Quality Audio Sound

[Mario]

My buddy wants an alarm for his Jeep since his remote entry stopped working. I remembered a lot of people saying QAS is junk... anyone care to throw a vote in?

[wild.irish]

actually, not sure about alarms, but i had them do my stereo twice in different locations and both time i was satisfied.

[BluByU]

Want to see how nice their installs are? Lets see, my car would shut off magically on the highway because an important wire that connects the ignition to the alarm was crimped with their fingers. I couldn't roll up my pass window without opening my door, and then the speaker would cut out. When I roll my windows down when it's cold, they inch their way down and up, I have to hit the button like 20 times because they hooked up the window controls wrong. But it auto down/up when it's normal outside which is good. My sunroof is supposed to vent with one button, and close with same button, and all it does is vent. It opens with another button, but to close it I have to hit the vent button and open button back and forth till it settles in place. They are HACKS, FUCK THEM IN THE ASS, get someone like Kevin (preludeSHfan) or Rob, he's MECP certified. They hacked an important harness which Tobi fixed for me, (THANKS HONDAGHANDI for doing the alarm install RIGHT) and should be put out of buisness.

[STIBungy]

That would be Quality Auto Sound. I went to the one on West Colfax in Lakewood for my alarm system before. They did a pretty good job.

[Deltron_3030]

they tried to sell me a broken sub box for 50 bucks lol fuckin joke

[Brandon]

first, i worked at QAS for over a year. you can't judge an entire company by an installer (or 2) doing a shitty job, they're all human (just like you an me), where do you think cartoys got 1/2 of their installers from? ill tell you because i know, it was QAS. QAS used to pay installers like shit (once again i know) you got x amount/ hour plus a whooping 3+% of the entire stores installation income. basically this meant that i could sit on my ass, set up camp on an amp install and make just as much as the yayhoo next to me working his ass off. anyone installing for QAS that wasn't a moron eventually left to work for cartoys.
QAS used to advertise being in business for what would be 37(?) years now. a little company secret for ya.....the first ten years that hugh whiteman owed the place on colfax, it was a vacuum sales and repair store. they just rolled that 10 years into the total. haha

QAS was sold to whoever owns it now because they just couldn't compete with cartoys. they had to close a store because it brought no income.

i can do your friends install for him, PM me. I'm MECP certified, though that means shit IMO. anyone with any knowledge of BASIC electronics + an hour in the MECP book will make you just as smart

[Steve_C]

QAS is bull shit. i had my deck/amp installed by them a few years back. and the dude that worked their told me that anytime i needed them to uninstall it, just take it back. well the display on my alpine went out and i was thinking about just putting the stock deck on. took it to them a couple months ago, and they don't honor their own word

[preludeshfan]

anyone that knows me knows i have been doing installs for about 16 years now. personally i dont know why anyone from this board would bother paying retail and going to any shop. be it QAS or car toys when people like myself can do a better job, buy you anything you want at wholesale and install it for less than 1/2 the price thoes retail robbers can do it for.

i am not trying to market myself here belive me i know how it looks. and trust me i dont have the time to have everyone calling me all at one time wanting their stuff done. but considering the fact that retail has gone out of control with prices. and you never know what kind of crap install you will wind up with.
i have always stood behind my work. and i think i have always done my installs a lot cheaper than all my friends tell me i should have.
if anyone wants first of all a good install, and dosent want to get lubed up for for it. send me a message. many from this board living in denver area have been happy to make the drive to the springs to get an install from me. and i am always happy to meet new people and help them out with a good install for a reasonable price.
i have a whole garage full of install stuff as well as a basement full of woodshop to build boxes and i use a computer to design each and every one i build. i have yet to hear an unhappy customer.

[taikahn]

... and install it for less than 1/2 the price thoes retail robbers can do it for....


SO you do installs for .50 cents.;) ????

[Kwando]

just ask to watch them do the install. you can tell from how the installers act if you're getting quality work. if you see the installers smoking in people's car, horseplaying around, and the entire bay an entire mess... stay away from there.

but like i just said... ask them to watch... when i got my alarm installed at soundtrack i asked if i could watch and speak with the installer. i was in the back and the installer asked where i wanted the LED, brain, how sensitive, etc. He was a awesome guy. Don't worry about what they think or how they will react if you ask to watch. You are paying them for a service you have every right to see what kind of work is being done. if they refuse to let you in the install bay take you business elsewhere....

this reminds me of everytime i go to discount... i ask to see the wheel/tire before they mount it, and i ask them to remove EVERY bit of sticky residue from the weights. The get pissed, but i just say... "it wasn't on there before i brought the car in!" i'm an asshole, but who cares...

