Custom Audio

Custom audio has been installing stereos, alarms and tint to all our family and friends cars for years…
Lee is excellent and has the most fair prices anywhere
He is the best in this field
Would recommend this shop to anyone who needs tinting, stereo or alarms

Thong made the process very easy. We tested speakers in his shop, picked what we wanted, and had the car back in just a few hours. They sound great. We will definitely be back with any future car audio upgrades.

Thong (shop owner) knows exactly what he’s doing and installs quickly and precisely. I would recommend trusting him if you’re looking for better acoustics or some thundering bass. I was skeptic at first but man oh man he made my Jeep knock tremendously.

Great service, good prices, and quality work in not much time! They re-​wired my Tahoe after I did a poor job many years ago. The guy is pretty hard to understand, but whatever. As long as the job gets done! This place does accept credit cards and gives you a receipt for the work. Must be under a different management than when those other posts were made. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would come back

Excellent service. Not apt for Trump supporters as this place is managed by an immigrant who would go to great lengths to get your business.
He upgraded my audio system in less than 1 hour and with no appointment. I called 4 places and they all wanted to schedule an appointment a week out and talk to me about audio quality and other non-​sense (I didn’t have time to chat about audio)
I said I had an hour. He asked if I was going to buy the radio from him. I said of course and the deal was sealed. He asked me to come in 2 hours. I did and 60 min later I had my new stereo installed including a microphone.

My work van got broken into, which motivated me to get that car alarm I had been putting off.
My boyfriend found this shop which was open on Saturdays.
In one day they installed the alarm, a brand new pioneer big screen deck, and a back-​up camera.
I had to order online by in dash deck because they did not sell the android auto (plug smart phone into) compatible deck. Nex4100.
They also only sell Memphis speakers of which I am not a fan so I ordered speakers, amp, crossovers, subwoofer, and another amp from crutchfield.
I had them prewire for the amps.
Aside from not having the best products in store and trying to sell thier outdated stock, they did an incredible job installing everything!
Definitely would recommend with doing product homework.

I had a pretty bad experience dealing with my car’s tints. I took it here because my friend had taken 2 cars here before. The price is fair, but I guess you get what you pay for. He quoted me $ 180 for 5 window tints. I own a 2013 Genesis Coupe, and this price is pretty good compared to what other shops quoted me. Anyway, I ended up going with a 5% tint on the back 3 windows, and 35% on front two. He told me to leave the car for the day, since he had another car before mine already, which is completely understandable. I left for work, and picked it up right before closing time at 6pm. The tints were terrible. It was sooo bubbly but he promised me that they would go away. He told me it was from the water (?) and that parking it in the sun would get rid of them. He also told me not to roll my windows down for a whole week. A week later I roll my windows down only to find out the drivers side window was done incorrectly, and there was a crackling noise every time I rolled the window down the first inch. I took it back to him and also complained about the bubbles which still hadn’t gone away after a week. He seemed annoyed at me cause I had already complained about the bubbles. He said «I already told you the bubbles would go away». All my other friends that took it to other places had their cars given to them without any bubbles at all and told them they only had to wait 2 or 12 hours without rolling their windows down. He told me to take it back a few days later because he was busy. I took it back about 2 days later and left it there again for the whole day. This time it had minor bubbles, maybe about 3 (which was better than the 50 bubbles it had before). Again I didn’t use my windows for a week like he instructed and the only flaw now is a tiny dust bubble on my driver side window. I guess he doesn’t use an enclosed space when tinting the windows like other shops do. The fix was free and he said if anything happens to them to take it back and he will fix it, which makes me feel a bit better. I just hate that it took him two tries to get it right, and even now it’s not perfect. But for $ 180 I guess it’s alright. My friend’s two other cars came out really clean, I’m not sure if it’s something about the way my driver windows are curved or something.

The most unprofessional and a cheater merchant. I was asked to pay in cash and was refused an invoice when I insisted on one. In 3 days, the speakers started rattling very bad. I went back to him but was forced to pay more.
Very unprofessional owner.

I had a simple dash cam install done here in July. Le is an honest and hardworking guy. Great work, excellent price. Can’t beat that. Highly recommend

I asked some questions about a car alarm through Unilocal by e-​mail. Somebody by the name Patricia who works at Custom Audio replied. I tried to ask for clarification but she is not responsive and probably ignores my messages. I give 1 start to this business for customer service. I already gave 1 star in 2012 and I see things didn’t change much.

