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La Jolla Audio
Category: Automotive Car Stereo Installation Car Stereo Installation [Edit]
5161 Santa Fe StSte A
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 581-6545
Announcement
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- Hours:
Mon-Fri 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
16 reviews for La Jolla Audio
16 reviews in English
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Review from David B.
Encinitas, CA
2/9/2012
Used them for the first time this week and my car has never sounded so good. I drive a 911 which since I bought it (3rd party) has had a non-functional sub-woofer, no am radio and a reverse camera that has to be manually engaged. In 2 hours they fixed everything and now the sound system rocks! I even get rear-video when I go into reverse (what a concept). Thanks guys, and thanks for the free wi-fi so I could work while I waited!
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Review from Joseph B.
San Diego, CA
1/24/2012 1 Check-in Here
Stopped by here today to ask about some upgrade options for my vehicle. The staff was very informative and spent a lot of time explaining different types of speakers and amps possible for my vehicle.
I would definitely recommend giving them a chance to earn your business. -
Review from Brigette Z.
San Diego, CA
12/30/2010
So I first joined Yelp in May 2008 because I'm a business owner, and Yelp scared the heck out of me. I wanted to learn more about its power. I do understand the value of both excellent and lousy reviews to a business so I choose my stars very carefully ... a bad review can destroy a business and I don't want the responsibility of a 1-star review coming back to haunt me in the form of a business closing. Likewise, if someone were to give my business a bad review, I would hope they would allow me the opportunity to make it right.
Anyway, 99 reviews later (and only five 1-star reviews), I have found myself waiting for the perfect spot to review for the Big 1-0-0 and I've found it at La Jolla Audio. These guys are the absolute top of the line in everything they do. When we had a problem with our vehicle's battery draining due to a bad iPod hookup in January 2009, La Jolla Audio was the only place in town that had any idea what was happening. Seriously, we had taken it to the dealership and two other supposed "car audio" specialists and no one could figure it out. La Jolla Audio had it back to us on the same day and at a very reasonable charge. The service by Donald was top notch ... really, a wonderfully helpful guy. I only wish that the first owner of the vehicle had these guys do the iPod hookup. We wouldn't have had these problems in the first place.
Fast forward to today ... yet another problem that the dealership can't fix, this time with a backing camera. Who do they tell us to call? Yep, La Jolla Audio. So we're thinking that's bad news because it's 1:00pm on the next to last day of 2010 and they won't be open, right, and they won't even give us the time of day because they're in the holiday mind-set like everyone else out there? Nope, not these guys. Scott the owner took care of us right away, had a tech determine the problem, and promised it back to us within just a few hours for a very reasonable fee. How can you beat that? They have completely bailed us out twice with no up-charges just for being good at what they do. I cannot recommend them highly enough and neither can everyone else in town ... they are the go-to place for any and every vehicle audio need.
And one more thing, getting back to the business owner thing: I appreciate their being pro-active on a bad review in trying to make it right. That right there, my friends, is the true measure of a business. Bravo, La Jolla Audio! -
Review from Andy M.
San Diego, CA
9/11/2011
One of the best and honest shops in town. They did some alarm work for me and went the extra mile to help diagnose other problems with my car which they did not charge me for. Excellent service -- highly recommended.
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Review from Kimberly S.
San Diego, CA
8/23/2011
By far the best car experience I have ever had!! Joel Allen at La Jolla Audio responded to all my emails quickly and really knew what I was looking for. When I went in to get a quote e showed us around the shop and told us what they were doing to all the awesome cars they had there. My poor jeep felt poor next to all the Mercedes that were in there haha!! I dropped my car off the night before it was supposed to be worked on and they were so friendly and professional. While my car was being worked on, Joel kept me up to date and even ended up replacing my stereo for under what he had quoted me!!! PLUS they washed my car for me!! Wtf??!! Is was everything short of a back massage to get my car serviced at La Jolla Audio. Two thumbs up and five full stars for these guys :) I will definitely go back to them any time I need something done on my car.
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Review from Ashkaan H.
San Diego, CA
12/27/2010
High Quality and Great Service sum up La Jolla Audio.