[Kwando]

SO you do installs for .50 cents.;) ????


:rofl:

[taikahn]

:rofl:

Glad someone got it. :cheers:

[Mario]

Glad someone got it. :cheers:

Haha, I laughed when I read it. :)

[ryanman]

When I roll my windows down when it's cold, they inch their way down and up, I have to hit the button like 20 times because they hooked up the window controls wrong. But it auto down/up when it's normal outside which is good.
That's the run channel, not anything to due with the alarm.

[Mark_H]

For about the 100th time, I will endorse Kevin's work(preludeshfan). I drove in a snowstorm from Loveland to Colorado Springs just to have him install the alarm on my old Type R. It was worth every agonizing second in the snow. The alarm worked great and the install was amazing, and not to mention the price. I paid literally HALF the price Cartoys quoted me. I had a full DEI alarm, Proximity sensor, front and rear mounted LED's, trunk popper, and pager. Everything worked flawlessly.
Mark

[floored4door]

I worked at QAS for 4 years. Sometimes you get good installers some times you do not. Plain and Simple. I know which stores would be best to go to and also what installers there you should use. My Recomendation is the Northglenn store on 120th and Washington. Go in and ask for Devin. He is the store manager there and should take good care of you. You can tell him that Pete sent you in. I believe the install manager is Travis. He should be able to install an alarm for you for with out any problems. Well hopefully. I do know that he is a good installer.

As far as who bought out QAS its Audio Express, I don't recall as to where they are based out of, I quit after they came in and took over, well after a while I quit, they totally overwork their workers. You have to work 5 and half days which sucks. I now enjoy my Sat and Sun off. Otherwise, I think there are some peeps on here that would do a more than better job than QAS. I would say Prelude SH deff knows what he is talking about. Just my .02.

[Steve_C]

I worked at QAS for 4 years. Sometimes you get good installers some times you do not. Plain and Simple. I know which stores would be best to go to and also what installers there you should use. My Recomendation is the Northglenn store on 120th and Washington. Go in and ask for Devin. He is the store manager there and should take good care of you. You can tell him that Pete sent you in. I believe the install manager is Travis. He should be able to install an alarm for you for with out any problems. Well hopefully. I do know that he is a good installer.

hey pete, did you ever work at the store off federal and 73rd or so?

[Mario]

I'm gonna ask a related question. Has anyone installed or used a GPS alarm?

[BluByU]

Holy shit, Travis still works for QAS? I knew him when the Commerce City store was open.

[STIBungy]

I remember the QAS ads on the radio. The singing at the end went "quality auto sound. you never heard it so good. Or had it installed so well".

[preludeshfan]

I remember the QAS ads on the radio. The singing at the end went "quality auto sound. you never heard it so good. Or had it installed so well".

of course it all comes down to the people you hire there. i have seen some real crap come out of thoes stores over the years.
when i was installing over at US Tech in cherry creek some days it seemed like an assembly line. people would drive over to us sometimes days or weeks after going to QAS to have us redo the system because of problems QAS either couldnt fix or didnt want to stand behind their work.
i can recall several alarms i had to rewire because they were installed like a second grader did it.

[STIBungy]

Aint that the truth. I've had QAS install 2 alarm systems on 2 of my cars and all the times I've taken it to them for either and adjustment or a warranty claim(Viper 100), they've taken care of things. But as you say, each installer is different and one would expect the installation manager to go through a checklist of things prior to releasing the installed product to the customer, fault should lie on them.

of course it all comes down to the people you hire there. i have seen some real crap come out of thoes stores over the years.
when i was installing over at US Tech in cherry creek some days it seemed like an assembly line. people would drive over to us sometimes days or weeks after going to QAS to have us redo the system because of problems QAS either couldnt fix or didnt want to stand behind their work.
i can recall several alarms i had to rewire because they were installed like a second grader did it.

