Meet the Boss

AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL FROST, OWNER OF IPSWICH CAR RADIOS
by Kevin O'Byrne, founder Editor of Car Stereo & Security Magazine

Paul has been involved in the business on Woodbridge Road since the summer of 1987, when he joined the then owner - Dennis Austin - as an installer, having left Lancasters Mercedes. At Lancasters, Paul had developed a real interest in audio systems and decided that he had to follow his passion and specialise.

14 years later, in 2001, Paul bought the business from Dennis and now runs Ipswich Car Radios, assisted by wife Wendy and right-hand man, Andy Ayers. I paid Paul a visit and began by asking him how he'd seen the business change over the years.

"The units are now much less costly. When I started here, a good radio-cassette player could cost six to seven hundred pounds," Paul told me. "And gone are the days of needing to wire plugs, as it's now all ISO standard, but it still sometimes gives difficulties."

Today, more and more cars are using a system of digital communications between the various electronic devices and their microcontrollers. These so-called CAN-bus networks demand new skills from installers of aftermarket add-ons. I asked Paul how they cope with this newer technology.

"Anyone in our business has to evolve. We don't need to wire up connectors so much now, but we still get problems that need to be solved.," said Paul. "Those installers who will suffer are those who don't evolve with the latest technology. You also need to have enthusiasm and love the job, because you'd never put in the necessary hours if you didn't. I still have a passion for car audio. Solving the problems that sometimes come along is a challenge that's part of what makes it so interesting!"

What does Paul find customers asking for?

"People get information on boot builds and see the pictures on web sites but don't realise the work involved," he said, "so we try to show them the things we need to do. Youngsters tend to have a go themselves and then come to us to put things right. We get a lot of customers who bought badly, too cheaply, and then realise they should have invested more."

"I wish I could get to more of them earlier and stop them wasting their money," Paul continued. "I never try to persuade anyone to over spend on items they don't need, but I do try to persuade customers who are really into their audio to build better over time. It's best not to rush it, do it a bit at a time and in the end you'll have the system you really want."

"We go to some of the local shows and other events, as it gives us a chance to meet with customers, especially the youngsters, and keep in touch with what they want," Paul explained. "There's a difference between having loud noise in a car and having loud music in a car. I'm not a great lover of SPL, although we can build those systems too. I'm a sound quality man and there's nothing better than seeing a customer's beaming smile when they hear their system for the first time - it makes all the hard work worthwhile."

 "Money is hard to come by and so we aim to save our customers money in the long run by recommending better quality products. It's not just for the better performance but for the performance and reliability over time. We give them advice and the benefit of years of experience, but ultimately, the customer makes the decision."