I recently took my car to a reputable, high end audio shop to get an estimate on making my Bose stereo sound better. Their reccomendation was to replace the amp, replace front door speakers and tweeters located in the sail windows.

I was given a couple of good choices on the amps and speakers. The labor estimate was just under seven hours @$75 an hour. This does include Dynomatting the front doors which is estimated at 1 hour for each door.

My question is does it really take almost 7 hours to do this? There is no custom work as far as cutting etc , but does include taking the time to assemble the crossover networks. The labor ends up being 45 to 50% of the system cost.
Any input is appreciated.

 

Install shops are always pricey. Not only on the install, but they mark up the equipment quite a bit, too. I recommend you learn to do it yourself - it's not that hard.

 

Labour is labour, you pay it if you take your vehilce in for non warranty service, you pay it to have your roof replaced, you also pay a shop it for custom install. You will definitely need a mounting template for the front speakers, insist that it is made of 1/4" black abs (DO NOT USE MDF due to water in the door). Waht are you going to be using to integrate the amp into the Bose head?

 

The $75 an hour labor rate was about what I expected. I knew I was going to a high end shop. I just thought the almost 7 hours of labor seemed a bit much. Overall I am very impressed by the way I have been treated, I was just looking for feedback from members who have been in my shoes.

I have read most if not all of the posts concerning Bose and did not see much info about the actual cost of getting the Bose out of my car. The head unit is not a Bose. The Bose starts at the amp.

 

Which means that you need a proper interface adaptor, what are you going to be using. If you had not counted on one, better start considering it now as if you want to do a proper job, then the proper interface adaptor is a must. In the BLOWS based systems I recommend that you use the Audio Control 6XS for this task. Do a search for that part here on the forum and dig up what is said about it. I can have the Bose system out of that vehicle in under an hour as I am familiar with how the vehicle comes apart. As the shop may not be, count on it taking a little longer. 7 hours to do a set of rear speakers, front components, custom baffles, deadening, BLOWS removal, amplifier, power / ground wires (read the grounding sticky as it is very important in this car), chances are that it will be longer than this, especially once they discover that a basic LOC will not do an effective job at system integration.

 

Forbidden- thanks for the reply I am checking into the interface. What are your thoughts about having dampening material put in the doors? He said they custom trim each door and don't just cut a mat and attach it. Is the dampening going to make that much difference. It ends up being about 1/4 of the system price.

The install shop is very professianal, and I have alot of faith in their work. I have not done any dampening in my previous cars and was wondering it it was worth the extra $250.

 

The doors of this car are like big metal gongs, the entire exterior door skin should be covered first as it is by far and away the single largest piece of metal that can and will resonate. Next if it is in your estimate, do the inner door skin as well. I don't care how it is worded or done, get the doorskins deadened and not just the little area around where the speaker mounts.