Sound system installation cost

[Dodeboost]

I’m planning on upgrading my sound system. I’m looking at getting new tweeters, door speakers, rear pillar speakers, amp and DSP. I will be keeping the factory head unit. I’m new to modifying car audio so I have opted to have it professionally installed instead of trying to do it myself. Not including the hardware, roughly how much should I expect to pay a shop to install all of this? I realize this can vary quite a bit depending on whether or not they’re adding sound deadening, running new wires to speakers etc. I’m trying to come up with a realistic budget, deciding what kind of speakers and amp to get, and just wanted to get a ballpark figure for what I should be prepared to pay for the install.

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[Thagh0st]

It depends on alot of different things, what brand your going with on equipment varies quite a bit, and how exactly you want your install as well.

Do you want deadening and what brand as well, and how extreme you want it, do you want foam or thinsulate for decoupling purposes or even full on soundproofing.

Are you wanting a custom fiberglass sub box of just standard mdf box.

Getting a tune done by itself isn't exactly cheap, and people that are good, don't charge cheap. Dsp wise I would try and look for a shop that has helix, mosconi, or a JL twk88 if they have a Max kit for tuning with it.

It also depends on the shop as well, around me a lot charge around 100 - 150 per hour on labor alone.

 

[NGeezy]

Skip the shop. It's really not that difficult of a job. You should try doing your own door speakers and tweeters first. Watch a video, it's not particularly difficult. If you can do that, move on to the rear speakers. If you're comfortable with that, adding an amp isn't too far off anyway. Maybe an extra YouTube video to scout, or learn how to give it a slight tune.

I used to think car audio was something I needed to spend big bucks on and only the pros did. Not true at all. Can keep it under $300-400 doing the speakers and tweeters. Call ur local shop and get a quote and compare; I think you'll be surprised.

I highly recommend shopping with Crutchfield. Not only do they make selecting parts easy but they have very detailed installation guides for your specific car. Toss in the fact that you can call them anytime during this process and get a feel for what to order, installation troubleshooting, or anything else customer service. Honestly the best support I think I've ever gotten from a company; it's that good.

Something like these two and the extra tools gets you out the door for like $200.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R165S/Rockford-Fosgate-R165-S.html

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20647KSC40/Kicker-47KSC404.html

Now if you want to throw in this amp for another $300.. you've got a stew going, baby. I'm trying to mount it behind rear seats but I need to look into it just a bit more.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20611HS8/Kicker-11HS8.html

 

[twracing]

I just had Crutchfield install front component speakers, rear two way speakers, a 4 channel amp, and a powered sub into my wife’s 2022 trailblazer.
Installation cost $500

 

[colinl]

Short answer for the OP:
If you have the factory B&O, have a shop quote replacement components for the front door & dash and an add-on sub under the rear bench. It's going to be $1k minimum and if you go with high end components and a custom fiberglass enclosure for the sub I could see it reaching $3k or above. (I got quotes ranging from $1500-3500 before deciding to DIY.) Lowest priority are rear speakers - mine are still stock, but I'll get to them eventually, mainly for the benefit of rear seat passengers. I can't discern them at all, which is good.

If you don't have B&O you need to add a line-out converter and multichannel amp to the above, at a minimum.

If for some reason the quotes you get from shops aren't broken down you can Google their parts list and see what they are likely charging for labor.

... Deep breath.
As to the DIY... I both agree and disagree that it's easy to DIY. It isn't impossible, but if you've never done a system on the scope the OP is talking about, it's not trivial either to go read and watch videos about how to do it and then of course the difference between learning concepts and actually doing it can be very different.

I've replaced speakers before, which I agree is very easy excluding door panel and other trim removal and reinstallation, but it's a whole different thing to properly wire an amp, cable everything, buy the right parts, build a subwoofer box that fits and install it correctly, and then tune the sound. It's quite an investment in time and you will waste some material, and buy some tools you might not use often. Fiberglass is a whole different ball of wax. You would have a week invested just building that, plus you need a ventilated workspace and breathing PPE, so I'm not planning to add this skill to my repertoire.

I see the appeal in shops; I have had shops do systems in 3 previous vehicles, and adding a sub to my Maverick was a lot of firsts for me. I now have tools and expertise, but I've got well over 40 hours invested. When I buy another vehicle, which might be years down the road, I will definitely add-on a sub and replace speakers, or if the stock system is weak, I can replace all of it on my own.

 

[Dodeboost]

It depends on alot of different things, what brand your going with on equipment varies quite a bit, and how exactly you want your install as well.

Do you want deadening and what brand as well, and how extreme you want it, do you want foam or thinsulate for decoupling purposes or even full on soundproofing.

Are you wanting a custom fiberglass sub box of just standard mdf box.

