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Thread: Cheap 51$ radio I bought was a giant FAIL :o(

  1. #1
    Senior Member fc321's Avatar
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    Cheap 51$ radio I bought was a giant FAIL :o(

    I should have listened to CobraJet,

    I bought a cheapo Planet Audio stereo on Sonic Electronix for 51$ shipped

    https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item...-PB455RGB.html

    And it is a piece of Ca-Ca

    It looks nice but when you play songs from the SD card or USB stick it starts over from Folder 1, track 1 everytime you turn off the car. So if you are listening to an audiobook it will not remember where you last left off and will start the whole book over from the very beginning. Unacceptable. Even if listening to a music album you dont want to have to start all over from the first song over and over again each time.

    Ridiculous. I called the tech support at Planet Audio and they advised that this is by design. There is no cure for this condition. What a piece of garbage. I wrote a bad review at the website and review has been concealed (It is not showing up). The company is crooked Sonic Electronix. Those guys are snakes in the grass.

    Im pissed off. Im stuck with the radio, they wont take it back now that the wires of the harness have been cut and crimped. These guys are jerks. This company (Sonic) has an awful reputation for not answering emails and if you call you get placed on hold forever and I had to call back 5 times before I was able to get thru because the phone system hung up on me 4 times when it was finally my turn in the queue.

    These bozos sent me the wrong wiring harness (sent me 70-7004 which is for older cars) and finally I got a dude on the line and he agreed to send me a replacement harness (took an extra 4 days) and I had to wait with my entire car dismantled.

    Now I am so impatient and went to Walmart to buy $89.99 Pioneer FH-S501BT and had to pay sales tax 7%

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pioneer-F...iver/377714906

    I found a local shop on the rought side of town and the prices are so cheap they say they will charge only 10$ per speaker to install and $20 to tune the amp. That would have been sweet and I wish I had never even done the job on my own which is taking me over 10 hours of labor and countless mistakes and foibles. Now I am ready to make my tutorial video and find that my front right speaker has stopped outputting sound. Looks like I did a bad job soldering the connection at the door. Well, I would rather just pay 10 bucks and let the tech from the shop finish it up.

    I was thinking I would be charged 500 smackers for the whole install and I cant afford so much but this shop on the bad side of town has cheap-assed prices if I had known I would have just gone there.

    First I called Cartronics and the guy said to just tune the amp he would charge $90! And when I told him the speaker wasnt working he said that if it was as simple as a wire not crimped at the head unit I would be charged an extra 40 bucks for a full headunit installation. Can you beleive that? This Cartronics d-bag saying 40 bucks if there was just a single wire not crimped properly? Well I told that d-bag "You just talked yourself out of a sale, slick-mouth"

    I am angry at myself. I was trying to economize but it was a false economy now I am paying thru the nose.


    2015 Mirage DE 5 speed Manual - 30k miles

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 44.9 mpg (US) ... 19.1 km/L ... 5.2 L/100 km ... 53.9 mpg (Imp)


  2. #2
    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fc321 View Post
    And when I told him the speaker wasnt working he said that if it was as simple as a wire not crimped at the head unit I would be charged an extra 40 bucks for a full headunit installation. Can you beleive that? This Cartronics d-bag saying 40 bucks if there was just a single wire not crimped properly? Well I told that d-bag "You just talked yourself out of a sale, slick-mouth"
    Hang on... you're asking a professional stereo installer who DIDN'T install your head unit to remove your head unit, troubleshoot your problem, properly repair it, reinstall it, AND presumably warranty the repair.

    Aside from not opening the box and unpackaging a new radio, he IS doing a full installation. Plus however long it takes to troubleshoot the problem. He is completely justified in charging you a full install price. You owe him an apology, sir.

    And you'd probably be far better off having him do the work than the shady shop around the corner.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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  4. #3
    Kinda sounds like you get what you pay for. Can't be too mad if it works like it's supposed to. Hopefully the shady cheap guy's you want to fix your wiring don't screw you over too much. I just picture marret connectors and masking tape being used heavily

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Loren View Post
    Hang on... you're asking a professional stereo installer who DIDN'T install your head unit to remove your head unit, troubleshoot your problem, properly repair it, reinstall it, AND presumably warranty the repair.