[floored4door]

Yep, that be the store I worked at. Do I know you?

hey pete, did you ever work at the store off federal and 73rd or so?

[Steve_C]

Yep, that be the store I worked at. Do I know you?
yeah, i use to drop by that store all the time. white accord sedan, use to work at lotus.

[floored4door]

Oh ok, Older or younger? Older I presume.

[Steve_C]

yeah older. i'm pissed at QAS though, when i paid for the install a couple years ago, i was promised that anytime i need the deck and amp pulled, it's free of charge. i went to the one in lakewood last month and they wanted to charge me, i was like wtf!?!

[endless616]

QAS is a joke, they're so over priced

[floored4door]

Figures, probably because they changed companies. They were bought out and that new company doesn't have to honor shit that the old quality does. Sucks huh?

yeah older. i'm pissed at QAS though, when i paid for the install a couple years ago, i was promised that anytime i need the deck and amp pulled, it's free of charge. i went to the one in lakewood last month and they wanted to charge me, i was like wtf!?!

[Mario]

Update: Soundtrack is a joke.

Friend brought it in there, and they pitched him a sale on an alarm with a remote start feature. He buys it... $300, takes it home to find out that they only sold him a REMOTE START and forgot the alarm. Doh! He goes back, and they tell him that the alarm with remote start is $400. He bargains with them, and brings down the system for $350, with no remote start install.

Alarm is installed, the installer does not know what the hell is going on... the brain location was a joke, and the install was far from clean. So the power locks start to not work, half the features aren't enabled, and my friend is willing to pay extra for the remote start to be installed.

So, the locking issue is fixed, he goes back and they install the remote start. Works ok... till he is driving home, and the car starts to sputter. He calls them up, and they say 'sure, tow it back'. Luckily he has Triple A, and gets the Jeep back to Soundtrack. One of the ignition wires was coming loose.

So finally, after about a week and a half of fucking around with Soundtrack, he has an alarm setup that costed him well over $400 with tow fees and not to mention the aggrevation of going back and forth for these idiots to get it working half-way right.

What have I learned? Haha, I am not taking my car to any shop. It's going straight to Kevin plain and simple... I told my friend that it's a hit and miss with places around here, but he refused to listen to me. Glad I won't have to experience that.

[preludeshfan]

Update: Soundtrack is a joke.

Friend brought it in there, and they pitched him a sale on an alarm with a remote start feature. He buys it... $300, takes it home to find out that they only sold him a REMOTE START and forgot the alarm. Doh! He goes back, and they tell him that the alarm with remote start is $400. He bargains with them, and brings down the system for $350, with no remote start install.

Alarm is installed, the installer does not know what the hell is going on... the brain location was a joke, and the install was far from clean. So the power locks start to not work, half the features aren't enabled, and my friend is willing to pay extra for the remote start to be installed.

So, the locking issue is fixed, he goes back and they install the remote start. Works ok... till he is driving home, and the car starts to sputter. He calls them up, and they say 'sure, tow it back'. Luckily he has Triple A, and gets the Jeep back to Soundtrack. One of the ignition wires was coming loose.

So finally, after about a week and a half of fucking around with Soundtrack, he has an alarm setup that costed him well over $400 with tow fees and not to mention the aggrevation of going back and forth for these idiots to get it working half-way right.

What have I learned? Haha, I am not taking my car to any shop. It's going straight to Kevin plain and simple... I told my friend that it's a hit and miss with places around here, but he refused to listen to me. Glad I won't have to experience that.


thanks for the props, while im not perfect i will at least stand by my work. also im usually a little easier to upgrade your install if im already under there doing an install in the first place.

[hsunchen]

Update: Soundtrack is a joke.

QAS is a joke, they're so over priced

I worked for Quality for over 6 years. Yes, a lot of stuff our shops did was awful. I know; as a sales person (and later as a manager) I'd be out there in the parking lot with a set of wire strippers and crimpers fixing it myself after the installers had gone home and I had no other option (sound familiar floored4door?).

But this isn't a Quality-specific problem. It's the nature of the business. The work is generally performed by young kids who aren't as experienced as the shop would like you to believe. Worker turnover is high. "Certification" means next to nothing - it's just book learning. It's helpful, but it doesn't necessarily help you to troubleshoot a particularly difficult engine noise issue, or teach you how to pull apart dash parts or door panels without breaking them. That's just proper tools (which newbie installers often can't afford at Snap-on and Mac prices) and experience.

