. I used it a few times now and have been very happy.

I got my HU (JVC KD-LX10) from them for a total cost of ~$190 after shipping & handling (that included tax because I live in IL. ) The cheapest I saw that HU was in www.crutchfield.com for about $279.

It still had the 90 day labor, 1 yr. parts warranty.

I also just bought a Cadence XLNS-8 200watt amplified 8" sub for my house. It normally lists for ~$200. I got mine for $102.94 total.

Plus I got a set of front Candece bookshelf speakers to go with the sub for $61.44 total, that listed retail for ~$85.

Not the greatest deal on those, but they match real well with the sub that I got for %50 of the regular price. And I don't have a Cadence dealer around here. Closest one is about 40 miles away. So I don't have to drive to get them.

AJ

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92 RS w/t-tops 305 TBI Auto.
175K miles and don't burn a drop o'oil
-K&N Truck filter #1500 w, open ele.
air cleaner
-Dynomax 2 1/2" cat-back
-B&M TransPak
-Jet Stage2 Chip
-180* T-Stat w/ 185* Fan Switch
-JVC CD--Alpine speakers & 4ch. amp
Rockford Punch 100. 1 - MTX 12" sub

 

Thats why I said that




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Before you buy from any online places, visit www.audiosurvey.com. It's a site that rates online audio places. They don't have a lot of car audio specific businesses, but there's enough home/car sites there for you to find a good place to buy from. It's REAL easy to get screwed over the Internet. Most of the stuff you buy at "great" prices is usually gray-market material. This means that although it's not stolen, the person selling it is not authorized by the manufacturer and probably got it from a middle-man. This stuff usually doesn't have serial numbers on it because that middle man doesn't want the manufacturer to trace it back through him. It also means that you're not getting a warranty.

Many places offer a warranty through their own business. If the business lasts as long as the warranty period, and they don't try to stick it up your *** , then great. But if not...

Buying over the Internet is a huge risk and you need to do your homework before you buy from anywhere.

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The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

I completely agree with jim. thats why with anything on my car, engine or stereo, i try finding as much information as possible. i also second the possitive feedback on sounddomain. i ordered a couple of items from them and they were sent out by ups 3 days later. just figured i'd try to help everyone out and pass on the info.

 

Well since this is turning into a 'referral' post I can definately refer you www.ubid.com.

A lot of what they have on there is 'overstock' that the manufactures have. So you're actually buying the stuff from the manufacture itself. That's if you buy through what they call 'ubid Direct'.

They also have 'ubid Partners' that are retailers that sell their overstock on "ubid" also. That's who I bought my Cadence stuff from. They're very selective of who they let post auctions.

But Jim and CAMp3RO are right about using just any online store. One thing is that you can't exactly call them if you have trouble installing it. Most of them don't have 'technical help' phone numbers. (Crutchfield & SoundDomain both do though.) Sometimes you can call the manufacture, but even then they're not always very anxious to help someone who isn't certified to install their products.

And if something breaks, then you gotta ship it away to the manufacture. You can't just drop it off at the retailer you bought it from.

So think about price, then think about what you get, or don't get. Sometimes it's worth it to pay a little more.

AJ

 

Well, I'll add my two cents.

I personally know the guys who run sounddomain and got to hang out with them at CES. Alex and Simon are the two owners. Alex gave a career on Wall Street to persue his love for this "hobby". Simon is a car audio geek as well.

What does that mean? For one, SD is run more like a big business with lots of money, not like a small business with lots of money. The tech support is there, you can order 24 hours a day, the site has a swat team of guys maintaining and updating it so if they say they have it, typically they have it.

Not only that, they have gone through great deals to be authorized dealers for most of the product they sell. They are the only people I know that carry the Image Dynamics ID Max online that are authorized.

They also buy a big enough volume that they can get some deals others can't. Look at what the Crysal speakers are going for (they are blowing them out... a great deal if you ask me).

As for MMXpress, I have spoken to John, one of the owners, many times as well. He has been around for a long time (3-4 years, an eternity online) and has watched as other businesses have fallen to the wayside. If I were spending my money, I would probably go with them as I know the guys and trust him. Plus he has been on the newsgroups for years answering car audio questions.

Ubid is kind of a joke if you ask me. Here are a few things that bug me (I'm a diehard Ebay guy, so that might change things).

