Help with Prices in Quote

[Beauwatch]

We are trying to get a system set up in our house at an affordable price.
Here is a quote we got and would like some opinions.

Harman Kardom AVR 245 $650
Polk Audio RC651 in wall $250 pair
Polk Audio psw10 subwoofer $220
Cs2 Polk Audio center speaker $240
Jobsite six speaker selector $150
Volume Controls $180
6 outdoor speakers $600
Labor including wiring & Homi & fiber optic $730
Total with tax $3540

We don't want to spend this much. We called the guy and asked what kind of wiring he is using and it's pro connect. He couldn't remember the name of the speakers he was using for the outside speakers! Odd, I thought. Anyway, we really just want some nice music/radio to listen to while we are outside on our porches. We can do without all the speakers in the living room. Is this something we could do ourselves? Where do I begin. My husband is leaving this up to me so I would appreciate any help. Also, are the above prices reasonable? Thanks.

 

[InTheIndustry]

I am a custom A/V integrator and can tell you with 100% confidence that your quote is terrible.

Do not agree to these prices. They are almost all strictly at MSRP. We will charge customers MSRP, but usually include at least the labor for free (as long as nothing absurd needs done) and wire at cost for a complete system &/Or whole house audio system. You should get some break on the whole install somewhere. You can go to the local big box electronic shop and by simmilar equipment (which, to me, is kind of borring) and get it on sale, and get special financing, etc.

Quotes like this make me sick. What benefit is there going with a custom integrator if this is the equipment he recommends? Where is his "solution" for you? Where is the value his company provides to you? My advice: Dump him and get a few more quotes!

I would recommend having a professional do the work, but not the one you got the quote from. A good integrator is worth it.

Also,I would wire for surround sound for a family room or TV room for future options.

 

[Beauwatch]

We are not going to do business with this guy after reading your reply. Unfortunately, we live in a small town in NE TX far so our options are limited to what is available here.

We are in the process of building our home and we will go ahead and have it wired for sound. After seeing how the elecrician runs his wires, I thought how hard can it be to run our own speaker wires?

What if we just buy the speaker cables now and we could worry about the rest later when the house is done? Couldn't I buy 500 ft of class 2 - 12 gauge wire. I was trying to educate myself in the wire section of this website

We are going to have dish network/dvr. We have a bravia hdtv. DH said he doesn't want to skimp on quality with speakers or receiver. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

 

[jcPanny]

Custom Install

Plug a the speaker and receiver model numbers into pricegrabber.com to get an idea of more reasonable prices.
For example, about $350 for the HK receiver.

Also, the quality of the listed speakers and sub is not too great. You might consider researching and buying the speakers, sub and receiver and letting the installer run the wiring for you.

You could get a great system for $3k, but the prices and components listed are mediocre.

 

[RLA]

Plug a the speaker and receiver model numbers into pricegrabber.com to get an idea of more reasonable prices.
For example, about $350 for the HK receiver.

The price for the equipment may be a little high; we give our clients price breaks that are job dependant. You can’t seriously expect a custom installer to match internet pricing for the gear they sell. The labor cost looks very light considering the HDMI is included, pre-wire, install, termination, calibration and remote programming. There may be a lot of variables that we are not seeing on this install. How can you accurately say that a quote is out of line if you have not seen the job site? Custom installers and Industry insiders should know better, do you give quotes over the phone with out seeing the jobsite?

This may be a very un popular view but you may be taking one step backward. I would advise you to get three quotes and pick the installer that you feel most comfortable with. I wouldn’t dismiss this quote before getting others and meeting the competition.

 

[highfihoney]

The price for the equipment may be a little high; we give our clients price breaks that are job dependant. You can’t seriously expect a custom installer to match internet pricing for the gear they sell. The labor cost looks very light considering the HDMI is included, pre-wire, install, termination, calibration and remote programming. There may be a lot of variables that we are not seeing on this install. How can you accurately say that a quote is out of line if you have not seen the job site? Custom installers and Industry insiders should know better, do you give quotes over the phone with out seeing the jobsite?

This may be a very un popular view but you may be taking one step backward. I would advise you to get three quotes and pick the installer that you feel most comfortable with. I wouldn’t dismiss this quote before getting others and meeting the competition.

