hi,

i'm in san francisco, california and i should recieve my unit in the mail today or tomorrow. i am going to have a professional install it, because i don't know enough about electronics to know which wire does what. It seems from what I have read that the empeg install is a little more complex than a regular unit, something about a "grounding wire." So i am wondering what i should tell the installer so he gets it right?

thanks much!

joe

I replied to this same query on the empeg mailing list...

Congrats on your new toy!

Check out the FAQ section at RioCar.org, there's a whole page devoted to common installation problems.

The grounding wire thing was Mk1 players only. Assuming you got a Rio Car, it doesn't apply.

___________
Tony Fabris

Oh, and one other thing... Who will be doing the install for you? Some of us have described bad experiences with certain installers, others have had good experiences with other installers. Maybe we can help you pick the best installer.

___________
Tony Fabris

Congrats! there are quite a few of us here in the Bay Area if you need any hands on help or comparison. Good luck with the install!


|| loren.cox ||

This is often overlooked, but tell your installer to make your in-car serial cable accessible. Mine was nicely placed so that it could be pulled out through where the center console meets the carpeting on the floor of my car. This is only a concern if you ever plan on doing something "interesting" with the serial cable, such as hooking up a GPS unit or some kind of remote interface.

Also tell him to be careful not to pull the wires out of the wiring loom, they are sometimes not soldered/crimped in very well.

-Tony
MkII #554

thanks for the info

i don't know - i was thinking of SF Honda (on market) because another stereo place said they were good. i can tell you i will NOT be using auto symphony on van ness - i have a long horror story about them installing my previous stereo & alarm that i won't go into but i can tell you they cost me a few $thousand through their incompetence

more background - the empeg is replacing a wonderful clarion drx-9255 (a mcintosh with better faceplate) that was stolen a couple weeks ago when i left my top down parked at the mission&5th lot.

i have a/d/s 3's and 5's speakers incorrectly (thanks auto symphony) hooked to a mcintosh amp in my trunk. i need another amp to get the rear's to work at all.

joe

you left your top down on mission and 5th!? That's askin for abuse. =] But now you've got an Empeg so it was probably worth it. I haven't heard anything about the SF Honda guys. There's a ton of install shops in the city and all the ones i've driven past just LOOK shady. I know the place you are talkin' about on Van Ness, I live a few blocks from there. Sorry to hear they screwed ya over. Wish i could tell you where to go in the city... but my friend who's a head installer for Circuit City in San Ramon (say what you will about CC, he's good). Best bet is to probably call around and just get a feel for the places... you can tell a lot by just going in or talking to them on the phone.

On the other hand... it's really not that different from a regular head unit, especiallyif you are installing in a newer Honda. Tony and I can attest to that. You might be able to do it yourself if you have a general knowledge of car stereos and your amps are already installed.


|| loren.cox ||

well, due to the nature of the theft, all i have now is a bunch of wires (some of them hot). Since i am somewhat anal about the performance/appearance of my car, i'm happy to pay the $50-$400 or whatever it will cost to get it installed perfectly the first time.

it's an 84 porsche and it was parked in the lot across from the metreon at 10 pm on a sunday night while i watched a movie. the drx-9255 has no security features so when i bought it i actually expected to have problems with theft w/in 2 months, so i was surprised when this happened after 5 years. i hope the people that have it now use the digital-in to take advantage of the dual 20-bit Burr Brown DAC's *sheds a single tear for his stolen unit*

joe

I've heard great things about these guys:

http://www.rtaudio.com/pages/home.html

Rolling Thunder Audio. They are in San Rafael though, and they are expensive. They do amazing custom stuff from what i've seen, and i've never had any personal experience with them, but i've been to their shop and it was top notch. They were just too $ for me at the time. They claim to have done an empeg install or two when i asked about a year ago. Take it for what it's worth.


|| loren.cox ||

i heard that the autophile http://www.theautophile.com was the *best* place in the bay area but they don't really do installs for under a couple thousand (which includes soundproofing the environment, the best cabling, special car battery, etc). they might have a lot of disdain for an MP3 player but they liked my old unit. the estimate from them for another amp, 4 speakers and install was about $8500 i think.

read all the nightmare install threads, also something that seems to be common, tell them NOT to cut any unused wires off the EMPEG loom, then tell them again :)
actually tell them NOT to cut ANY wires from the EMPEG loom, used or unused ;)

cheers,
Jaidev

Then, after you tell them not to cut wires from the loom, tell them you will not pay for the install if they cut any wires from the loom. The only good way to fix it if they do is to buy a new sled and you don't want to do that. They may not know what the wires do but they are all nessisary for the proper functioning of the unit. Especially if you have a tuner box. If you want to know the horrors read my instalation story about what happens when they do cut the wires.

Greg