The shop manager may be great and have good intentions to ensure quality work, but he can't personally oversee EVERY part of every install the is performed in the shop.

I've heard just as many horror stories about Soundtrack and Car Toys and Sound Warehouse and even Listen Up (when they used to deal in car audio back in the day) as Quality. There was a time where Soundtrack was the one that overcharged the most for install. All the rest of the shops just finally figured out that's where the real money was (as profit margins on decks and speakers kept dropping and dropping).

If you find a shop/installer that you like working with, stick with 'em. Otherwise, if are willing to research stuff on the Internet and try stuff yourself, just buy yourself a decent cordless drill, a multi-meter, a good crimper, wire stripper, a "fingers" tool (something for routing wires) and a maybe spring for the panel tool off the Snap-on truck. You'll be good to go for 90% of the car audio/security work you'll ever need to do.

You'll still pop some fuses, wire stuff wrong at first and break some stuff. No biggee. It'll be worth it for what you'll learn to do on your own.

[fantasya98]

this is off topic and all but, my gf's dad use to run a car audio store and she told me best buy marked up their stuff by 300-400% which is just wrong.

[Mario]

Well I finally was able to take a day off work and have preludeshfan install my alarm. There's not much to describe, because not much went wrong. He did a great job, very clean install, was very helpful answering questions of mine, and made sure that every single feature was working the way it should. For the price, reassurance, and ability to help out another HAI member, it was most definitely worth it. Remote start works great, power lock actuators are flawless, as every other feature is. He even went as far as creating a proper M/T neutral safety switch for the remote starter. It's a far drive, but it was totally worth it. :)

[preludeshfan]

Thanks mario, i hope you feel safer having it installed

[hsunchen]

this is off topic and all but, my gf's dad use to run a car audio store and she told me best buy marked up their stuff by 300-400% which is just wrong.

And that statement is just wrong.

Today there is next to zero markup on car audio CD/MP3 headunits, esp. all the stuff under the $139 pricepoint. I mean, sure - they still make $10-20 or so, but that's nothing compared to what the markup is on accessories like RCA cables, connectors, speakers, subwoofers, extended warranties, etc.

Maybe 15-20 years ago, there was 100% markup on head units - 100% means double the price. 200% means three times the price, 300% is 4X, and 400% is 5X - so you're saying you believe Best Buy sells head units that run $299 installed at the store, and they buy it at $60-$75 per unit wholesale?

Pull your head outta your ass.

Whatever the lowest price is you can find new electronics going for online or on Ebay new is pretty much wholesale cost. If it's cheaper than that, it's stolen, black market, refurb, open box or used. You'll find that most electronics online new is at least 70% to 80% of what it costs in your local big box retail store.

[floored4door]

Hey Prelude how much would you charge me to install Remote start on my Civic? I have a Viper 790XV in there now. All of the relay packs are there as well. I don't know what else you will need. So you can do a safty switch so if the car is in gear it won't turn over or try to start. I think I read that correctly. Let me know of PM.

Thanks!

[preludeshfan]

Hey Prelude how much would you charge me to install Remote start on my Civic? I have a Viper 790XV in there now. All of the relay packs are there as well. I don't know what else you will need. So you can do a safty switch so if the car is in gear it won't turn over or try to start. I think I read that correctly. Let me know of PM.

Thanks!

yea we rigged up a magnetic switch that not only prevents the car from starting in gear but also installed a LED indicator that verifies that it is in neutral before leaving the car and turning it off.

i charge 125 for a full blown remote start system. another 30 an hour for the safty switch + parts which we found ran another 30 bux.

[floored4door]

Sweet, I will keep you posted. Thanks man!

[MichaelB145]

Wow, I'm a little late on this conversation. Theres alot of familiar names floating around here! The simple truth is that Quality Auto Sound is not the same when we worked there. Most of the employees did finally go work for CarToys. Sound Track is just about out of business, Best buy employs clerks that have no clue what they are selling. And CarToys may be good but they are expensive. The way I see it, if you respect your car and wouldn't rice it out with a bunch of APC shit, so why wouldn't you take it to the best to get worked on. Do your homework and figure out which shop has the best installer for the price! Keep in mind, any installer will have damage claims. If he does break your car, will he pay for it? Even if he blew a airbag? Fried the ECU? Thats why shops have insurance against this. If any installer says they have never had a damage claim, they are either full of shit, or have not been installing for long enough.

