Car audio dealers across North America are reporting they are booked out for weeks. What is driving all that demand? A job that pairs an aftermarket DSP amplifier with the factory speakers, utilizing what is already in the vehicle, and adding a subwoofer. Car audio shops in Savannah, Georgia, Columbus, Ohio, Baltimore, Maryland, Orange County, California, and Coquitlam, British Columbia, all report the same style of booking.
Everyone in the twelve-volt industry agrees that adding a subwoofer to an OEM system makes the biggest impact in sound. But the real value in this approach is customizing the sound for the customer using the speakers they already have. If a customer wants old rock, R and B, or country music, the shop tunes for that. The customer never feels like they are losing anything. They are maximizing what they already had in their OEM system, and that shift, from replacing to enhancing, is a key difference in how this approach sells.
Once the customer hears their upgraded system, the question becomes, “What else can you do?” That question leads into the shop talking about upgraded speakers, custom fabrication, additional subwoofers, and whatever other customization the customer wants. By that point, the shop has earned the customer’s trust, which makes the conversation about other categories much easier.
This is not just a trend. It reflects a real shift in how systems are built. The old approach, swapping out speakers or adding a subwoofer through a simple high-level adapter, is losing ground in many shops, partly because consumers are learning basic installs themselves through YouTube and Reddit.
What DIY cannot replicate is the skill an experienced shop brings to interpreting what a customer actually wants. When someone says they want more midrange or a little more definition on the tweeter, an experienced shop knows where to start and knows to sit that customer in the car and dial it in with them in real time. That is a skill DIY cannot touch, and it shows the real strength of the professional car audio shop.
No, i do a bit of this, but not as much as the bigger markets do. I do alot of subwoofer add-ons and speaker upgrades. Often leading to a power and processing upgrade when the customers pocket books recovers from the first job.
Does anyone have any experience in this category if this is really the case? I haven’t had customers flowing in looking to have their factory sound system mildly tweaked, who would then be willing to drop upwards of $1500 for a DSP multichannel amp installed.
But maybe this is my small town demographic or me simply not pushing the segment enough?
I think it depends on how you offer it. When a client comes into our shop with a vague request like “I’m looking to upgrade my audio system or make it sound better” a DSP amp with factory speakers and a new sub is where we start. So it could be how you’re approaching it. But it could also be regional and down to local demographics. We do this exact upgrade on nearly a weekly basis. Our shop is located in an area with diverse demographics and we try to have something for everyone, but the majority of our clients that go for this would be considered affluent/high income earners. The ones that can’t quite afford it, but want it, usually try for financing, but sometimes they’re already maxed out on their credit so they may opt just for adding an amp and sub.