Car Audio Continues

We went over to Best Buy to take the plunge and get a car stereo. We learned that we could get it done and out the door for about $100. Sure, it’s not an absolute necessity, but it’s nice to have with the kids, and if anything, it makes the car more complete and perhaps valuable (yeah, right) if we ever wanted to trade it in.

I was looking at the choices and decided on a certain system, which also, if you can believe this, happened to be the cheapest one. For the record, I would have opted for an even less expensive one if they carried it, but they didn’t. I wasn’t looking for anything special, just something for music.

When I went to buy the thing, they had another stereo on sale, which was a bit nicer, at least to me. It was the same price, so I opted for that, but when the salesperson went to get it, lo and behold, they were out of stock. However, it was my lucky day because they had the next model up, which of course was more expensive. I thought, “You gotta be kidding me.” She showed me a couple of other options, but I told her I wasn’t looking for anything even remotely fancy, just a radio. I’m sure I’m the kind of customer that they hate, not into bells and whistles and completely unwilling to upgrade, even if it’s a good deal.

I asked for a rain check, which it turns out they don’t do, but I could buy it online or go up front and order it there. They don’t make it easy on you. And, this could be my neurotic insecurity, but they didn’t seem as warm and fuzzy when I went up front and ordered it. When it comes to high tech electrical stuff, being cheap doesn’t mesh because you can drop loads of cash at these places.

Anyway, the stereo was going to come later in the week, after the initial install appointment that I’d made, so I had to reschedule. I also had to get the right wiring, as well as an adapter harness since the stock stereo is such an unusual shape. It’s the same way for our Fit. The guy in the install department said he never rarely uses these things, which made me think that when people buy cars, they don’t go with the stock stereos. They’re too cheap and funny looking. People want nice, brand name stuff, and are willing to go in debt to get it. Such is the American Way.

In the end, I got the stuff I needed, and I’m slated to get the stereo installed this weekend. If all things go as planned, which they never do, we could very well have music in the car by Saturday. We’ll see.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Vince Varga for the pic.