    Aside from not opening the box and unpackaging a new radio, he IS doing a full installation. Plus however long it takes to troubleshoot the problem. He is completely justified in charging you a full install price. You owe him an apology, sir.

    And you'd probably be far better off having him do the work than the shady shop around the corner.
    Ain’t that the truth! If you can’t do the work yourself, you have to pay someone else to do it. It amazes me that people expect other people to fix their mistakes, remove and reinstall a head unit and not want to be charged for an installation job? It actually sounds like a fair price to me. Also, you buy an extremely cheap radio and expect it to not have extremely cheap software? I am scratching my head at this one.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 42.5 mpg (US) ... 18.1 km/L ... 5.5 L/100 km ... 51.1 mpg (Imp)


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    Crutchfield has some cheaper radio’s if that’s what your looking for and even have open box discounted radio’s. They come with free install instructions. You can buy the Metra wiring kit which is plug and play to the factory plugs. They can even attach the Metra wiring kit to the new radio harness for like $20.00. They have great tech support if you have problems with your do-it-yourself installs. I highly recommend them.

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    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    Crutchfield isn't the cheapest place to buy car audio...but man their tech support and after-the-sale service is the best. I've called them years after installing something to ask a random question. If you aren't 100% confident in what you're doing and you want to do it yourself, spend a little extra and buy from them.

    Sonic Electronix has low prices and a web site. That's about where it ends. If you know exactly what you're buying and price is your main concern, this is where you go.

    I have always done my own car audio installs...until my Mirage. I'm getting too old to do everything myself. So I splurged and had a shop do it...head unit, speakers, amp, sub, XM antenna, etc. They did a great job and it sounds awesome. It cost me a few extra bucks...but it was worth it. I'm not sure I'll ever do another full system install myself again.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Sorry to hear that it didn't work out! Honestly, I never thought the stock stereo in the Mirage sounded that bad. Or maybe I am just getting old. I taught myself to install car stereos when I was younger, but kinda grew out of them. They are just a broken window and an insurance claim waiting to happen, as far as I am concerned. When I bought my 1996 Mazda truck a couple years ago it came with an aftermarket stereo. I ripped it out, found a stock stereo at a junkyard, and put it back in! Stock stereos have gotten better over the last 20 years, and apparently my ears haven't gotten any worse!

    You are not alone in 'spending money trying to save money'. I just did the same thing with sunglasses.

    I needed a new pair of sunglasses, and I have spoiled eyes so I don't wear cheap ones. I keep a pair in every car I own, and I just bought another car. Instead of paying $119 for the Oakleys I wanted, I decided to buy a pair of Ferrari-branded Ray-Bans for $75 on closeout. Meh, they are okay. But I wasn't satisfied. So I spent another $59 on a pair of Ray-Ban Predator 2s that I wound up HATING. Now I have spent $135 on two pairs of sunglasses I am not satisfied with, when I could have just spent $119 on a pair I knew I would like!

    I kept the Ferraris, but sent the Predators back. AND I WOUND UP BUYING THE OAKLEYS ANYWAY! Oh, but it gets worse! The place who had them for $119 doesn't have any more, so I ended up paying $125! Now I have spent $200 when I could have simply spent $119 three weeks ago.

    Sometimes you just gotta throw down that money and pay for what you get instead of cheaping out and getting what you paid for.
    Last edited by Cobrajet; 08-02-2018 at 09:12 AM.

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    Senior Member fc321's Avatar
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    Yeah CobraJet it is an expensive lesson. But in general I think I have come out ahead overall by buying cheap stuff in general. I mean almost ALL my tools now are from Harbor Freight Tools and I havent had any problem with 95% of them.

    In general I start my search with the cheapest product and work my way up from there. I say that because too many times I have had the mindset that higher price = much higher quality and I have overpaid many times with only a marginal benefit in performance or only paid extra for a name-brand.

    But in this case I lost. I am out the $51 but I did get the wiring harness and dash kit for free so that is 17 + 10 = 27$ value so I am losing 24 bucks and maybe I can sell the stereo for 25 dollars on craigslist, it is brand new in the box (but does have the harness cut and crimped).

