Cheaper buy overseas or local?

[sismic]

Hi All,


I am newbie here so I need some recommendation.
I would like to setup my car audio on my accord for SQ instead of SPL. Since i have limited budget, i would like to buy them in cheapest way.Anyone here has experienced buying amp+subs in overseas through internet? Are they cheaper then local shops?

The site that i am considering to buy from is www.onlinecarstereo.com and the brand that i am after are between RF,JL or Orion.

do you know which good installer that allow us to bring our own audio part in Victoria(probably bring my amp and sub, the rest will buy from the shops)?

Thanks for the info.

Regards,
Sismic

[micka]

it will be cheaper in the short term to buy overseas and have items shipped here car audio prices in the us are much cheaper than here for the most part, however there are a few things to concider. Importing laws, and how much you'll have to pay - Tax, duties, etc. Cost for shipping. Shops will usually (always?) charge more to install equiptment that hasn't been bought at their shop. Buying overseas equiptment and shipping here will almost always void any waranty, or at best you will have to pay for the item to be shipped back to the country and back here again.
that said i've never imported car audio stuff personally, but by all accounts the risk/ reward ratio is nowhere near as good as it looks at first glance, support the local market imho.

[sismic]

Hi micka,


Any recommendation of shops in Melbourne who charge at reasonable price with reasonable good quality installation?


cheers,
sismic

[micka]

sorry, not too familiar with too many shops in melbourne as i don't buy any car audio from there. i've heard nothing but good things about stylyn in boronia, but undoubtedly they would not be one of the cheaper places around town. hopefully someone else will be able to be of more assistance.

[dundas]

umm wot sorta stuff are u looking for ? Head unit, speakers, ampo subs, crossovers, splits etc??? budget===

[toE]

try www.caraudioaustralia.com :)

[jords]

Have a look on australian ebay, you'll need to search but there are some well priced car audio stuff.

[i_own_you]

yeh and i picked up a few bargains from ebay myself (australia)

[Fhrx]

When it comes to buying gear you're more than welcome to enquire about prices with us. Before you go off buying overseas, you might want to consider the fact you're destroying the car audio industry in Australia by doing so. Sure initially you're getting a good price (only on some equipment) but consider the long term effect. Not just put one little install shop out of buisness - it actually takes out the entire car audio industry from one end to the other.

1. Shops
Shops close down due to being forced to compete with prices under what they pay. Importers close down due to shops not asking for any stock. The only winners initially appear to be the manufactures - but even their sales are reduced as shops down here begin to close, unable to display and demostrate their products any more.

2. Websites
Websites like Car Audio Australia and Aus Car Audio suffer because the funds they depend on (that come from shops and importers) cease to come in.

3. Product
The product suffers. As more and more people simply chuck equipment in their cars without having three tenths of bugger all knowledge about how it works or how to get the best possible sound from it, the entire quality level of the car audio industry goes down. There is a good reason why specialist shops are called 'specialist'.

4. Sound offs
Us stores sponsor to pay for the sound offs we all compete at. Without people like me 'simply looking out for my own gains' we have no sound off, no SQ comps, no decibel drag racing - nothing. We also provide the prizes you win at these sound offs.

5. Warranty
We won't need to go into this one really, do we?

6. Future
What about if our dollar comes back up one day - you might just be shooting yourself in the foot by killing off the stores now. (Not really an applicable one for obvious reasons but you get my point).

7. Publications
With no sound-offs, no shops, no advertising money and no products being brough here purely as display models, what direction are the magazines like INCAR and Car Audio going to go in?

Based on these simple case studies you'll see I'm not just doing this for our benefit but I'm actually trying to preserve the entire industry I happen to be a small part of.

P.S. A quick note about mark-ups. Every brand ha a different mark-up rate. Just to let you know the $999 Alpine deck costs most stores a little more than you have stated but I'll let this slip. We don't make as much on items as you're insinuating. On that note, you'll find us Aussie shops off large discounts on the retails prices already (there a very few stores that sell at full RRP). We tend to try not to insult anyones intelligence either - I have a mortgage to pay, family to feed, car to pay off etc as well mate.

[micka]

Marty, great post ^

.S. A quick note about mark-ups. Every brand ha a different mark-up rate. Just to let you know the $999 Alpine deck costs most stores a little more than you have stated but I'll let this slip. We don't make as much on items as you're insinuating. On that note, you'll find us Aussie shops off large discounts on the retails prices already (there a very few stores that sell at full RRP). We tend to try not to insult anyones intelligence either - I have a mortgage to pay, family to feed, car to pay off etc as well mate.
also stores such as yours need to pruduce and maintain demo vehicals, i heard a rumour that to have a Alpine F#1 demo vehical you needed at least a merc or equiviliant as a base or alpine wouldn't let you do it. any truth to that?

[Fhrx]

More than I'll admit to knowing about, lets put it that way shall we? ;)

[GenV]

correct me if im wrong, but if you get a head unit from overseas, some of them cant pick up the radio stations? like AM radio stations? (not that i listen to radio, but im sure there are some talk back listeners out there somewhere):)

[Fhrx]

That is the case with cheaper units but better ones usually have an Area 1 / Area 2 switch as part of the setup menu. :)