Crutchfield does know marine, and they are awesome

[mrsrobinson]

When I first started researching upgrading my stereo components there were a few folks here who snubbed Crutchfield, and said they don't know marine, don't buy from them for their technical expertise.

Well, they do know marine, and their tech assistance was exceptional. The tech I worked with owns a boat, knows boats, specializes in marine, and was amazing. They taught me

• how to dial in my gain using test tones and a volt meter
• how to dial in my cross over
• what all of this stuff means
• and much more

And they called me multiple times to check in. They cost a few dollars more than Amazon, and I wanted to save a few dollars, but it was money well well spent.

Oh, and they are not salesy at all.

 

[spikedaddy99]

I've always liked Crutchfield.

 

[douglee25]

I just bought from Amazon a new head unit because mine just died on me the other week. I contemplated Crutchfield but went with Amazon strictly for the ease of return if I didn't like something in 30 days. Fusion accepts warranty support for any online vendor but not Ebay. I had good luck with them in the past.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Amazon has set the bar very high for returns, for sure.

You get 60 days with Crutchfield, and if you ask they will waive the return shipping fee.

 

[douglee25]

Good to know. I'll keep that in mind.

I'm kind of pissed, I setup my entire system architecture based off of 3-4 zones. Now the radio shit the bed and similar radios are god awful expensive. Most have two zones which won't work.

What did you end up getting? How many zones are on your boat? I have interior ran off the head unit (which is always off), front exterior, rear exterior, sub, and tower speaker zones all run off of two dedicated amps. Works well when you want to control the volume of individual zones, but sucked on the replacement side.

 

[unsalted]

Amazon has set the bar very high for returns, for sure.

You get 60 days with Crutchfield, and if you ask they will waive the return shipping fee.

And very low for quality! If it’s drastically cheaper than legitimate other sources then it’s likely counterfeit.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Good to know. I'll keep that in mind.

I'm kind of pissed, I setup my entire system architecture based off of 3-4 zones. Now the radio shit the bed and similar radios are god awful expensive. Most have two zones which won't work.

What did you end up getting? How many zones are on your boat? I have interior ran off the head unit (which is always off), front exterior, rear exterior, sub, and tower speaker zones all run off of two dedicated amps. Works well when you want to control the volume of individual zones, but sucked on the replacement side.

Amps and speakers, and related accessories only so far. I'm considering the Fusion MS-RA210 in the future. I don't really need zones though. Crutchfield taught me how to set up my current head unit to do fading so I can turn the volume down in the cabin if I want to. Two zones might be nice, this weekend the girlfriend was on the boat with the door closed to the front berth, would have been nice to turn her speakers off as she kept saying "turn it down please".

 

[Stray Current]

I’ve ordered a lot of components from crutchfield over the years and had good customer service. I didn’t know their tech department was available to that level

 

[mrsrobinson]

They actually called me back this week to check how the new amp configuration is going. Gave me a few more tuning tips to try/consider. I learned a ton about how amps work, how to tune them, what not to do, etc.

 

[Stray Current]

They actually called me back this week to check how the new amp configuration is going. Gave me a few more tuning tips to try/consider. I learned a ton about how amps work, how to tune them, what not to do, etc.

that’s awesome. Usually just getting someone to answer your call in is a minor feat

 

[Wylie_Tunes]

but went with Amazon strictly for the ease of return if I didn't like something in 30 days.

Speak with the right retailer/installer prior to purchase, and theres no need to ever worry about a return.

 

[douglee25]

Speak with the right retailer/installer prior to purchase, and theres no need to ever worry about a return.

So speaking to a retailer/installer would help me if it didn't meet my expectations? And those folks are never biased, right? I did my own research and picked something that would work with my system architecture. I'm satisfied with my selection.

 

[Wylie_Tunes]

So speaking to a retailer/installer would help me if it didn't meet my expectations? And those folks are never biased, right? I did my own research and picked something that would work with my system architecture. I'm satisfied with my selection.

hey, not looking to pick a fight and im not dis'in the avenue you chose. But having a face to face, and in a lot of cases, hands-on live demo, you can get a few ideas of what will fit your goals, thats all im saying the group.

Are we biased? Sure as chit we are, we have a reputation in the community to uphold. When someone crap from some big online retailer and it sucks, they dont blame the retailer for selling! If your local brick and mortar sells you junk, you will dang sure tell everyone at the next raft-up, right?

The marine audio social media groups are slammed full or posts every day, of someone who either bought poor quality gear and not happy with its performance or spent thousands on a system and now they've got a pile of mismatched gear thats not going to work well. All of this can be avoided by actually talking to someone.

Does everyone need to do this? No, not at all.

 

[douglee25]

hey, not looking to pick a fight and im not dis'in the avenue you chose. But having a face to face, and in a lot of cases, hands-on live demo, you can get a few ideas of what will fit your goals, thats all im saying the group.

Are we biased? Sure as chit we are, we have a reputation in the community to uphold. When someone crap from some big online retailer and it sucks, they dont blame the retailer for selling! If your local brick and mortar sells you junk, you will dang sure tell everyone at the next raft-up, right?

The marine audio social media groups are slammed full or posts every day, of someone who either bought poor quality gear and not happy with its performance or spent thousands on a system and now they've got a pile of mismatched gear thats not going to work well. All of this can be avoided by actually talking to someone.

Does everyone need to do this? No, not at all.

Fair enough.

I will say, I don't know of a single brick and mortar store, besides Best Buy (and to me that barely counts), for decent audio equipment any longer. I'm sure they exist, it's just not a market that I'm plugged into. I want something that sounds good to me and has some bump. For my needs, I can usually source/manufacture and self-install. I'm not the guy that spends 40k on a boat system - and there are plenty on our lake!

 

[mrsrobinson]

There's a couple here in Richmond but they cater to the car folks in my opinion.

I found one marine audio guy close enough to me, who I talked to on the phone. I liked him, he asked good questions. He only used JL Audio products though. He also didn't seem interested in doing one phase at a time, one component at a time, he wanted to do everything at one time.