My Smart (sound system) will blow your mind! (part 1 of 2)

[herov]

Yep, I did it. I planned ahead. The Smart is so economical that many or most of us just get every option. But I knew that although the upgrade in radio and extra speakers was easy and factory installed, I wanted more. I had always flirted with doing after market radio upgrades in previous cars but never got it together enough to pull the trigger. But being in my mid 40’s and having owned 12 different cars in my lifetime, (long story, don’t ask,) I was hoping that the Smart would be the last car I would buy for a long time. Maybe the last car brand I might own. So when it came time to configure I got every option but the radio upgrade. Man, am I glad I didn’t. Here’s what I did.

I was procrastinating researching the after market radio scene. I knew that there were Ipod, and dash top GPS, and satellite upgrade options galore, Alpine, Tom-Tom, and Pioneer just to name a few… But I was going to get around to it. Ah, fate then steps in. I’m driving up La Cienega, heading north just approaching Santa Monica blvd in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, when just to the right of me a I see an Al & Ed’s auto sound.

They’re a reputable chain everyone knows them, right? But what really caught my eye, was… A beautiful yellow Smart 451! I could tell even at cursing speed that this was a custom show car of some caliber. How? The first clue was the awesome powdered coated black with yellow highlights rims that the car was sporting. Sweet.

So, knowing that it had some time to kill before the wife calls with her daily, “where are you, honey?” I pulled in to scope it out. Best impulse pit stop I’ve made to date.

Upon walking in I was greeted by a man, of say mid 30s. He was very pleasant and immediately greeted me and asked if there was anything he could do to help me. I said, “yeah, what’s the story on that yellow smart out there?” Sensing a kindred smart sprit he said, “why don’t I show you the car?’ So moments later we end up sitting in this fully custom Smart show car.

Everything in this bad boy was custom, yellow leather seat inserts with leather accents on the dash, and doors. Custom hand made floor mats, and the SOUND SYSTEM! Wow, can you say, Pimp my smart? They can!

I at this point I say, “I got my White and Black Smart and I’m in the market for a sound system that will take my driving experience to the next level.” The gentleman, Elie whom I later find out is the owner of this Al & Ed’s, (a pretty hands on owner, which in this town and day and age is a rare thing, I can assure you), Says, “Well, tell me what you want to accomplish and I’ll help you put together a package that will best suits your needs.

We then spent a few moments going over my wish list. I wanted a display, that would be fixed in dash, not the pop-out and extend / retractable type that could potentially end up covering my air vents. (At 6’ 1” and 230lbs I need me some air-con!) I wanted GPS. I wanted a killer speaker set up. Let’s face it the ones that come stock, albeit thrifty and economical, ultimately keeping our purchase price down, suck. I work in the entertainment industry and I spend hours a day sometimes on sound stages listening to audio, music, and sound mixes, coming through multi-million dollar studio equipment, so I know the good sound when I hear it. I wanted integrated Bluetooth cell calling for my iphone, we’ve got a hands free law that’s about to kick in here in LA in July. I wanted the best damn sound I could afford. Truthfully, money was an object. I was working on a budget but still wanted to achieve a mind-blowing sound. In L.A. with all the traffic and cross town commutes we some times live and literally have to work out of our cars so we have a lot of driving stress. In my opinion great fidelity and being able to make a hands free crystal clear Bluetooth call is a not only a convenience but soon to be a necessary fact of life.

Elie, listen to all my desires and then we went back into the store. He told me about his different SMART car sound packages, he actually being a SMART lover too, has devised “levels” of Smart upgrade packages for people with different budgetary needs.

I quickly honed in on his Smart level one plus a back up camera. This package consisted of.

Pioneer AVICD3 double din touch-screen navigation with AM/FM, CD, DVD custom mounted in the dash. Bluetooth hands free, ipod/ipod video control, sirius radio, back up camera all added and controlled from the screen.

Alpine PDX4150 digital amplifier with 4 channels and 600 watts total mounted under passenger seat.

Focal 165A1 Access 6.5" component speakers custom mounted in the front doors.

Pioneer TSSW841D Premier 8" shallow subwoofer custom molded/mounted in driver side panel of cargo area.

The whole system is wired with Monster Cable throughout the car

I was worried about the quality of the Bluetooth, cell phone integration component. Anyone who is a Mac fanatic and iphone user knows that Bluetooth is not always the cleanest best connection. Plus, I can’t do the Star Trek earwig thing. I see guys like that with the Bluetooth earpiece in their ear all day long walking around and it makes me laugh. No offense, to each his own, but really they look kind of off to me.

