Car Audio Innovations

Information may not be reliable

This is your local friendly neighborhood Roseville, California (Sacramento area) car audio/security/video store in the Harding Plaza Shopping Center.
Please Note: We work on all types of vehicles, not just luxury and sports cars! We work on all types and years of cars, motorhomes, motorcycles, cargo and travel trailers, big trucks, little trucks, big boats, small boats. Radio, stereo, mobile video, cd player, gps navigation, handsfree bluetooth, Ipod integration, car audio-whatever you need!

In other words: Big or small project, no problem. We can set the clock on your radio (or try our darndest) for free, no matter where you bought it or what kind it is. 'Drop on by and say hello. Listen to some music.
"You should hear what you've been missing!"

Introduction: (please scroll down if you're looking for contact information, or click a link on the left)
Hi, my name is Rod Birch, and I own Car Audio Innovations. I started this business in 1991, out of my parents' garage in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to that, I'd been working on cars and with electronics since I was about 12 years old (about 1976 or so...). I've worked as a mechanic and for a couple different autobody shops, and I've done more than a few "side jobs". This includes things like swapping engines and transmissions into cars and trucks, brake jobs, rebuilding carburetors, tune ups, etc. I simply enjoy working on cars, trucks, boats, and motorcycles. (Plus everything else electronic and mechanical that I can get my hands on and learn about.) I am certified as an electronic service technician, and I'm trained in several aspects of automotive repair. I am also a certified 12 volt automotive installer with the Mobile Electronics Certification Program. I enjoy studying the engineering and assembly of modern vehicles. I like to understand the function of just about all of the electrical and mechanical sub-assemblies. I enjoy my work as I learn yet more about car stereo, car alarms, electronics, acoustics, subwoofer cabinet design, vehicle security, high fidelity music reproduction, multimedia, navigation, modern vehicle design; function; assembly methods, etc. I also enjoy making people happy. Every day I work with a few select guys who are just as passionate about their work, and they also enjoy making people happy.
How cool is that?

(The rear of our store/install bay, with a customer's car being dropped off courtesy of Krystal and Mike of Advanced Restorations, Highway 80 Westbound is in the background near the Douglas Blvd exit)
In the beginning of this business, I was just building a subwoofer enclosure panel for a certain German sports car, with three digits, starting with a 9 and ending with 11. Then I somehow managed to hand-build and sell about 450 of those subwoofer packages by the end of 1998, (from my home in Sacramento since 1992), to many happy sports car enthusiasts. Many of these subwoofers and system packages have been shipped all over the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and some have been shipped to a few other countries. Japan, Oman, Finland, Germany, the Caribbean, the Netherlands and Brunei so far. 'Lots of inquiries weekly from overseas, and more than a few phone calls over the years (and an order or two!) from the U.K.
(Have I mentioned that I love my business?)

(This is a customer's beautiful Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder with black exterior, yellow brake calipers, and yellow stitching throughout the black interior-check it out in our "installations" pages. We showed this car (with Ed's permission-of course!) at the Sacramento Autorama car show in February of 2008, in the Arc Audio building, among some other very nice cars including the Batmobile and Munster's Coach!)
Towards the end of 1999, I was doing a great deal of work from my house in Sacramento. Customers were driving a certain brand/model German sports car to my garage from all over Sacramento and the SF Bay Area, for a full day with a complete "the system" installation. I learned more, I applied myself more, and I seem to have built a pretty good reputation for performing quality work at reasonable prices, and doing my darndest to simply delight people with the results and the process. I was finally able to quit my last "real job" at that time (1999) and prepare to open a store. Finally! (Porsche Cars North America isn't crazy about us using the name Porsche, Porsche 911, pictures of 911's, etc., on our home page, so I must express that we have no affiliation with Porsche or PCNA - Porsche Cars North America).
A big "Thankyou!" goes to websites like www.rennlist.org, www.pelicanparts.com, and www.6speedonline.com, all great sources of information for the Porsche and BMW enthusiast, for helping get my/our name out there, and it's apparently all good "press"! (Please, again, don't get the impression that we only work on high end cars! We're happy helping with your 1987 Corolla, travel trailer, motorhome, old pickup, new pickup, 1992 Taurus, Ruf R Turbo, whatever you've got, whatever your budget!)
(Still more on those German sports cars): To perform stereo and alarm work on these cars, I've enjoyed flying to Palm Springs, Washington state, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. (Also about 7 trips to Southern California so far, and a trip to Kentucky in May 2004 to work on two cars for customers there!) I still can't believe people actually pay me to travel and perform my work on their cars! Definitely a Win/Win kind of business. I'm able to see and hear the results of my work, and I have the absolute privilege of watching the reaction of someone hearing their new "system" for the first time. This makes my work profoundly rewarding. I love my job.

