The monkeys at JB Hi-FI

[raZel]

Hey fellas,
on monday (yesterday) i had my sound system installed at JB... i was pushed by my dad to have it done "properly"... well i can say this, it was done far from that...
They installed, a basic pioneer head unit, pioneer splits in the front, some 6x9's in the back, an amp and sub...Everything was already mine except for the splits.

for a start i pulled up my back seat last night and there a cables EVERYWHERE, my speaker cables, RCA's and remote are jst lying underneath the back seat, my power cable in the bonet is not in black tubing and is also badly cable tied to my ABS and jst running through the fire wall... the amp has been installed on the back of the rear passenger, drivers side seat... when i open my centre console in the back seat from the inside of the car you can see the amp hanging over by around an inch and a half. and the RCA's from the amp are jst pushed down the back of the amp and under the seat... And this is only the problems visualy!!!!!

As for the sound, apart from the shitty whistling sound and buzzing coming out of the front speakers isn't tooooo bad. could be better... BUT when i rolled out, i didn't even get outta the car park when i noticed the buzzing and wierd sounds from the speakers, i took it back in straight away and asked wat it was. He tried to tell me my amp was shotty. I told him that i have never had a single problem with it, and if it was my amp my sub would be doing it as well. so he then pushed the blame onto my head unit, hoping that i would jst believe that i needed to buy a new one from him. He blamed everything that was mine except the new speakers and maybe himself for doing such a shit house job. If i didn't pay to have it done i wouldn't be taking it back to allow him to TRY and fix what he did! next time i would be going somewhere else! JB HIFI YOU WILL NEVER GET MY BUSINESS AGAIN. i am one very un happy customer!

raZel

[raZel]

Sorry, i should have added my question...

What things culd cause these sounds coming from the speakers?

cheers
raZel

[fourstar82]

The main reason will probably be because the amp cable and the speaker wiring are running along side each other.

Andy

[mattman]

At a guess - bad connections, soldering, running power alongside RCA's...

[1991_Vn2nV]

didnt you give them instructions on where/how to mount the amp etc?

also does anyone here actually have their power cable running inside black tubing? I dont think i know any1 that does.

[Rmyers]

Check your earthing has been done properly, this will usually cause interferance if done dodgey...

[jack.mc]

yeah, JB have a pretty bad record on here. The only thing they're good for are dirt cheap prices after bargaining. I'd check if the power cable is running next to the rcas

[StoneX]

The main reason will probably be because the amp cable and the speaker wiring are running along side each other.

Andy

Speaker wires are fine near power wires as they're high voltage and any induced noise will not be audible. RCA's are the ones that should not be run near power.

But anyway, since you have a Pioneer head unit, it is common for the RCA ground to blow if the installer unplugs or plugs the RCA's in while the system has power or is running. If you want to check for that fault, you need to pull the head unit out, unplug the RCA's (make sure you label them so you know where they go back in) then measure the continuity from the head unit chassis to the outer ring of the RCA sockets on the head unit. They are both meant to be ground so they should be short circuit.

Did you pay for the install? If so, take it back and tell them to fix it. If you didn't pay, do what I said above and if it's faulty take it in to them and tell them to have it fixed as their expense.

[raZel]

[quote=StoneX]then measure the continuity from the head unit chassis to the outer ring of the RCA sockets on the head unit. They are both meant to be ground so they should be short circuit.quote]

i dont understand??
what do i need to measure? and what should be grounding? lol
Cheers
raZel

[StoneX]

Do you have a multimeter? If so, it has a continuity function (logo has horizontal line with arrow pointing to right and a vertical line crossing in front of the triangle) that beeps when you touch the probes together. You want to use that or resistance test (logo is Omega symbol).

You need to unplug the head unit, it's best to unplug everything, loom, RCA's antenna, etc.

Then you just put one probe on the head unit's shell, the metal casing, then the other probe onto the outside of one of the RCA sockets on the back of the head unit. RCA's sockets have the centre hole and the outer ring, you want to touch the outer ring as this is the ground connection.

If you use continuity test, make sure you test that it beeps when probes touch each other first. Then if it beeps on continuity test, it is not busted, if it doesn't beep, the RCA ground is damaged inside the head unit.

If you use resistance test, it should measure between 0 and 1 ohm, maybe around 1 ohm if it is not broken. If it is broken, the multimeter won't change from not touching it to touching it.

Hope that makes sense.

Oh, just thought of an easier test... With everything plugged in, get a bit of wire, strip the ends, touch one end to the chassis/case/shell touch the other end to the outer ring of the RCA's while they are plugged in... Turn stereo/car on and see if noise is there. Take wire off, does it come back? If so, it's the RCA ground in the head unit.

[ascension24]

The guy working at JB could be anyone off the street.

People think because they sell car audio equip means they must be expert installers.

Dont get me wrong, ive meet quite a few jb installers who knew their shit, but ive meet heaps more who just knew shit

If you want to get something installed, take it to a REAL car audio place.