I recently bought a used car with the factory radio still intact. Missing the features my old car had (large screen navigation and blue-tooth), I decided to shop around for an audio shop to install them in the new (to me) car. After shopping around for the "right price", I had almost settled on a small shop in Clairemont that was very inexpensive. Having only one shop left to check out, based on a street racer's recommendation, I stopped by La Jolla Audio for an estimate.
I was quickly greeted by the owner Scott and given a tour of the garage. This was certainly the most unusual and unexpected tour, as I found myself in a room with the most expensive vehicles I could conceive of. Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche.. you name it! They were installing equipment in these vehicles I had never even heard of. It slowly became apparent to me why the wealthiest people in San Diego seem to be bringing their cars here.
As Scott gave me the tour, he explained to me some of the important things audiophiles listen for to find out how well a car audio system was installed. Engine noise, wire hum, etc. NONE of the other shops I went to ever mentioned any of these. In fact, afterward, I even tested two other shops on the info I learned and neither knew what I was talking about. I sidestepped a landmine going elsewhere and the possibility of wasting money. I called Scott the next day.
I didn't know which system to go with and I had some very specific requirements, so I was referred to the expert, Donald. Friendly and patient, Donald help me test out the particular features I was looking and let me hook up my equipment to their head units to make sure I could get what I wanted. Once set on the equipment I wanted, I noted to Donald that because this is a used car, I could really use a detailing. He gave me a great deal on that since I was having the radio installed.
The result? I felt like I had just received a brand new car. The detailing was ridiculous and the radio was installed to look completely flush and stock. In fact, my car had an odd shaped stock radio, so they had to create a custom plate of material (which perfectly matched) to fit the new radio. Also, my car has a power antenna that comes up when the radio is on, but the head unit I wanted is ALWAYS ON even when the radio portion is turned off. This would be a problem in automatic car washes. Realizing this potential problem during the installation, Donald called me to ask if it was okay for him to install a little switch to manually override this for free.
The quality of the install and detailing was evident and service exceptional. Donald even called me weeks after the install to ask how everything was! After my experience, my friends and I will never go anywhere else for anything car audio related. The grand total wasn't cheap, but it was one hell of a bargain!
Thanks La Jolla Audio! -
Review from Christine B.
San Diego, CA
5/14/2010
I hear these people know their audio, but they boogered up the job so many times I have no idea if that's true. Also, their customer service is a train wreck.
They kept forgetting that the car was there for _satellite_ radio. It took several days and repeated calls to get the correct work completed. I'm not sure why they kept doing things other than install _satellite_ radio, but they did. It took an extra few days while they did the wrong work. When we got the car back the satellite radio still didn't work. They had forgotten to complete some of the final steps and which we did ourselves.
The other thing is their method of calling people is rude. They have the assistant call and then ask you to hold while they find the person who needs to speak to you. Sometimes it's only a minute, but several times it was more than 5 minutes. I'm the customer. It's not okay to call me and then expect me to hold for 5 minutes while you (sort of) get your act together. Call me when you're ready to speak to me.
Premium price for service that's below Best Buy quality.Comment from Joel A. of La Jolla Audio 6/17/2010
I have sent a private message to Christine in an effort to… More » -
Review from Chris G.
San Diego, CA
8/15/2008
I currently drive a mid-1990's Mercedes and this is now the only shop where I will get audio/electronic work done on it. After some less-than-stellar experiences with other so-called German car audio specialists, I finally came to LJ Audio. Service here is friendly, ultra-knowledgeable, and is always willing to take on an engineering challenge.
The folks here were able to reverse engineer an aux-in jack for a factory radio that supposedly wasn't able to accept it. When there were issues with the jack losing power intermittently, they figured out a workaround that was simple and did not mess with the interior look of the vehicle. They considered the additional labor & minor parts as a complimentary warranty service.
Many thanks to LJ Audio for their great work on my car! -
Review from Marcus S.
San Diego, CA
4/3/2010
Shane Nguyen, owner of EuroAutoSpot, turned me onto La Jolla Audio years ago.
Scott and the gang installed a nice stereo system into my BMW 5 series (a show car at the time). The work was high quality -- as high quality as it gets.