Elie still in help mode says, “Hey, my other Smart has the wireless option installed. You want to test it?” I’m like, “Excuse me, your, other smart? You got two?” Can I have a moment while I recover? He’s got two smarts?! Not to mention Ferrari’s and Porches and other top end cars sting at his shop. The guy works on the cream of the crop.

He says, “no problem” and asks one of his guys to popover to where he does his window tinting and bring back his White cabrio. I find out then and there besides stereos Elie’s shop does everything you could ever imagine, from leather, floor mats, custom forming of interior components for speaker integration, (more on that later). "Sure," I say, "if it’s no problem." Elie smiles and makes it happen.

No more than 7 min later now I’m sitting in his other smart a 451 white cab convertible. This car is super clean in and out. Just not in a, “Pimp my ride super show car crazy let the imagination run wild no limits tricked out”, as his award winning yellow is. But don’t get me wrong this car is no slouch and is still chock full of all the bells and whistles that “non-pimp’ing” old white guys like me would droll over. He pulls out his blackberry curve and steps out the car. “I’ll call you,” he says. Moments later the Pioneer screen mutes the kicking sound I’m listening to and a phone ring happens. I push the answer button on the screen and there is an instant connection. If I told you it sounded BETTER than my home land-line on speaker, it'd be the honest truth. It was amazing. Crystal clear. No fuzz no buzz no delay.

That was it. Customer service, kicking components, integration and customization for a flawless factory finished look? He had me at, Focal speakers!

I being the every cautious buyer have one more request. What would my iphone sound like through this Pioneer system? He assures me it would be just as clear. Seeing my hesitation, he tells me to wait a moment and disappears back into the store. He comes back out with his own Iphone, (should have guessed he have one.) We redo the test and its’ sound perfect. That’s it, I’m done. Sold.

So we then head in side to select the package. There was absolutely no pressure to get more than I wanted. He presented various options gave his learned advice and deferred to my wants and wallet. Perfect deal. He even gave me a much-appreciated competitive price. Which I later confirmed was very competitive checking it out against other shops and online. So we set it up for Monday. He said the he’d need the car for two days, what with all the custom forming and installation time needed. He offered a free rental car? I respectful declined as he had done me right on the demo and price and I have a second car. No need to waste his money or my time, right?

I left a deposit and took off. Man was I excited. Just what the doctor ordered for driving in LA, a kick-ass, all-in-one system for my new favorite Car.

I returned on Monday and dropped off the car. Elie was there just like I guessed he’d be. He at that point turned me over to Max one of his top guys. Max made sure I was still completely comfortable with all I had picked and after taking my keys and turning them over to one of his installers he offered to run me back home.

The next two days did not fly by. I wanted Wednesday to come quick. I continued to look around on the net. Making sure that the deal I got wasn’t to good to be true. It wasn’t. I did well. Elie really took car of me.

I couldn’t help myself I had to stop by Tuesday just to see what was going on. I brought my camera hoping that they would allow me to cross over the yellow plastic chain that keeps people like me away from the power tools and sharp objects. No problem. My baby’s there and I grabbed some pictures and imposed on my guru installer fabricator to shoot me sitting in my half finished car. (They had another SMART a red coupe that they were also working on. The place is SMART Mecca!

[herov]

They actually do the fiberglass hand forming right on site. Amazing. Hand made, (crafted), in America!


Pics in the gallery under my name, (herov)

Feeling good about what I’m seeing I take off.


Wed rolls around. And the car was ready a 1/2 hour before the promised time. I show up, (the wife drops me off). And there she is.

I’m telling you. She looked perfect. We pop in for a walk through of the basic function, and for a listen. Wow.

I put on Sirius. Banging. Amazing sound. Crisp & clear. I really could say that it was the best car stereo set up I’d ever heard. There seemed to be no end to the top. Not that I listen SUPER loud, (let’s all remember Pete Townsend’s deaf… Long live Rock and roll!) But for a moment I crank it. WOW. It was like being in the studio. Those Focals, the combination of the new indoor speakers and tweeters… Amazing.

I plug in the ipod to sample what my digital music would sound like. Pink Floyd’s have a cigar. How many ways can I say, “Wow”? The system and its ability to achieve separation, so that all the instruments are featured, as they were intended in the mix, is truly mind blowing. Anybody remember that Seinfeld episode? You know that first time you get to fly first class? You know that there’s no going back to coach. But I digress.

