Decided to upgrade my sound system to AudioFrogs.

[Kurator]

Feel free to go through him then. I was only trying to save you at least a grand if not more.

I do really appreciate all the help you offering! Thank you man! I will definitely keep you in my mind if I need any equipment or accessories in the future!

 

[Kurator]

Feel free to go through him then. I was only trying to save you at least a grand if not more.

Well, the thing is that $9,765.00 pricetag came after paying 8.875% NYC tax and 2.5% credit card charges. So considering the price he quoted me before taxes and fees are about 1 grand less (8,767), it almost identical to your prices.

 

[BroncoAZ]

My buddy just did his Lightning with Audio Frog, had a local shop do custom door panels to mount a 3 way setup. It’s probably the best car audio system I’ve ever heard. All in my buddy spent $10K, $6K on equipment and $4K on labor.

 

[dhmcfadin]

I got a PM from another member on the f150forums about this thread....I am not a shop, just an enthusiast with a love for audio and all of the physics involved.

I will say that Apicella Auto Sound is a great company. My truck is covered in his resonix stuff and it is by far the best I have used. If I was anywhere near NY I would be having him install my stuff in every vehicle without a question. I can install a lot and have (you can check out my build threads on f150forums), but I can't make it look anywhere near as beautiful as he does. Check out his install videos on youtube. They speak for themselves.

He is also probably one of the best sound tuners in the aftermarket industry. What he did in 5 minutes in my truck when he was in Phoenix for advanced install trainings (we just met for dinner, I didn't attend the trainings) was astounding. I know that remote tunes are better than nothing, but without being able to actually hear the vehicle, it isn't the same. This can be mitigated if you have SMAART or SYSTUNE and a microphone array, but still not the same as being there. If you want multiple seat tunes, I don't know of a lot of people that can get that to sound great, I know I can't but Nick can.

You might be able to get some gear cheaper if you are installing it yourself, but if you buy from place 1 and then take it to place 2 to install it, most shops raise their labor rates and do not guarantee anything, if they are even willing to touch it. So your overall cost would end up being the same but without any guarantees on the equipment from the place 2. So if you have issues, you will have to pay them more to diagnose and wait time to ship items back to get new items.


Moral of the story, You will not be disappointed by Apicella Auto Sound.

I completely agree with this. I’ve worked with Nick, he’s a great guy to do business with and a wealth of knowledge. Can’t go wrong with Apicella Auto Sound.

 

[Oldfart]

He seemed like a **** with an attitude when he came on here. Not a good look for a business owner on a public forum. I don't know him, but I know what I saw yesterday from him wasn't cool. I have spoken at length to both The Car Stereo Company and Hush Audio and have been very impressed with both of them. With being both really nice guys, and being very knowledgeable.

 

[dhmcfadin]

What made him seem like a **** with an attitude to you? Because he disagreed with other people about Audiofrog and tuning principles? Or because he disagreed with selling of protected/territory brands on forums? Protected/territory brands means that they are not supposed to be sold outside of the local shop area I.E online forums are against those rules unless that person is local to you. I had an issue with that before. It sucks but I can understand why the companies do that.

I also disagree with The Car Stereo Company about tuning a 3 way vs 2 way. 3 Way is way easier to tune and get everything playing in their happy place. Also having any speaker out of phase is going to have nasty results. That is all based in physics which can't be argued against...If you get a wider / deeper stage by having speakers out of phase, you definitely messed up something else. If tuned properly where all speakers are having as much constructive interference as possible, this will give you the widest, deepest, best center, etc, you can get with your install and setup.

If you have the better tools like SMAART or SYSTUNE and a microphone array which can then view phase live, it is very easy to get your speakers phase lined up to the best they will ever be. If you use REW, some more time will be spent with sweeps, but still very possible to get your phase lined up nearly perfectly, especially with the newer versions of REW. Getting your phase nearly 100% in phase will give you the best width, depth, center, etc hands down. Again, that is all in physics and how sound waves constructively or destructively interfere with each other. There is no getting around that.