[`daj0pe]

dude take it back and tell them ure not happy with it.. it saves ranting... and gettin p!ssed off over it

[phat_com]

go in there and get pissed off and them and tell them that it's there fault and your not leaving untill it's fixed and they will fix it (having pissed off person yelling in there store is bad for sales)
also if they say that it's YOU'RE stuff take it to a pro audio place and get them to test it and take it back to jb and show them the form or what ever they give you and prove the guy wrong. THEN go and the manager and complain and tell his he is dodgy and get him fired

thats what i would do

[TehFastyOne]

At a guess - bad connections, soldering, running power alongside RCA's...

Ditto

You're not the first one to have a dodgy install from the retailers and you certainly won't be the last.

If your father wanted you to get it done properly, then take it to a respectable car audio specialist and get recommendations from other people. To do something properly, you need to research first.

As examples, I have two friends, both don't know anything about car audio except playing it loud. Both have $3000 systems in their car which I happily offered to install for them for a small payment of a slab of beer. Instead both of them (at different times) did their installs at JB and Strathfield.

One of my mates had his done at JB which installed the amps on the roof of the boot (under the shelf/rear speakers) with strange plastic clips and cable ties! You can imagine what happened next when after a few months and plenty of road bumps later, one amp came un-done and fell off. It survived but I question it's quality now and the other amp is hanging on for dear life. They also cable tied the power wire to the ABS cables and did a shocking job of looming the power cable through the side doors, some of it was hanging out under the plastic! Anyways, I tidied everything up, fixed the looms at the battery/firewall/side doors, tested the dropped amp (seems okay), mounted the amps properly on the sides of the boot where there is just a nice plate of metal to mount them on and ground them with the shortest cable.

The other friend had similar problems from Strathfield but on top of that he had a dodgy HU to start with anyway so that was replaced under warranty. Besides the dodgy install, the system sounds like 5hit because he doesnt know how to equalize the system to project a nice sound (not just the smiley face setup..) it sounds flat and tacky but he plays it loud anyway...

And this is coming from a guy that did music (acoustic/electric/bass guitar) in high school!!
...derr

He still hasn't let me fix the install yet so I guess people are actually content to pay $3000 + intall fee and have a horse 5hit system.

I'll never understand the world...

[ascension24]

Yeah, people dont understand that the installation is just as important.

You can spend 5 grand on gear, and it will sound like a $500 system because of crappy installation.

People dont believe this because they dont understand things like, sound deadening and proper sealing around drivers etc...

Which I would def not trust to jb hi fi, most people who understand the severity of installing car audio do it themself because you can trust yourself.

[vy_storm]

I'd have to agree. Here in Adelaide, the retailers that seem to be the cheapest also have quite a few horror stories floating around.

Find a mate that has had some work done where they were happy with it. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get quality work done.

[Phreddy]

Heh..... Isn't if funny - the flashier the TV ad campaign, the shoddier the work as a general rule.

vystorm_adel has it right on the button - ask around, and be prepared to spend a little. As pointed out, the installation is as much a part of the "system" as the hardware - include the cost of that, and make an allowance for it.

"There's always a price to pay for paying the lowest price....."

[COINERS]

Ok so I went in to jb last year to get a pair of 6X9’s installed. I gave them some spacers if it made there job any easier.
They told me it was ok and they didn’t need the spacers.
A year later I decide to rebuild my parcel shelf when I see this.
Every one is telling me it is illegal and if im caught they will defect me for this

Sorry about the size I don’t have any programs @ the moment to resize the photos.

[V-ahhh]

yes u will get defected for that and i would go back even if it is a year later and blast them for cutting your ride and making it defectable and them have them repair it and then reinstall the speakers properly and watch over them with an axe while they do it.

[hakhawk]

bloody hell, i thought shops wouldnt do that, as it is illegal to cut it.

our fitter at work(autobarn) wont cut parcel shelf metal, for that reason, and he tells people that do it themselves to use spacers or custom make a mdf top.

[StoneX]

Yeah, it's illegal to cut the meta lshelf on anything after 1973, as far as I know. For your car to be legally roadworthy again, you'd need it rewelded back in and have an engineer assess it.

[Jeff T]

Holy crap! Now that's dodgy!

If you've still got the receipt I'd be going back there for some form of compensation. Trouble is it's going to be hard to prove, and they can just deny it.

A friend of mine had some reasonably expensive speakers broken (cracked basket) by the tools at Lifestyle, they simply denied having done it and how can you prove that it was them?

Try your best to have them fix that or get suitable compensation. I wish you luck!

[COINERS]

yeah i know. if i had seen it before i would have been mad. but as i didnt know jack about car audio. i didnt know that it was illegal.

going to need to find the receipt.

[COINERS]

oh and it was JB Hi-FI @ eastland shopping center in ringwood Melbourne. from what i have seen and herd about them. they respect no ones property.

[vy_storm]

Thankfully I don't think the few JB stores we have here in SA do onsite installations (correct me if i'm wrong).