Ministers of sound

Alcuin Papa

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The best places in the metro to trick out your car audio setup

A GREAT CAR GOES with great sound. A Chevrolet Cruze at Candyshop

MANILA, Philippines – For the music-loving car driver, relief from Metro Manila’s horrendous traffic is music from a good audio setup.

Like all hobbies, car audio isn’t cheap. That’s why newbies are encouraged to do research first.

Here are a number of shops in the metro that can give real boom-boom for the buck:

1) JC Car Audio

MITSUBISHI LANCER AT JC Audio

Like most car audio shop owners, Jeffrey Cristobal started tinkering with car audio components as a teenager.

After being dissatisfied with a setup done by a shop, he decided to do his own. Soon, he was doing setups for friends and winning car audio competitions.

Today, Jeffrey is still a strong contender.

MITSUBISHI LANCER AT JC Audio

Jeffrey says most clients trust him enough to leave their cars with him for long periods of time. He makes sure he gives this trust back.

“What makes me happy is customer satisfaction with quality and maximum performance,” he says.

2) Candyshop

CHEVROLET CRUZE AT CANDYSHOP

Arnold “Nogs” Yang isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty and does a lot of the installation himself.

His shop, located in Banawe, offers sweet gear from as low as Php10,000 to sky’s-the-limit. He once did a setup for a client for a cool Php1-M.

HONDA CIVIC AT CANDYSHOP

While relatively new to the business (having started in 2008), Nogs has been placing in competitions and is active in car shows. In his dealings with clients, Nogs strives to work within the budget of the client without compromising quality and service.

He says, “We try to meet the needs of the client and give 100% service.”

3) Araneta Accessories

VOLKSWAGEN AND PORSCHE CARRERA at Araneta Accessories

Jeff Tan is well-known in the low to middle niche market of car audio enthusiasts.

But he has been known to cater to clients who are into sports cars, too. Since starting in 2000, he has done intensive research on car products. Jeff says he can be frank about certain products.

“I never want to shortchange my customers. I do a lot of trial and error. I give my honest opinion. Otherwise, masisira ka lang,” he points out.

FORD EVEREST AT ARANETA Accessories

Jeff doesn’t hesitate to suggest certain brands that he feels can perform as well as expensive brands. “But clients cannot expect a system that costs Php10,000 to have the output of a Php100,000 system.

“I can’t make miracles happen,” he says.

4) Sun-X Motors

WINNING HONDA CITY AT Sun-X

A story in the local car audio community has it that Erick Del Rosario won a competition using a low-priced locally-made brand (Targa).

It turns out that he won not one, but 3 competitions using the same setup. “I wanted to prove a point then; that you can have a good setup even without the expensive brands as long as it’s tuned properly,” he says.

Today, Erick favors quality gear but still emphasizes proper tuning and a clean, safe install (no short circuits).

WINNING HONDA CITY AT Sun-X

Erick will still do the occasional budget setup if required, but he makes sure these conform to his standards. “Customers are smarter now and are willing to go for quality to get their money’s worth,” he said.

When not attending to his shop — which moved from the old Araneta Autocenter in Cubao to Sikatuna Village — Erick flies to different destinations in Asia as a judge of regional car audio competitions.

5) Quest

TOYOTA VIOS AT QUEST

Marky Ngo says he loves to cater to clients from different age groups and who have different tastes in music. “We even have clients here who love the old stuff like ’80s music, or even Tom Jones,” he says. 

Catering to the middle to high-end niche, clients can expect Marky to favor function over form, or equipment that sounds really good over what is the fad of the day.

SUV AT QUEST

This is the reason why he moved his shop out of Banawe — the mecca of car accessories in Metro Manila — to Sct. Borromeo in Quezon City.

He tells Rappler: “Car audio is a part of life. It’s an extension of your love of music.”

6) Mickey’s

SIGNAGE AT MICKEY's LEGENDARY shop

No list of the best car audio shops in the city is complete without Mickey Pascual’s, located in Pasig.

He is known for audio setups in the middle to high-end budget brackets and once did a setup for Php2 million. Mickey says he can do a quality setup for as little as Php12,000 to Php15,000 by, for example, using Blaupunkt sub and speakers.

TOYOTA FORTUNER 'PIMPED' BY Mickey's

But true to his reputation, Mickey’s shop is filled with high-end brands, some of them exotic. “When clients come to the shop, we want them to see something not usually found in other stores.”

Mickey pays attention to detail and has been known to nitpick the work of his laborers. He says he won’t hesitate to tell them to redo their work. “Even if it’s a simple setup, I want customers to feel proud of it,” he says.

7) Project AI

PROJECT A1 IN SUMULONG Highway

This shop, together with its “sister” shop C & J Autosound and Mickey’s have turned the eastern part of Metro Manila into car audio mecca.

Christopher “Oyet” Samson has also won his share of competitions. A lover of cars, Oyet makes sure he treats every car that comes through his door as if it was his own.

“We spend most of our hours traveling in our cars, maybe even more than in our homes. So our cars should offer comfort,” he tells Rappler. 

In the end, a car’s sound system really depends on the ears of the driver. Clients get what they paid for and quality audio products come at a price. – Rappler.com

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