[hsunchen]

MikeB in the house! Good to hear from ya. Good point about every good installer breaking something sometimes. Yeah, I'm the world's best sales-manager-who-worked-on-his-own-shit because he didn't trust his own installers, and I even break stuff sometimes. 'Course, its sure easier to snap plastic panels on the 12-15 year-old shitboxes I own than brand new cars where the flexibility hasn't been cooked out yet.

You blow the apex seals on that rotary yet? Why don't you ever come out autoxing, so I can hand you your ass with a 110 whp CRX? :fu:

[MichaelB145]

MikeB in the house! Good to hear from ya. Good point about every good installer breaking something sometimes. Yeah, I'm the world's best sales-manager-who-worked-on-his-own-shit because he didn't trust his own installers, and I even break stuff sometimes. 'Course, its sure easier to snap plastic panels on the 12-15 year-old shitboxes I own than brand new cars where the flexibility hasn't been cooked out yet.

You blow the apex seals on that rotary yet? Why don't you ever come out autoxing, so I can hand you your ass with a 110 whp CRX? :fu:

I thought you had a MR2? Anyways, I'm a drag racer! But I would be happy to "hand you your ass" with either one of my cars (93 Mazda RX-7, or the Evo 8). Anyways, I did finally blow my engine last year and rebuild it w/ 3mm apex seals, water jacket mod, clearance rotors, and had the apex seals cryo frozen. Where you you autoxing? Second creek? Let me know where I go? I have been wanting to try it out. I heard it was only open midday on Wednesdays?

[Coyote121403]

My buddy wants an alarm for his Jeep since his remote entry stopped working. I remembered a lot of people saying QAS is junk... anyone care to throw a vote in?

I had them do my AMP and they did a nice job. All I can say about alarms is don't go to car toy's. They fucked mine up.

[Coyote121403]

And that statement is just wrong.

Today there is next to zero markup on car audio CD/MP3 headunits, esp. all the stuff under the $139 pricepoint. I mean, sure - they still make $10-20 or so, but that's nothing compared to what the markup is on accessories like RCA cables, connectors, speakers, subwoofers, extended warranties, etc.

Maybe 15-20 years ago, there was 100% markup on head units - 100% means double the price. 200% means three times the price, 300% is 4X, and 400% is 5X - so you're saying you believe Best Buy sells head units that run $299 installed at the store, and they buy it at $60-$75 per unit wholesale?

Pull your head outta your ass.

Whatever the lowest price is you can find new electronics going for online or on Ebay new is pretty much wholesale cost. If it's cheaper than that, it's stolen, black market, refurb, open box or used. You'll find that most electronics online new is at least 70% to 80% of what it costs in your local big box retail store.

Actually my bro works at best buy and he gets everything for wholesale + 10% and we ususally pay 50% retail for decks and stuff.

[preludeshfan]

i have 3 distributers on the west coast. i can buy anything i want at wholesale. in fact sometimes less because my prices are usually less than what they sell to stores for because i am friends with one of my suppliers.

[Brandon]

I had them do my AMP and they did a nice job. All I can say about alarms is don't go to car toy's. They fucked mine up.

It's safe to assume you haven't read anything but the first post here.

[MichaelB145]

Coyote, PM and I can get it fixed for you under warrantee.

[hsunchen]

Actually my bro works at best buy and he gets everything for wholesale + 10% and we ususally pay 50% retail for decks and stuff.

Right . . . that's employee purchase, which is often less than the dealer's cost. Anyone who worked at Quality back in the day can remember getting Kenwood Excelon stuff at 75% off retail pricing, which was WAY below wholesale cost. Same thing on MTX too - we got killer employee hookups on their stuff too. Shitty deals on Sony, Pioneer, MB Quart, etc. We'd buy it, use if for a year or so, and then sell it on Ebay or locally for way more than we paid for it.