1. Customer service sucks. Heard time and time again about stuff getting charged, descriptions getting changed, etc.
2. Shipping is a joke. Part of a way to pad profits, especially on heavier items. Read the descriptions. $1 for each additional pound is a joke (they state it like this "$7.99 for first pound, $1 for each additional pound". A 50 pound package costs $57? WTF? That's for ground shipping too!
3. Descriptions are a joke too. They can put a picture of a Indy Pace car model, and if you read the small print, it could say "for illustration only". So the descriptions are vague, you go by the picture and then you get burned when you get the cheapest model.
4. Changing ending times. With ebay, if its ends at 7PM, I can get home, bid at 6:55Pm, go back and chill and then by 7:01 PM I know if I won. With Ubid, you have to keep coming back. Its like going to an auction and having to wait ten minutes for someone to raise the bid. It just drags it out SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long. I don't have hours to dedicate to winning auctions. I need to come in, bid at my maximum and then win or lose, its not like nursing a sick child.

Juan

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Coming soon, CES report 2002 at Sound Domain www.sounddomain.com

 

Didn't ask you, did I? J/K

Well I guess you can say that for every business. There's alway at least one pissed off customer.

Before I was just posting good experiences I had. But since we're also posting bad......

I think anyone who buys anything on Ebay is a frickin' moron. They never pay on-time, if they pay at all. Plus the people are sooo stupid that they will pay (ex.) $100 for something they could've bought new for $110 at local retailer. I don't know how many times I've watched someone buy a car on there for about $1000 more than Kelly Blue Book says it's worth (and KBB is always too high!!), and how many times I watched used Vortec heads for ~$400!!!!!!!!
They're $~440 NEW!!!!!!!

Another example.... I just sold my Monte Carlo on Ebay. It's an 95 LS, only has 40K miles, but it has hail damage, needs brakes, shocks, struts, and a new exhaust. I just replaced the intake gasket, and I caked gasket sealer all around the water jackets because the intake and head has major pitting around them (both aluminum). It had coolant in the crank case for about 5K miles so you know the bearings are shot.

I told the guy that bought it about all this stuff. I still got $4550 for it!!!!!!!! He brought $500 cash to me for a deposit, and I'll see the rest Thursday, and I still have the car and the title!!!!! KBB says it's only worth $4k if it's flawless.

I have sold a few other things on Ebay, never once bought anything though. I never will, considering that last 3 times I sold something on there I got F_U_C_K_E_D. Bastards never pay up, or pay like 3 months later, after I called them 40 f-ckin' times, and racked up a $50 phone bill.

As far as you *****ing about the bid not being over when they say it is. That's what the 'Bid Butler' (&whatever Ebay calls theirs) is for!!!!!! If you are any kind of a good bidder, then you'll set a limit as to what you will pay for that item, and let their program handle the rest for you.

If you actually sit at home 5 min. before the bid ends, to see if you won, then you are an obsessive, compulsive, bidding junkie!!!!!!. Worse than a gambler!!

Wanna play poker sometime?
AJ

 

well, as an update to my original post, i just got home and inspected my new stuff that i ordered from sounddomain and ikesound. the sounddomain package (a set of Crystal coax speakers) came nicely packed in the sounddomain labeled box, wrapped in peanuts and included a small catalog of their products for sale. everything was in great condition and give them 2 thumbs up. The ikesound package (an alpine 12" dvc type-r sub) while packaged in a reused infinity speaker box, was in good condition too. in clarification, the sub was still packaged new it its own box, but then packed into the infinity one. also included with the shipment was a thank you note for my purchase and a coupon for future purchases. another 2 thumbs up (i'm not picky on the box the stuff is shipped in). both companies sent UPS, both included tracking numbers to keep track of the package, both included package invoices, and both gave at least their phone number and email address. so, another happy online customer. now i just gotta get workin on putting the stuff in to see how i like them....

 

I've ordered from Ike's before, based in FL, right? My Pioneer Premier 730 HU from them, came fast, was packed awesome, and was a great price. I bought from them off of E-bay on a dutch auction. I also bought my Pioneer Premier 320 amp off E-bay, which came perfect, brand new, serial number and all. I bought my Pioneer Premier 12s from SoundDomian, I think... same thing, awesome packing, fast shipment and cheap... w/ all serial numbers!