New Boat, Which way to go with stereo?

Originally posted by RUCAV
Ultra uses an outside company to do their stereo work and started out with a price of $2500 for the stereo upgrade. They dropped it to $1800 when I told them it was to high. I spoke with the installer and asked him to list the components and all the installation products. I took that list to the guy who does my stereo work and had him look at it. Without skipping a beat he told me he would do it all for $1000. Hardware and installation. If your interested in talking with them its called BOW DOWN AUTOSOUND in costa mesa. Head guys name is Malike. Also, they were going to use Viper speakers. I went to 5 different stereo shops and they said Viper makes good alarms, not good speakers.
Also, after talking to several people, I bought the XM satelite for my house, boat and truck. Tons of channels and you get service in Havasu.
Were you dealing with John directly or someone else? They should be building the 28 Stealth for me pretty soon, and like you I do not want Viper stuff nor Pioneer. What boat did you purchase, and what did you select for a stereo?
SCJ

The viper amps will be discontinued and their DEI line will add some of the Viper cosmetics. .. or was it the opposite http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies...confused43.gif
Regardless, they do produce decent products for the money. I like their 5 channel and class D amps, and the sound produced by their 6.5 seperates as long as you don't need to throw a ton of power at them....
The upper end Pioneer Premier head units are good... As a matter of fact, the DEXP1, like the Alpine7909 (circa 1989-1992) is still a sought after headunit... I like the DEXP9 better though... :D

Were you dealing with John directly or someone else? They should be building the 28 Stealth for me pretty soon, and like you I do not want Viper stuff nor Pioneer. What boat did you purchase, and what did you select for a stereo?
SCJ
SCJ
I bought the 247 XS. I called the guy who does their install. I think his name is Martin, but not sure. I wrote down all the components and took them to a local shop where Ive had some work done. He looked at the components and said $1000. I bought the boat from Bob Brown. Ultra first said the stereo upgrade was $2500. As I was driving home he called me back and said they could do it for $1800. Let me know if you want info on the stereo shop.
Rick

Martin at Advanced Audio? HE is a good guy and talented installer but whatever you do, DO NOT deal with his guy Ryan. He use to work for another shop, and he is a theif. The guy cannot be trusted at all. Too bad Martin brought him in.. A guy like that can cause a small shop to close it's doors....

that guy at advanced audio is trying to sell viper stuff all the time. He must get some huge discount for selling so many viper speakers. I heard one set and they sounded pretty good.

Originally posted by BIGTYME
that guy at advanced audio is trying to sell viper stuff all the time. He must get some huge discount for selling so many viper speakers. I heard one set and they sounded pretty good.
It's good stuff at a good retail price point with good profit margin...
Moving product at whatever price point is good the the MFG.... :D ;)

The stereo upgrade for ultra has a pioneer 3500 head unit, a PPI PCX5800 800 watt, 5 channel amp, 2 pair of 6.5's, 1 pair of 6x9's and a pair of 12"s. Martin uses Viper speakers. I went to 4 shops and they did not like the Vipers. So I went with Alphasonik. The installer is now saying since I went with Alphasonik, I need another amp because Alphasonik's handles more power. Does that sound right to those of you in the know about this stuff. I dont see how it is a good amp with the Vipers, but not good enough for the Alphasonik's.
Help a brother out.

What gear is in your system?
Did you take the upgrade but go with Alphasonic speakers, or Alphasonik everything?
That PCX5800 is a good amp....
What is your system lacking? Are they talking about adding a dedicated sub amp? I can see that.... There are a few peeps here that have some pretty good sounding systems that only run 1 5 channel amp. One installer I know of was pretty surprized how well the 2 Kappa 10's by Infinity sounded in a well designed box powered from a measley Alpine 5 channel amp... :D Pretty good bass if I imagine correctly ;)
It's possible that you're demands are now beyond your amp's abilities and need to upgrade...
Did the 4 shops that disaproved of going Viper Audio even stock Viper Audio? I don't stock them, but like the way they sound at their rice point. They've even had some pretty good reviews....

I did not do any upgrades to my stereo in my Ultra. I just went with stock Pioneer deck and 4 Viper 6.5" speakers. I did not think Ultra's $ for the upgrade was worth it. I am taking the boat this winter and having the system upgraded. I have not decided what im going to do to it yet. My stereo guy want's to use "Arc" amp's. I've never heard of them are they any good? I still have not decided on what speakers im going to install. The Viper speakers sound decent but I am still going change them out.

JB is the boat sold yet? I think that XM is the way to go, the you never have to play it that loud... if you and your buddies listen to the same stuff you are all good, and it doesn't cost and arm and leg