Joined
·
191 Posts
I know a great deal of car stereo buffs rely on Crutchfield's fitment guide. Living less than an hour's drive from the headquarters, it's been fun over the years watching the company grow from a meager car stereo mail order firm to a highly respected and reputable electronics dealer.
With the zillions of car models out there and the ever-changing world of car audio, it must be no small feat to maintain such an impressive fitment database. With such a daunting task, would you think that errors may exist? You betcha. Sadly, Crutchfield is so confident of their data collection ability, that error disclaimers are few and far between, and this needs to be changed.
I expect that Crutchfield would reply to this criticism by saying that their fitment guide would err on the side of caution, and display a conservative result to one's query. This practice reduces the number of dissatisfied customers whose selections did not fit their car, however, it also greatly reduces the number of choices that truly fit. I think that when they're not sure if a piece of gear fits in a particular car, they just say that it doesn't fit. This "better be safe than sorry" attitude may have even persuaded customers to settle for gear they may not be happy with.
Case in point. I simply wanted to upgrade the stock 6x8s in my Mustang, as I believe the stock speakers are pure crapola. Using Crutchfield's vaunted database, only three or four 6x8s were shown to fit. Now, I have been an Infinity car speaker fan for many years, and especially the Kappa series. The Kappas fit in the deck of our Mustang, but Crutchfield had no Infinity speakers that fit the door. Oddly, the 6812cf Reference speaker fit, but has been discontinued in favor of the new 6822cf, which is exactly the same size. Only some of the components within the speaker have been changed; it uses the same frame as the 6812, yet Crutchfield said the 6822 wouldn't work.
Now, on the Infinity site, they claimed that not only the 6822 but the Kappa 6x8 would fit in the door! Smartly, Infinity included a disclaimer on the page indicating that they wouldn't guarantee proper fitment, but that it should fit.
I took the chance, and ordered a pair of 6822s for the door, and Kappas for the deck. I also decided to get a local stereo installer to do the work, as they have the tools and the skills. They charged me $25 per pair to install. When he removed the speaker from the door, we discovered that even the Kappas would easily fit! Now I was ticked off, as I wish I had purchased four Kappas, but I let him finish the install anyway. And rather than be ticked, I am tickled at how good the rig sounds!
The Shaker 500 is no elegant, superexpensive car stereo, but with a decent set of speakers, it performs admirably. Personally, with so much excitement under the hood, I don't see much of a reason to break the bank with audio gear for this car, but the stock speakers are just plain crap. The difference between the stock speakers and the Infinitys is simply amazing.
Thinking about getting new gear for your Mustang, or any other car? Get multiple opinions and don't rely on Crutchfield as gospel, as I once did!
With the zillions of car models out there and the ever-changing world of car audio, it must be no small feat to maintain such an impressive fitment database. With such a daunting task, would you think that errors may exist? You betcha. Sadly, Crutchfield is so confident of their data collection ability, that error disclaimers are few and far between, and this needs to be changed.
I expect that Crutchfield would reply to this criticism by saying that their fitment guide would err on the side of caution, and display a conservative result to one's query. This practice reduces the number of dissatisfied customers whose selections did not fit their car, however, it also greatly reduces the number of choices that truly fit. I think that when they're not sure if a piece of gear fits in a particular car, they just say that it doesn't fit. This "better be safe than sorry" attitude may have even persuaded customers to settle for gear they may not be happy with.
Case in point. I simply wanted to upgrade the stock 6x8s in my Mustang, as I believe the stock speakers are pure crapola. Using Crutchfield's vaunted database, only three or four 6x8s were shown to fit. Now, I have been an Infinity car speaker fan for many years, and especially the Kappa series. The Kappas fit in the deck of our Mustang, but Crutchfield had no Infinity speakers that fit the door. Oddly, the 6812cf Reference speaker fit, but has been discontinued in favor of the new 6822cf, which is exactly the same size. Only some of the components within the speaker have been changed; it uses the same frame as the 6812, yet Crutchfield said the 6822 wouldn't work.
Now, on the Infinity site, they claimed that not only the 6822 but the Kappa 6x8 would fit in the door! Smartly, Infinity included a disclaimer on the page indicating that they wouldn't guarantee proper fitment, but that it should fit.
I took the chance, and ordered a pair of 6822s for the door, and Kappas for the deck. I also decided to get a local stereo installer to do the work, as they have the tools and the skills. They charged me $25 per pair to install. When he removed the speaker from the door, we discovered that even the Kappas would easily fit! Now I was ticked off, as I wish I had purchased four Kappas, but I let him finish the install anyway. And rather than be ticked, I am tickled at how good the rig sounds!
The Shaker 500 is no elegant, superexpensive car stereo, but with a decent set of speakers, it performs admirably. Personally, with so much excitement under the hood, I don't see much of a reason to break the bank with audio gear for this car, but the stock speakers are just plain crap. The difference between the stock speakers and the Infinitys is simply amazing.
Thinking about getting new gear for your Mustang, or any other car? Get multiple opinions and don't rely on Crutchfield as gospel, as I once did!
