The stereo install at Circuit City went well. I ended up paying about $50 for the installation. One thing I learned in all of this is that the installers are people just like me. And, while they may have a bit more experience, they know about as much as I do. The difference is, they have a lit shop, and all the right tools to do the job. The guy who installed my stuff still had to pick, poke, and prod about the panelling to figure out how to remove it, just like I did. Then, he had to take out each piece and look at them carefully to determine what needed to be cut from where to make it work, which is exactly what I would have had to do.
The manager was a bit of an asshole. I was just standing there, watching, waiting for them to get to the rear speakers so I could make sure that what I had bought would fit and that I wouldn't have to pick out different speakers. It had been about an hour and they were still working, when the manager said to me, "Something I can do for you?".
"__Well, I've been standing here for an hour or more. Don't you think you should have asked sooner if you were really concerned?__" I thought. "No," I said.
"Well if you want to wait, can you wait in the store? We can't really have people hanging out in the shop."
I was standing at the desk, behind the roped off area, out of everyone's way. I didn't see why it was a problem, but, whatever. Eventually, since the shop was full, the guy went outside to work on my car and I went out there with him. The manager can't exactly kick me out of outside.
Now that it's all in, however, it sounds great. The highs are very crisp and you can hear every detail. The lows are a bit lacking since the speakers are a bit low, but a subwoofer will fix that real quick. Since Joel bought some new stuff for himself recently, he's giving me my MTX 10″ back along with the 150W amp that I gave him. Additionally, he's throwing in a crossover with dashmounted control to make it easier to adjust the levels while listening.
I'm very pleased with the outcome and, despite the fact that I didn't buy very expensive speakers, nor did I pay for a custom install to get all the speakers in places they should be, it sounds very good.