X2

 

[Oldfart]

What made him seem like a **** with an attitude to you? Because he disagreed with other people about Audiofrog and tuning principles? Or because he disagreed with selling of protected/territory brands on forums? Protected/territory brands means that they are not supposed to be sold outside of the local shop area I.E online forums are against those rules unless that person is local to you. I had an issue with that before. It sucks but I can understand why the companies do that.

I also disagree with The Car Stereo Company about tuning a 3 way vs 2 way. 3 Way is way easier to tune and get everything playing in their happy place. Also having any speaker out of phase is going to have nasty results. That is all based in physics which can't be argued against...If you get a wider / deeper stage by having speakers out of phase, you definitely messed up something else. If tuned properly where all speakers are having as much constructive interference as possible, this will give you the widest, deepest, best center, etc, you can get with your install and setup.

If you have the better tools like SMAART or SYSTUNE and a microphone array which can then view phase live, it is very easy to get your speakers phase lined up to the best they will ever be. If you use REW, some more time will be spent with sweeps, but still very possible to get your phase lined up nearly perfectly, especially with the newer versions of REW. Getting your phase nearly 100% in phase will give you the best width, depth, center, etc hands down. Again, that is all in physics and how sound waves constructively or destructively interfere with each other. There is no getting around that.

X2

The simple answer to your question is, what he said, and how he said it. It has nothing to do with your 3 paragraphs. I never said he isn't a sharp, knowledgeable guy. I'm sure he is. That really has nothing to do with anything. It also has to do with the fact that I think helpful, site supporting vendors on here deserve a little respect.

 

[Hush Car Audio]

I don't think any of us claim to know everything lol. As for what you guys are saying there is validity to it. I'm sure most of everyone here knows that I've sold a ton of stuff to F150 guys and not once had any issues. My prices were always lowest and I'm one of the few vendors actually allowed to sell products online so there's that about protected areas. Tell that to Crutchfield and the other online retailers to see what they say lol. This is why I told Nick to call and find out if I'm authorized. And about Nick, I never questioned his abilities. I don't know the guy at all. I did question his personality and professionalism due to how he contacted me. Lastly, regarding the price difference of what he was offering and what I could sell it to you for is still not close. That's it for this topic I'm done.

 

[911 Crazy]

 

[Oldfart]

Whatever suits you. How he said things is your interpretation of how he said those things, since I am sure you didn't actually talk to him via phone and only read his words, just like you are reading mine right now. You could read these as defensive or angry or super calm, collected, and friendly (which the latter is what I am right now).

To me, a company that PAID to be on here for the purpose of making a profit on here doesn't BUY them respect, just like on any forum. Remember, these vendors on any forum are there to earn money. Being helpful helps them earn a profit. But that doesn't mean they know everything there is, just like I don't know everything there is about audio. They could actually be steering you in a bad direction, like having mids out of phase, questioning audiofrog speakers because they've only been around for 7 years (when that company was purchased by new owners in 2015 so they are only 5 years old using an older companies name. Andy could have purchased a name too but choose to start a new company. There are plenty of old audio names out there to be able to do just that), or questioning seat lifts but admittedly not using them or having very little knowledge about them.

All three of those things are not helpful and quite frankly, wrong. Is that a good vendor that I should respect, one that gives wrong information?

What an ass you must be. Why don't you just admit you are Nick The **** from Apicella? You just happened to join TODAY. You just happen to only have 3 posts total, ALL in this thread. You just happen to be a fanboy for New York Nick. What a douchenozzle you must be. Are you THAT full of yourself? Like I said, what a ****. You did an awesome job of proving my point. If you're not him, and you are actually enough of a ******** that you joined this site just to post in this thread, that has to be one of the lamest things I've heard in a long time. I'm done here, not worth my time, even though according to you the entire internet is buzzing about this thread! What a joke you and your **** friends are.