La Jolla Audio charges premium prices, but it also provides premium service and knowledge. You get what you pay for.
When it's time to put some ICE into my next project, I know where I'll be going for the equipment and install: LJA. -
Review from Nick T.
San Diego, CA
11/21/2007
Absolutely the best place to go for quality car audio and electronics. I worked here back in my college days and it truly was an experience.
This is where I had the opportunity to work on some serious vehicles. I'm talking Ferraris, Lambos, Porsches, etc etc.
Their labor prices are expensive but the quality and workmanship is worth it. You cant go wrong with this place. -
Review from Paul T.
San Diego, CA
9/19/2009
This company is a prime example of "you get what you pay for"
Donald & the rest of the staff are true professionals.
You may be paying a premium price for their services, but if you want it done right this is the place! -
Review from Matt E.
San Diego, CA
11/23/2010
Had these guys do navigation, and headrest monitors as well as Sirius radio and backup camera. They did an incredible job, customer service was excellent and they delivered the work on time and on budget. I would recommend without hesitation.
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Review from Ali A.
San Diego, CA
11/18/2010
Simply outstanding service and the highest quality of work.
Having lived in NYC, L.A. and now SD, I have a great deal of experience with after market audio equipment for my cars.
La Jolla audio is bar none the finest establishment I have visited. Theyre facilities are top notch and their attention to detail is nothing short of extraordinary. Everyone is exceedingly friendly and makes you feel like a valued customer.
Joel is the friendliest and most honest sales professional I have met in this field. He treated my car exactly like his own, promptly kept in touch with me regarding all of my progress and arranged my detailing anf clearbra services with precise coordination. Did not skip a beat.
I could not give them a higher or better recommendation.
I would recommend them only if:
1) You want the absolute highest quality of service avaialable anywhere
2) You want to be treated like a valued customer
3) You actually care about your vehicle.
Excellent job all around and I will be coming back for years to come. -
Review from john l.
San Diego, CA
7/10/2009
I used to compete in IASCA in Southern California in the '90's, and at that time owner Scott Cairncross helped me with a lot of technical assistance and was able to get specialty equipment nobody else had. His professional attitude and love for automobiles and audio in general were impressive and his whole staff shared these positive attributes- while many businesses have a few shining stars and a few more dogs who treat work like drudgery and the work on your vehicle might depend on the luck of the draw- often making reviews like this pointless if the dog gets your ride the day you take it in- over the years I never saw anyone in the building who didn't know 100% what he was doing and loved to be doing it there.
Tony Robbins sent all his cars there for upgrades when he lived in Del Mar, and when he bought an Island off Fiji in the South Pacific and his speedboat needed equipment put in, he crates it up and sent it to Scott and the staff at LJA.
However you don't need to be a multimillionaire motivational speaker to get their attention. They don't have a huge multi-soundroom showroom, though there are plenty of head units and other things to choose from on display. If you have an idea what you want, express that to them and their years of experience will impress you with the intuitive ability to create it and even expand your ideas into things better than you thought possible. It's not like a head unit and four speakers you cart out from Walmart, or like the old DOW where you heard Tom Campbell promise you an unreal price at 800 words a minute, and you got there and they switched you to a higher priced unit then the installers charged hundreds to drive screws into your walnut burl dash, or misfire your airbag- this is the place you go when you have a nice ride and you want the best pros in town doing the job right at an honest price.
Thanks for your help, Scott. The a/d/s p840 still rocks!
John (black Corvette) -
Review from Bill A.
San Diego, CA
12/9/2009
La Jolla Audio was originally recommended by a local dealer...installed a CD changer and hard wired a radar detector and built a custom mount that fit it perfectly. Then they did the same for my second and third cars as well....then recently just installed a radar detector on my motorcycle. I have had several experiences with them over the last five years. Each time the quality and service have been excellent. I would highly recommend them. Scott is great to deal with...very professional and knowledgeable.
I highly recommend them and will be back myself.
Bill -
Review from Dee W.
San Diego, CA
10/15/2008
As mentioned, the labor rate is expensive but, the quality of work provided is very impressive. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is superb and the staff is very knowledgeable.