I have located some great people to work with me; Carl, Charles and Tony. These guys are all great, read more about them on the "installations" page, click the link on the left side. We don't earn commissions, our employees are compensated on overall company performance, so we simply all benefit if you're happy. It makes us feel good, you're happy, you tell your friends about us, and it comes full circle. And then we've got your business and friendship for as long as you can stand us.
We enjoy working on all types of cars, trucks, motorhomes, boats, trailers, and motorcycles, and we apply our high standards of workmanship to everything we do. Come check out the photo albums on our store counter showing some of the custom installation work that we've done, watch the flat panel monitor in our showroom for more pictures of cars we've worked on and highlights of some of the custom stuff we've done. If you have a few minutes now, take a look at our store and some of the vehicles we've worked on here on our website. (Just click on "Installations" in the upper left hand corner).
Questions are always welcome, in fact, we enjoy talking about cars, trucks, stereos, electronics, alarms, and just about anything related. Email is great, phone calls are great, and dropping in to our store is even better.

We're in Roseville on Harding Blvd., just off the Douglas Blvd. West exit and Interstate 80. The shopping center is called Harding Plaza, and there's also a Goodyear tire, Big Lots (McFrugals), Radio Shack, Hair Salon,etc. This cool little shopping plaza also has the Mongolian BBQ, The Almond Tree bar, Sherwin Williams Paint, Clark's Snowboard shop, Sacramento Auto Glass and Mirror, Midas, and Smog Stop. We're two driveways from the Roseville DMV, there's a Best Western Hotel in between. McDonald's and Breakfast Square are on the other side of us.

As of April 2010: Still in Business!
The past couple of years have encouraged us to tighten our belts and make sure we're providing the absolute maximum value for you with top quality work at a fair price. We're fortunate to report that we're healthy, and though business was definitely "down" for 2008-2009, we see things really picking up over the past few months, to a near-frenzy at times. We thank everyone for giving us the time we need to do our type of work on your car. We apologize for being so busy with calls and foot-traffic. This is great, really, but it requires your patience. Your patience drives us (in turn) to try even harder to show our appreciation and perform high quality, long lasting work. I, (Rod), prefer a small staff so that our quality and customer service is consistently high with individual attention for each customer and their cars. We've had the "big" staff of 6 guys and myself (currently 3 fellows and I) and more "volume", but it was harder to make sure that each customer felt important. That can be heart-breaking for us. We like to make people happy-that's our reward!

This page was last updated on 11/19/10
Where in California is Car Audio Innovations? We're about 1.5 hours from the San Francisco Bay Area, Northeast, in the Sacramento area. We're about 2 hours Southwest of Reno and Carson City. We're about 10 minutes from Folsom, Granite Bay, Rancho Cordova, Carmichael, 20 minutes from Elk Grove, South Sacramento, near Citrus Heights, Loomis, Rocklin, Lincoln, and not far from Auburn. We're located in Roseville, right off Highway 80 and Douglas Blvd. West. Click on "contact us" on the left for a map.

What can CAR AUDIO INNOVATIONS do for you?
We're here to answer your questions. However many questions you have, however long it takes. We want you to feel comfortable and informed before you make any decisions.
If you're just feeling impulsive, we can help you with that too. ;-)
What do we have to offer? A friendly, personable, attentive kind of customer service, quality installation work at competitive prices, alarms, stereos and speakers by Alpine, Focal (Focal Utopia Beryllium Dealer!!!), Hertz (Hertz/Audison Master Dealers!!!), Dynaudio, JL Audio, Kenwood Excelon, Pioneer, Audison, Nakamichi*(Nak is no more, not car audio in North America, anyways, as of about 2007), MTX, ARC Audio, Viper, K40, Savv, Vizualogic, Audivox, Sony, and Myron & Davis Mobile Video, Dynamat, Sony, Hushmat, Cascade Audio Engineering dampening products, a few others, accessories by Stinger, all at competitive prices. We offer top quality MECP certified installation here in a clean, well equipped installation area. We can perform any kind of work from a basic CD player or speaker upgrade to remote start and keyless entry systems for cars and trucks. We can design and build a multiple amplifier mega-system with flush mounted custom amp racks and subwoofer enclosure(s). We can install a pair of headrest monitors, or a drop down video screen from 7" to 15", with DVD player and wireless headphones.
Ask us for an RTA analysis of your system, with an IASCA score!

