Advanced Audio — Attraction in Gulfport

I went to Advanced Audio today to have a subwoofer put in my 2021Conversion Van. This was pre-planned and I had gone to the store to show the equipment we were going to put in and I tried to make an appointment but they are first come first serve. I showed up today May 18th 2021 approximately 9:15 to have my subwoofer put in. After installation I went out to check the work. I have a 2021 conversion van brand new, $72,000 and the installer put a hole in my carpet between the two front seats and he lied to me telling me it was a seat belt hole. It was impossible for it to be a seatbelt hole because I had the van custom built. That was a brand new carpet on that floor. The Integrity of the installer is questioned because he lied. Then the wire came up out of the hole from the center floor which there is no console. If I can post a picture here I will show you what this installer did. I asked him why is the wire in the middle of the two seats. We go to the back of the conversion van to Camp? He said you never told me you wanted to do that. If the picture is posted look at the picture. This was a professional installer at Advanced Audio that pulled this wire right up to the center of the carpet. COMMON SENSE! He said what do you want me to do so I explained to him what to do is to get that wire back under the carpet and to fish it over to the fuse box bring, it up under the seat and then out and then we can tie the the wire up with a wire tie into the seat. With an attitude he did it and then he began to almost drill another hole in my seat and I had to remind him that this is not a Volkswagen Beetle from the 1960s this is a brand new custom-made conversion van that he's treating like a piece of Styrofoam. So after he did his work of putting the wire back under the rug my gain switch for my subwoofer light does not work and now the owner asked me if I was sure if it worked when I brought it in. It worked before the installer had to reroute the wire and now it doesn't work. The owner said there is nothing he can do. $275 and this is the worst installation I have ever experienced. I have been dealing with custom vans all of my life and I am high-tech into audio custom work. Because of my age I don't do the work anymore. I do not recommend this place for any type of custom work for your vehicle, especially if you have a high end vehicle and you want precision work. If pictures are posted you will see why. I am not angry and this is not to trash this business this is to show you in real life what they did charged me top dollar for equipment I brought in and then told me there was nothing they could do for me. Shop around before you go here. BTW, initial estimate was $200 and they charged me $275 and the owner shrugged his shoulders. They also overcharged me. And in conclusion, the subwoofer was just put under the seat and the screws set in holes as if they screwed it to the floor. The subwoofer is freewheeling under my seat....

Advanced audio is a scam, and they took advantage of me. I took my car there because my two right speakers or not working. I told them this, and they recommended that I replace all of the speakers in the car due to the fact that the two right speakers had gone out, and the left probably “wouldn’t be far behind them.” I agreed thinking they would properly diagnose the problem and would replace the speakers. A few hours later I got my car back and I tested them by turning on the radio, and everything seemed to be working okay. However, the next day when I plugged in my phone through my auxiliary jack, I heard that the two right speakers weren't working again... this is when I realized that the issue all along was the auxiliary cord, and the right channel path had been broken in the actual cable, not in my car.

Now would be a good time to mention that I am an audio engineer, and I know loads about what speakers should sound like. I began to test the new speakers (the new ones had to be better than the old ones anyway, right?), and they sounded AWFUL. They are extremely mid-heavy, and have absolutely NO bass whatsoever. My stock speakers that came with my car were absolutely superior.

This is when I became angry.

I called them and told them that the issue was the auxiliary cable all along, and asked if they even bothered to do a diagnostic check to see what the issue was, before they replaced the entire set of speakers, to which the man said "Ma'am, you told us to replace the speakers, and that's what we did. I don't see the problem." I told them when I came in the store that I had an issue with my two right speakers, and they recommended that I do that based on my issue. They never even bothered to check the speakers before replacing them (completely unprofessional), and then when they were caught being careless, blamed it on me. Then, when I confronted them about the quality of the speakers they installed, the man said "there are no stock speakers that are better than after-market speakers," which is completely false. I can personally guarantee that these new speakers they installed are GARBAGE, and if not, all of my years of training as a professional audio engineer are completely useless. When I asked for my old speaker components back, they said "Your speakers are gone, honey." I am absolutely furious with my experience here, and they have lost a whole family of customers. I'm writing this review to reach as many people as I can, before you give them your hard-earned money to receive crappy parts and terrible service.

In conclusion, these people do NOT do their jobs, they WILL take advantage of you, and you should NEVER GIVE THEM YOUR BUSINESS.

TL;DR: This business is run by people who will take advantage of you, give you crappy audio parts, and run...

COME TALK TO THEM BEFORE ORDERING ONLINE!

I recently moved back to the coast after being gone for a decade or so. I needed some car audio work done and started shopping around. Went to Empress and it seemed like they weren't interested in helping me, so I went to Advanced. Talked with both Mike and the installer for a while going over what I was looking to do and were very helpful even though I wasn't making a purchase, just getting a quote for some labor. They installed an amplifier, headunit, and components in my car for a very reasonable rate. I had a minor issue with the headunit that had nothing to do with Advanced (turned out to be a faulty headunit) and they still helped me figure out what was the issue. Great experience all the way.

A bit later my girlfriend needed some car audio work done on her car. She didn't go to Advanced because she "knew someone." She was disappointed right away. Then her amp was having an issue, so of course she ended up at Advanced. They let us know her amplifier was faulty, we talked a bit about her options, and we ended up buying another amplifier from Advanced and they put it in, tuned it, then the installer went over everything with my girlfriend. The amplifier placement was well thought out for easy access with tuning and everything was perfect.

I normally buy everything under the sun online to save money. I talked to Mike about this when I went in and told him I would rather pay a little bit more and support a local business. He understood and gave me a fair price on the amplifier. Before you order from Amazon or eBay, go down to Advanced Audio and at least give a local business a chance. Their customer service...