I took my beloved 2010 Sprinter with custom cabinetry and home theatre system in for some minor work. The TV was wired to accept input from a nearby car audio receiver and I wanted an HDMI cable hooked up to the TV and audio out from the TV run to that receiver. Seemed like a simple enough job.
Custom Audio agreed to do it for $ 200, which I thought reasonable. But, things went south. They got the HDMI cable connected to the TV and ran it through the car in a professional way but the audio wasn’t working. They had found a PDF manual for the TV which they showed me where they connected the audio cable, which was labeled in the manual as audio *in*. I pointed out the mistake and they were really frustrated because it meant disassembling the cabinetry and re-​assembling it again, which was really tedious.
They kept the car longer and did that and when I returned, I tested the system and the audio still didn’t work. We tested the receiver’s audio in and confirmed it worked so it meant the TV wasn’t sending audio out for some reason. I paid them an extra $ 50 for having to go through the trouble of doing the cabinet work twice and went on my way.
At home, I took out one of the speakers from the left of the TV and examined things myself. First, I determined they used the wrong TV manual and that there was no RCA-​style audio out on this particular model, so Lord only knows where they wound up connecting the audio cable. Probably into a couple of component in jacks. Second, there is a mini-​RCA headphone-​style audio out jack on this TV fairly close to the hole for the left speaker. I plugged a headphone to RCA cable into the jack, hooked it up to the receiver, and boom, it works.
While doing this, I realized that the TV could be easily accessed from this speaker hole and that disassembling the cabinetry wasn’t necessary. Which is a bummer because at some point in the two different times they went through the disassembly /​reassembly process, they caused minor damage to the bespoke cabinetry. Nothing major, to be fair, just small cracks and weakened adhesive on some of the minor touches.
I should mention that they never called me during this process; I called them twice and both times they said it was ready and I should come over. They also didn’t test the system at any point, which I found odd because it’s not like HDMI devices are exotic and if they had asked I would have left them a device or two they could use to test it on demand.
I’m a little torn as to the rating for all of this. They took on a job that was clearly out of their comfort zone, which I appreciated, and they did hard work on it. It took more effort than they thought it would and had far more to do with home theatre work than car audio work, and clearly, they’re in the business of cranking out car audio projects that they can readily estimate and execute.
At the same time, there are some basic things they could have done that would have made this a success instead of a failure and I’m scratching my head as to how little ol’ me, a mechanical idiot, could figure this out in just a few minutes.
So, three stars, which is probably a bit more than should be justified by the experience.

Took my car after some low life loser got into my car. I decided to get a security system and went to Custom Audio. I have worked with them once before to install tint on my 4runner, and they were great to work with. This time around, I got the same great service. Thong and his wife are very pleasant to work with. They installed the Viper 350 plus at a great price! Since the price was lower than I expected, I had them install some other options that my older car needed (such as power door locks). Now I feel like I am driving a modern car and feel secure when it is parked. Thong even fixed something that has been broken (sticky brake light) when I first purchased my car free of charge! EXCELLENT SERVICE! I will definitely come back and recommend to my friends. THANK YOU CUSTOM AUDIO!

They got the job done 30 minutes earlier than they said they would. They did not overcharge me and did only the work that needed to be done

After dealing with the ineptitude of a Fry’s installation that went nowhere after 3 hours, called Custom Audio and spoke to Mark. Told him the situation, and as luck would have it, he had an immediate opening so that my wife could bring the car in for the install.
Within an hour, as the wife and kids grabbed a bite to eat at Frankie, Johnnie & Luigi’s, the car was done with a freshly installed stereo.
Mark was courteous and professional. After a few basic pointers on the operation of the new deck, the wife and kids were on their way home.
If you’re in the market for a new sound system, whether you get it online or not, come to Custom Audio to have it installed. You’ll be happy you did.

Dropped in on a Friday afternoon with my 25 year old Volvo. I’d replaced my car’s battery and my stereo, which has always worked perfectly, no longer worked at all. A reset, the standard remedy after a battery change, didn’t do the trick. I told my story to the reception guy and he said it would be $ 30. To look at it? Will it cost more to do the repair? I asked. No, we will fix it for $ 30, in a few minutes. Wow! I couldn’t believe it. The repair guy had the unit out of my dash so fast it startled me and before I could text my husband and my best friend, he had done the repair. I asked what had been the problem and he explained that the fuse inside the unit was blown, something neither I or my car mechanic could fix ourselves. I am so happy that they knew how to fix my stereo so quickly and for such a great price! (This wasn’t the first place I tried. See my other reviews.)