    So I do hope to minimize my losses but I tell you, this had COMPLETELY changed my approach. I decided to get a Pioneer from Amazon with touchscreen and a reverse camera for $143

    https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0794XZDJB

    So no more cheaping out. Sometimes my thriftiness is a sickness. I take it too much to the extremes sometimes. Like for example buying a plain jane smartphone for a hundred when I could have spent 200 for SIGNIFICANT improvements. On somethings it just doesnt pay to skimp out on. And we are talking about a car I want to keep for 10 years so going from 51 bucks up to 143 is a smart decision.

    As far as what the guys said above about the shop I have taken a deep breath and will take the dashboard apart again and remove the Planet Audio stereo to install the new Pioneer one (after I get it) and I should be able to tug on the crimp caps and discover which one is loose but I have to take them all off anyway to install the new stereo so that problem should resolve itself. I just dont want to take the darn door panel off again but it may come to that.

    But I will install it all myself including the backup camera and will then take it to the shady stereo place just for amp tuning and equalization settings ($20). This Pioneer has like 13 band EQ and I dont know enough about EQ to set it optimally for the kind of music that I listen to (not rap).

    Even if the cheap stereo place cant get it perfect i can fine tune it myself afterwards because at least they will get the settings in the right ballpark
    2015 Mirage DE 5 speed Manual - 30k miles

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 44.9 mpg (US) ... 19.1 km/L ... 5.2 L/100 km ... 53.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    fc321 I think you're on the right track. We live and we learn, and we all get to learn a little of what works and what doesn't.

    Thanks for sharing.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    I'm about as far from "audiophile" as you can get, but you should be able to tune your EQ yourself if you take a logical approach.

    It's the same approach that you'd take to tuning or troubleshooting ANYTHING. Divide and conquer.

    Find a good piece of music that is representative of what you normally listen to. Don't reach for "extremes", just some "middle-of-the-road" music that hits the typical highs and lows and vocals and whatever that you normally listen to. Put that on repeat.

    Then get into your EQ settings.

    Start by setting everything "flat". That's right in the middle with all the sliders (or knobs, or digits). Then start on the low end. Jack that first band ALL THE WAY UP! What exactly is the frequency range of that band? What's changing? Crank it ALL THE WAY DOWN. What does it sound like when that frequency range drops out? What is the change? Play with it a little bit. Get a mental reference for what that first band is. Then set it back to the middle.

    Do the same thing with each band. Figure out what they do. Once you have a rough idea of what kind of sound each band represents, set them all back to the middle.

    Now... Sit in the driver's seat, and listen. Play with the fader. Move the sound front-to-rear. There are different schools of thought on this about setting up the "sound stage" and all that. But, all you have to do is please YOURSELF. Personally, I like to put more of the volume from the rear and use the front for "fill", but that's because I personally find it less distracting, and easier to have a conversation when I have a passenger. So, I'll go full rear with it, and then move it forward until I hear the front speakers... and maybe a touch more. But, that's me. Find your happy place with the fader.

    You MIGHT even set your left-right balance just slightly to the right if you're optimizing for sound for YOU in the driver's seat. Play with that. Left and right. Where does it "feel" like the sound is actually balanced? It might not be dead center on the knob. You're farther from the right speakers. But, weird acoustics are a factor, so who knows?

    Once you've got that... listen some more. Presumably, you're listening to music that you're familiar with. Does it sound right? What's missing? Lows? Highs? Vocals? Now that you're somewhat familiar with your EQ bands... play with it. Increase what needs to be increased. Decrease what needs to be decreased. You're just trying to please yourself here, not win audio competitions.

    Now that you have the basic setup... break out the extremes. Find a song that has some DEEP bass. (I like Pink Floyd, Money for this) Does it sound right? Are you over-bassing your speakers? Maybe tweak that down a little bit. Maybe play with the second low-end band, too. Get it to where it sounds as good as it can, and never "too much" for your speakers.

    Do the same thing with the high end. Cymbals are good for this. (I like The Police, Roxanne for this) Get the highs tweaked to where you hear what you want to hear, but nothing's breaking up. And this can be very listener dependent.

    That should get you pretty close. And without spending a dime.


    Simplify and add lightness.

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