And now for the next test. We get out on the road. As soon as I put her in reverse the back up camera kicks into play. Wow, I can see everything. It’s a great wide angle, slightly fish-eye perspective. Awesome.

And the final test. The Bluetooth iphone. It's here that I had my first heart-in-throat, pause.

My iphone connected. But there was awful static. I mean it was pure ****e. Wow, Talk about a crash. I was instantly bummed. We immediately went back to the shop and Elie was there, (does the guy ever leave?) He listens and we begin testing. I’m instantly in that, “it was too good to be true” downward spiral. I now expect that I will get the, "it’s not us" and then the finger pointing will begin. Not so. Never fear Elie was there.

He tests other phones with my car. A couple of the shop guys loan us their phones we do a quick paring and, they all work. He then sends me out to use his iphone. So, we take my car back out and use his iphone. I make about 4 or 5 test calls and his iphone worked as perfect as his blackberry did. Although my iphone shows no outer damage, I realize that maybe some of my recent drops of the ol’ Iphone might have screwed with my Bluetooth or internal hardware. (In fact later I went to my local Apple store and they confirmed my iphone had Bluetooth hardware problems, thanks to apple-care, I got a new replacement, no charge!)

So feeling like the problem is with my phone I pay the balance thank all the guys and get on my way. Oh, one other thing. My car wasn’t clean when I brought it in and dropped it off for the install. So I’m not expecting them to clean up my dirty car, anyway. But get this, Elie asks me to forgive him as his car detailer had a family emergency and couldn’t come in that day. He asks if I wouldn’t mind if he had me come back tomorrow for a free detailing. Take about 20min, he says. I say, “that is really not necessary,” but he insists. Can you believe this guy? I aqueous. So, I bring that car back then next morning and just like he promised the car is completely detailed in 20min flat. The man knows his clock.

What else can I say? I really got the kings treatment and felt compelled to post. It’s not often you find people who understand true customer service and satisfaction. And let me tell you, years ago, I went into another Al & Ed’s down by the beach. Just window-shopping for my last ride a Toyota Land Cruiser. The guy in there was such a major un-helpful jackhole, that I walked out. About year after that, I drifted back in there having forgotten about the last time. Unfortunately, the guy was still there and again could not care less. So take it from me. Not all A&E’s are created equal. At least that’s my experience.

I wanted to say in closing I’ve had the system now about 2 weeks and 1/2. And it never fails to surprise or delight me. I haven’t even gotten into the all the custom eq settings, and other presets. I’m just having too much fun driving and listening. Some weekend soon I’ll break out the manual and dive deep into the custom of it all.

Many thanks to Elie, Max, and all the peeps at Al & Ed’s West Hollywood. Those guys blew my mind. Believe it or not living in this town for last 30+ years I’m not easily impressed. But sometimes it’s the little things in life that bring the greatest joy. And speaking of little things, my Smart and it’s new sound system = pure joy.

[geosynch]

I'm in the market for something similar. You've done such a nice job selling Elie at Al & Ed’s, I may just drive down from San Francisco to have them do it up right.

geosynch

[herov]

Bro,

come on down and I'll swing by the Al & Eds to say hi and let you check out my ride.


Once I figure out how to embed images I'll add them to the post but check out "my gallery" for some pics. Just picked up my kid from her friend house, had the windows down and the stereo blasting! Awesome!

[ShaneXman]

Originally Posted by herov

Bro,

come on down and I'll swing by the Al & Eds to say hi and let you check out my ride.


Once I figure out how to embed images I'll add them to the post but check out "my gallery" for some pics. Just picked up my kid from her friend house, had the windows down and the stereo blasting! Awesome!

Looks like what these guys have...

Link: eBay Store - 4smartCar: Audio Upgrades, Exterior upgrades, Interior upgrades

Nicely done nonetheless. What did it end up costing you once everything was said and done if you don't mind me asking. Thanks!

[crnacnac]

Did Al and Ed's make your sub enclosure or buy it?

Maybe the owner of that Al and Ed's is "4smartCar.com"

Where is the PDX-4.150 mounted?

I'm in the middle of installing a very similiar system.

[jwight]

Photo's of Al & Ed's yellow smart: Al & Ed's smart fortwo - Smart Car of America Gallery

[omendt]

Looks great - it is impressive enough that I may "steal" your set-up myself

[delamorajc]

Thanks for the detailed post your system looks great! Wish I knew the price as a reference point so I did a little research and the cost for the system came in at around $1650 add in cable and custom sub box and installation probably came in complete at $2000-$2400 bucks would be my best guess.

[crnacnac]

I'd like to hear how that woofer sounds.