This is a pretty small, indie shop located at El Camino Real just north of Castro in Mountain View. I go through cars pretty often but this is my second time here in a month (for different projects) if that’s any indication.
Working with Patricia and Le is a pleasure and hassle-​free. I had them install a double din navigation and backup camera in one of our cars. Works as it should. I ordered the dash kit and wiring harness ahead of time.
I highly recommend.
Note: John H mentioned coffee — there’s a Peet’s just around the corner (1 – 2 minute walk) and a couple Starbucks, etc a block or 2 away (one North as well as another across El Camino).

I am mystified by all the 5 star reviews on here as well.
I went in for a new radio to replace the factory radio for my Mini Cooper. I wanted to have Sirius XM and Bluetooth for my phone. My factory radio sounded great, but I needed those options. I looked into getting adapters online so that I could keep my factory unit, but for what I thought was roughly the same price. I could get an 8 year newer system.
I went in and asked for something top of the line, and was shown a Kenwood Head unit for $ 179, so after installation, misc things like a harness etc. I was thinking I would be int he range of $ 300-​$ 350. I was quoted $ 475, which seemed a little high, but given the awesome reviews I thought I was paying for top quality service.
I dropped my car off the day after and everything seemed ok. They were perfectly nice, so I told them to take their time as I didn’t need the car all day.
About 3 hours later I got a call stating that he didn’t know my car had some specialized Harmon Kardon system and amp. He DID NOT have the harness for it, and that it would be an extra $ 175, with no credit being given for the harness I had paid for the day before. I was pissed, but still thought it was ok because I was going to have an awesome system that would far outweigh the factory stereo.
I picked up the car, and found out that the Factory amp had been cut out, and there was no way for me to match the quality of the factory system without adding another amp. AND if I were to add that amp I would have to buy all new speakers.
ARE YOU SERIOUS? $ 650 for a $ 179 dollar radio that doesn’t even sound as good as the factory one? I even had him look into adding a powered subwoofer, but he has not called me back.
If I were another type of person this would be going to court, and I would be getting my money back. I don’t have the time or patience to deal with this, so someone else will be getting my business to fix this botched system.
I would suggest looking for another stereo shop/​installer.

I’ve had two installations here, and extremely pleased both times. A couple of years ago the CD player in my 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee died. I got a Pioneer head unit to replace it, that had bluetooth and USB audio, with iPod/​iPhone integration. It was a very clean install, but I was eager to have the same capabilities in my 2007 Audi A4.
I did some research and concluded the Dension gw17ac1 was the way to go. The two dealers in the area that carried Dension wanted to charge list price of $ 200 for the unit, and $ 80 — $ 125 for installation. I got it online from Enfig Car Stereo in New Jersey for $ 140, and Le at Custom Audio offered to install it for $ 70, so a total price of $ 210 — about ²⁄₃ what I otherwise would have paid.
Le did a clean install and the unit is incredible. I can now control my iPhone 5s through the Audi steering wheel controls, and also have access to Spotify, podcasts, etc. The sound is incredible — it actually sounds better than CD’s from the car’s factory in-​dash CD changer.
Some reviews have mentioned that Le’s English is not very strong, as he is from Vietnam. That may be true, but he does great work, and quotes prices significantly lower than the competition.
Highly recommended!

Great Experience. I had a car stereo with a blue tooth installed and then went back with my other car for another install. It turns out one of my cars did not need this special size casing which we originally thought was needed. They were honest and told me of this and then took the $ 30 off the price. I would never have known unless they were honest. Honesty matters to me a lot.
Their prices were better than the place across the street. Only by $ 20 or so, but hey $ 20 is $ 20. Also there was a slight issue with the first installation, noting terrible just had a hard time getting the coding to work so I went back and the tech helped me out, sort of good after sale service.
The language is a little hard to get through so they might come across in a manner that you will not feel confident, BUT I am sure that if you get your car stereo done here, you will be good to go.

I needed to add a remote entry to my base-​model Honda fit. He told me it would take an hour or so to install, but it ended up taking 40 minutes.
The shop seemed well-​stocked, and there was a good variety of product.
The price was good, the service fast and friendly, and it worked! I would have gone for 5 stars except there was no coffee for people in the waiting area…