or 1-800-892-6430
Many of our customers seem to really appreciate our work, whether it's a subwoofer enclosure we've shipped to them via UPS, or the way that we install wire and components in their car. We take a great deal of pride in the smallest of details that most people will never even see. We try to work as though one of our peers, a true enthusiast, perhaps also MECP certified, might at some point see our work - the work that is under carpet and behind panels, the hidden, time-consuming work-where we aim to please even the most discriminating professional. Good quality is self evident. Good service is self-evident.

Give us a call, drop by, or email and find out!
Call or drop us an email, questions are always welcome. We're happy to help you find what you're looking for, we can also show you incredible sound quality that you didn't know existed, probably at a price in your budget. We'll give you a few options, in different price ranges, and explain what you'll get for your money. We're very interested in serving your long term needs. All employees are compensated hourly and have experience making people happy. We all have the drive and desire to do our very best to deliver service and work that will likely exceed your expectations. We benefit from your delight, from your feedback, and from repeat and referral business. We'll do our very best to gain your trust and friendship.
Thank you for visiting our website!!!

Since we are actually authorized dealers for Nakamichi, ARC Audio, Audison, Hertz, JL Audio, Kenwood Excelon, Dynaudio, Sony, Myron & Davis, Accele, Soundgate, Focal, Pioneer, Stinger, Vizualogic and Viper, we're not allowed to publish pricing for components on our website. We are, however, delighted to tell you about the latest offerings by all of these manufacturers and the Minimum Advertising Price set forth by each brand. We sell all products at these "sale" prices, and these are the lowest prices you'll find anywhere with a factory authorized dealer. (Please email or call for pricing and more information on any of these brands.)
Buy only from an authorized dealer to make sure that you have legitimateproduct, product with full manufacturer warranty and true dealer support. Product missing serial numbers from "online discount sources" (to protect the source, who either trans-shipped product to an unauthorized dealer, or picked it up when it "fell off a truck") can leave you in a difficult position, and even if your source wants to-they won't be able to take care of you as well as an authorized dealer. Authorized dealers have an ongoing partnership with the manufacturer of each product, usually also including an exchange agreement for defective product. (Some of these sources online will tell you you're getting a full manufacturer warranty, which simply is not true!)
We do our best to earn your business, adding value to all of the products that you buy from us. You will find the lowest authorized prices on everything we sell. We're happy to answer any questions before, during, and after any purchases you might make. We'll be here in 2 years, as well as 5 years, 10 years, etc., beyond that. We are a legitimate, actual, experienced, authentic, retail store with installation bays. We know vehicles, we work on vehicles, we install a variety of car audio, multimedia and security products day in and day out. We stay in business by giving you expert advice and spending time with you, trying to earn your business. We want to be sure that you're happy and that you're getting your money's worth - now, and for years to come. Support those who earn your business, and they'll be around next time you have questions. Take your chances with an online "discount source", and you might learn that the business is based in someone's college dorm room, their Mom's basement, or a rented mailbox "suite". The product you (hopefully) receive has been "transshipped" against the manufacturer's wishes, away from an authorized, qualified dealer, negating the factory warranty. The actual manufacturers actively pursue those outfits and shut them down, one by one.
Regardless of where you shop, any store worth their salt is going to be interested in making sure they take care of you, even after the sale! Go with your gut instincts when you talk to people, and make sure they're interested in earning your money the old fashioned way, by providing a service that serves your needs. Go with the right outfit, and the results will actually exceed your expectations.
We stand behind everything we sell, and we install everything we sell.

We know what fits, what works, and how to help you get the most for your money.
"Please let us get involved early in the planning of any audio, security, or video system-we can save you time, money, hassles, by combining many years of experience with an earnest effort to make sure that you're at least 100% happy."
-Rod Birch, Owner