I cant even begin to tell you how much i agree with your post,im as cost consience as the next guy but after being in the construction industry for close to 25 years now i can say that anybody who attests one way or the other on this without either seing a set of blue prints or the job site & has all the variables in front of them is speaking out of turn.

 

[highfihoney]

We are in the process of building our home and we will go ahead and have it wired for sound. After seeing how the elecrician runs his wires, I thought how hard can it be to run our own speaker wires?

Hi,i wanted to raise a few points with you before you decide on a do it yourself job with your install,installing these wires isnt really a hard job but if your just looking briefly at what your electrician has done to base your judgement on you may want to stop & ask yourself if your truly qualified to do this,you may be asking for a heap of trouble that ends up costing you 10 times the amount of your install estimate.

1 How handy are you & your husband?

2 Have you & your husband done any other projects around the house like building a shed or a deck ect ?

3 Do you have all the tools needed to perform this install & if not have you priced these tools?

4 Do you really have the time to make this install happen in a timely manner that wont affect your builders schedule & do you have an idea of how long this is going to take.

5 Have you thought about your liability with your contractor in the event that you start on this project in your spare time & cant have it done in time before the drywallers are scheduled to start work,if you end up holding up one of the trades working on your home you can & most likely will be 'BACK CHARGED' for the down time the contractor experiences while waiting on you to finish.

I dont want to sound like the cloud of doom here but what you propose is a builders worst nightmare,ive seen many occasions where a home owner wants to do things their self in order to keep costs down without realizing that stuff needs to be done according to the builders schedule & not around the free time or personal lives of the home owner then once they start the project they realize that they dont have the right tools,not enough material or enough time to get it done before it interupts the builders schedule.

Be sure of what your doing before you start anything,talk to your contractor about this before you do anything & find out his thoughts,also be aware that normally there is a very small window between the time the wiring & plumbing are inspected & when the insulators & drywallers start work,this is the work where if you have these crews waiting on you there could be a hefty back charge added to your final bill.

 

[RLA]

Hello,
This link may help you determine if you have the skill level to DIY the pre-wire. If you don’t, at least you can look over the installers shoulder and make sure it is installed correctly. Damn now I have gone and made the installer community mad at me.
http://www.averagejoeavreviews.com/techtips/ray/0002prewire/techtip.htm

 

[Beauwatch]

Oh my goodness.... Now, I am overwhelmed and you all have pointed out a lot of things that we even considered.

We have decided not to do the install ourselves. Highfihoney made us realize a few things we hadn't thought about. Although, I sure was tempted after going to the averagejoe link. What a great wealth of info on the basic wiring!

It does make more sense to us not to pay retail for everything when we can buy it online for so much less. We will just hire someone for the installation and have the electrician do the prewire.

Now, I have to decide on the system to buy and there are so many to choose from. The $3K system recommended without the TV on the front page of the site? I have read so many reviews but it is all overwhelming. Everyone has a different opinion. There are just so many to from!

Can you recommend a receiver for $500 - $600 and some good speakers to go with it. We don't want a DVD or a CD player but is there a receiver that I could plug an MP3 player into?

Many Thanks To All Of You!

 

[sjsmithjr]

I'm curious; do you already have a CD and/or DVD player? What will you be doing with this system? The requirements for MP3 playback are a lot less stringent than a "knock your socks off" home theatre experience!

-Sam

 

[Beauwatch]

No, we don't have a dvd system or a cd player. We just rent pay per view if we ever want to watch a movie which is maybe once or twice a year if that.
For music, we listen to radio or the music channels off the tv. I have an mp3 player which is what I listen to mostly off the computer or my ipod.
I don't watch a lot of tv but my husband does and we spend so much time outdoors that we want 6 speakers set on our walk around porch and 2 more in the garage.

 

[sjsmithjr]

I see sez the blind man. What you want is referred to as whole house audio distribution, not home theater. By all means take a giant step backwards so you can spec what you want for estimates. Have you given any thought as to speaker placement (do you want them in the ceiling or in the walls) and where the headend (think about where you want the reciever) will be. Do you want a single zone (all speakers will play the same music at the same time) or a multizone (each set of speakers can play music from a different source). A single zone is the least expensive, by the way.

The big thing now is to figure out what you want so you can get the prewire done. Are there any other installers in your area?

-Sam