Getting a tune done by itself isn't exactly cheap, and people that are good, don't charge cheap. Dsp wise I would try and look for a shop that has helix, mosconi, or a JL twk88 if they have a Max kit for tuning with it.

It also depends on the shop as well, around me a lot charge around 100 - 150 per hour on labor alone.

Ok, that gives me a better idea. I figured it would be at least $100 per hour. I’m probably going to skip the sub for now and just do speakers powered by an amp with dsp. If I need more bass, I’ll add a sub later. I’ve seen a few people recommending audio control DSP’s so I was looking at those. I’ll look into the ones you suggested as well. Thanks for the reply!

 

[colinl]

Ok, that gives me a better idea. I figured it would be at least $100 per hour. I’m probably going to skip the sub for now and just do speakers powered by an amp with dsp. If I need more bass, I’ll add a sub later. I’ve seen a few people recommending audio control DSP’s so I was looking at those. I’ll look into the ones you suggested as well. Thanks for the reply!

are you thinking you'll probably DIY? if so we could suggest some more components.

if you're using a shop you'll probably have to use whatever brands/components they offer.

 

[Dodeboost]

Skip the shop. It's really not that difficult of a job. You should try doing your own door speakers and tweeters first. Watch a video, it's not particularly difficult. If you can do that, move on to the rear speakers. If you're comfortable with that, adding an amp isn't too far off anyway. Maybe an extra YouTube video to scout, or learn how to give it a slight tune.

I used to think car audio was something I needed to spend big bucks on and only the pros did. Not true at all. Can keep it under $300-400 doing the speakers and tweeters. Call ur local shop and get a quote and compare; I think you'll be surprised.

I highly recommend shopping with Crutchfield. Not only do they make selecting parts easy but they have very detailed installation guides for your specific car. Toss in the fact that you can call them anytime during this process and get a feel for what to order, installation troubleshooting, or anything else customer service. Honestly the best support I think I've ever gotten from a company; it's that good.

Something like these two and the extra tools gets you out the door for like $200.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R165S/Rockford-Fosgate-R165-S.html

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20647KSC40/Kicker-47KSC404.html

Now if you want to throw in this amp for another $300.. you've got a stew going, baby. I'm trying to mount it behind rear seats but I need to look into it just a bit more.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20611HS8/Kicker-11HS8.html

I’m fairly mechanically inclined and I enjoy working on my vehicles but this is over my head. I’ve replaced speakers before but what I’m wanting here is more than I’m willing to try on my own. If I had more time I’d love to try to learn this but I just realistically can’t right now. I used crutchfield in the past to get a head unit for my dads truck. They’re great!

 

[Dodeboost]

I just had Crutchfield install front component speakers, rear two way speakers, an amp, and a powered sub into my wife’s 2022 trailblazer.
Installation cost $500

Right on, thank you!

 

[Dodeboost]

Short answer for the OP:
If you have the factory B&O, have a shop quote replacement components for the front door & dash and an add-on sub under the rear bench. It's going to be $1k minimum and if you go with high end components and a custom fiberglass enclosure for the sub I could see it reaching $3k or above. (I got quotes ranging from $1500-3500 before deciding to DIY.) Lowest priority are rear speakers - mine are still stock, but I'll get to them eventually, mainly for the benefit of rear seat passengers. I can't discern them at all, which is good.

If you don't have B&O you need to add a line-out converter and multichannel amp to the above, at a minimum.

If for some reason the quotes you get from shops aren't broken down you can Google their parts list and see what they are likely charging for labor.

... Deep breath.
As to the DIY... I both agree and disagree that it's easy to DIY. It isn't impossible, but if you've never done a system on the scope the OP is talking about, it's not trivial either to go read and watch videos about how to do it and then of course the difference between learning concepts and actually doing it can be very different.

I've replaced speakers before, which I agree is very easy excluding door panel and other trim removal and reinstallation, but it's a whole different thing to properly wire an amp, cable everything, buy the right parts, build a subwoofer box that fits and install it correctly, and then tune the sound. It's quite an investment in time and you will waste some material, and buy some tools you might not use often. Fiberglass is a whole different ball of wax. You would have a week invested just building that, plus you need a ventilated workspace and breathing PPE, so I'm not planning to add this skill to my repertoire.

I see the appeal in shops; I have had shops do systems in 3 previous vehicles, and adding a sub to my Maverick was a lot of firsts for me. I now have tools and expertise, but I've got well over 40 hours invested. When I buy another vehicle, which might be years down the road, I will definitely add-on a sub and replace speakers, or if the stock system is weak, I can replace all of it on my own.