Sorry pal - second-hand info from your "bro" loses to first-hand information from me. :fu:

[MichaelB145]

Actually, the Kenwood deal was 75% off of cost if you bought amps, speakers, and headunit at same time...The KVT911DVD retailed at $2500 and I got for $375.....those were the days

[Kwando]

Actually, the Kenwood deal was 75% off of cost if you bought amps, speakers, and headunit at same time...The KVT911DVD retailed at $2500 and I got for $375.....those were the days


I call BS! You can't get a $2500 deck for $375 even if you sucked the owners dick

[floored4door]

375!!! That sure is cheap are you sure? I got the 910DVD, 5.1 Processor, Center Channel, and Changer for like 1300.00.

[Zach]

im surprised no one has even mentioned circuit city. i just got layed off after selling car audio for like 6 months, a little off topic, but still, it seemed like the installers were all competant, and did a reasonably good job installing alarms, i maybe saw 3 come back in the 6 months i worked there. all of those times were for something wrong with the alarm, not the install. their prices were pretty decent too. i dunno, just my 2 cents

[preludeshfan]

im surprised no one has even mentioned circuit city. i just got layed off after selling car audio for like 6 months, a little off topic, but still, it seemed like the installers were all competant, and did a reasonably good job installing alarms, i maybe saw 3 come back in the 6 months i worked there. all of those times were for something wrong with the alarm, not the install. their prices were pretty decent too. i dunno, just my 2 cents


thats interesting in the 18 years i have done installs both professionally and for recreation i have NEVER seen a defective alarm unless the siren got water in it which would be an installer issue.

well there was a time that DEI had defective relays on the park light flash circuit that caused the lights not to flash but that was back in the 80's and early 90's otherwise i have never seen an alarm actually go bad. remotes are a different story as they get dropped, lost ect.

[Zach]

like i said, i only SOLD car audio. i helped out in the install bay as much as i could, but that still wasnt a lot. i just took the installers word for it. by the way, i sold Code Alarm at cc, so maybe that was the problem.

[hsunchen]

thats interesting in the 18 years i have done installs both professionally and for recreation i have NEVER seen a defective alarm unless the siren got water in it which would be an installer issue.

well there was a time that DEI had defective relays on the park light flash circuit that caused the lights not to flash but that was back in the 80's and early 90's otherwise i have never seen an alarm actually go bad. remotes are a different story as they get dropped, lost ect.

Defer alarm brains are pretty rare IMO and with my experience with DEI, Audiovox, Designtech, Ungo etc, at least in the first 5-10 years or so. BUT, I remember a lot of nightmare situations where we had to honor DEI's lifetime warranty on the brain to original owner/original car from a system installed in like 1986; we'd send it to Cali, wait like 3 weeks, and have DEI send it back as "no problem found" when we KNEW the brain was loopy. Sometimes after it'd been out to Cali for "service" 2 times or more, we'd eventually convince the customer to buy a new system at our cost, we'd put it in and update everything for like 50 bucks. Problem 100% solved at that point.

Also, I remember a period where DEI did have a problem with bogus lock actuators which seemed to all freak out or lock up within 3 months of install - yeah, the install bay was REAL fuckin' happy with the DEI reps (the Reils) during that period.

Finally, about sirens getting water in them - they generally recover 100% once the water is drained out and you give it a couple days to completely dry out. I actually have two VIP514Ns installed up in a rear wheel well so there's still a working siren even if somebody yanks the main one under the hood; they're pointed downwards, which nylon speaker grill material stretched across the horn to keep snow and some of the water out of it. It does get fully soaked in water everytime I drive in the rain or snow, because it sounds very funny and weak (it goes "blurp" when you arm or disarm instead of "CHIRP!!!" :D) but after a day or so it comes back to normal. This is after 3-5 winters per car so far too.

[Brandon]

I call BS! You can't get a $2500 deck for $375 even if you sucked the owners dick

Well i think Mike got a little better deal than the rest of us since he was planning on such a huge system but i got mine for $550 ($2200 retail at the time)
when I bought my ecplises subs i got buy 1 get 3 free - or 75% off but free stuff sounds better. ;)

no dick sucking here ;NutKick;

[Kwando]

Well i think Mike got a little better deal than the rest of us since he was planning on such a huge system but i got mine for $550 ($2200 retail at the time)
when I bought my ecplises subs i got buy 1 get 3 free - or 75% off but free stuff sounds better. ;)

no dick sucking here ;NutKick;


hook it up!