I don’t have the b&o system. I think I’ll be going with the shop. If I was just swapping speakers I’d do it myself but I’m going to want more than just speakers. I don’t need a high end system by any means, but I want to get the most out of whatever speakers I get, so I’ll be doing an amp and dsp. I’m tempted to do it myself but I just don’t have the time to learn this right now, I’d rather have it professionally done.
I’m going to skip the sub for now, I don’t need tons of base but I do have a kicker 250 watt single channel amp from one of my old cars that I may pair with a single 10 in the future. A local shop recently did a maverick. They used alpine type s speakers all around, an audio control dsp and kicker 250 amp. Im thinking for my needs this type of setup will probably be sufficient. I’m not an audiophile but I do like loud music from time to time and want it to sound “good”. My other car has a cheap sound storm head unit. I swapped the stock speakers for mtx dominators and while it was a big improvement, I still want something better for the maverick. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Juanderosa]

Budget is very your mileage may vary. I mean, it's like asking advice about how much you could spend on a Ford truck.... You could spend 20k or 100k+ depending on what you get and what you are trying to do.

So a few questions you might keep in mind, what is it about the stock system you don't like? What kind of music do you listen to? What kind of stereo do you have at home? Do you have headphones and if so, what kind?

With that said, I've been into car audio 35 years. 30 year old me would probably have shoehorned 4 (big) amps behind the seats, a 10 channel DSP, subs under each seat, new wiring everywhere, and probably a few boxes of Dynamat/Sound Deadener slathered everywhere.

Me now? I'm probably going to have a one box solution if possible with the DSP built into the amplifier with the amp able to accept whatever is coming out of the factory radio without any further electronics needed (so no line driver, no high level converter, etc.). Probably going to reuse the factory wiring as well (so no need to pull anything apart in the door to run wiring into the door). Very likely going to go with speakers that drop in with minimal work. And sound deadener will probably be very minimal compared to the options out there.

So with that said, I think if you follow a similar approach you can keep down the labor. Labor is expensive, so you want to shove a round peg into a square hole, you'll pay to make a round peg to square hole adaptor. If you want to run new wires, you'll pay as well. Also, if you decide to do custom work, this isn't a F150 that they've probably seen a bunch and can quickly figure out the how since they've done them before. Whatever modifications you want them to figure out you'll pay for.

Also, if you want a specific amp/dsp combo, buy it from someone who knows how to install it. If Speaker X isn't sold by your local dealer and it drops in with minimal work, it might not be a bad idea to pay a little extra to have the dealer put it in if they don't carry anything that does drop in (sometimes they charge a higher labor rate for stuff they don't sell). Don't do that for the DSP. The software is hard to figure out. And you'll be paying for them to figure out it. Way better to either go to someone that does carry the brand and is familiar with that brand, or go with a different brand. So don't go to an Audio Control dealer who doesn't carry JL Audio to install JL Audio amp/dsp.

Also, if you are having a pro do it, you might want to consider listening to a car with and without a sub before you rule it out. The difference between doing a 5 channel amp with built in DSP and a sub and doing a 4 channel amp with DSP then going back and adding another amp and a sub (and retuning, adding wiring, etc.) are probably substantial. Even a small sub will probably make a big difference.

 

[LM42]

I just had Crutchfield install front component speakers, rear two way speakers, an amp, and a powered sub into my wife’s 2022 trailblazer.
Installation cost $500

ALL of that was $500? That is less than just half way decent components would cost, with no labor

 

[Thagh0st]

Ok, that gives me a better idea. I figured it would be at least $100 per hour. I’m probably going to skip the sub for now and just do speakers powered by an amp with dsp. If I need more bass, I’ll add a sub later. I’ve seen a few people recommending audio control DSP’s so I was looking at those. I’ll look into the ones you suggested as well. Thanks for the reply!

I don't blame you on that at all, subwoofer adds a nice amount of cost. I'm not a huge audio control fan especially with dsp, but the new update in the software seems a lot better from what I have seen, I just don't like how hot they run personally.

What are you looking for in the system, SQ, SQL, or spl? And you wanting more bass, or more vocal to come out or both?

Definitely shop around, ask shops for pictures of builds as well, don't just go to a shop because they are local, not all are created equal.

 

[NGeezy]

ALL of that was $500? That is less than just half way decent components would cost, with no labor

I just listed a $500 setup in my previous post. Only thing missing is a proper mount, might need to custom fab it or look around.

Crutchfield doesn't provide labor, so @twracing likely did on his own under the guide of Crutchfield.

 

[LM42]

I just listed a $500 setup in my previous post. Only thing missing is a proper mount, might need to custom fab it or look around.

Crutchfield doesn't provide labor, so @twracing likely did on his own under the guide of Crutchfield.

My point is that for All of that at $500 it probably isn't very good stuff. I am not even close to super high end in my truck, and the Focal component set I used for the front was $850 alone. That is before the amp, sub, custom box and install.

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