Upgraded JBL Audio System with Bazooka BTA8200

[BitShifter01]

Ok, so I'm another Prius owner who is short of happy with the JBL audio system. JBL makes some very good components but for some reason they were lacking in the Prius. I felt my Prius needed more bass so I did some researching and had a BAZOOKA 8" base tube installed to help beef up the under cut system ops:

Anyway....
I found a thread on Prius chat regarding a bass tube being installed by Circuit City. (http://www.laaudiofile.com/bta6100.html) The person seemed extremely happy with the turnout so I figured I wanted to do something similar. Instead of installing the BTA6100 which is a 6 1/2" 100W bass tube I choose the 8" 200W bass tube and had a circuit city do the installation.

I was extremely disappointed in the level of service I received at Circuit City. I made a great effort to tell the person about the car - how to turn it on, drive it, told him about the 12V battery that is located in the rear, and referred him to the amp under the passenger side seat, etc. All this time while telling the manager this, he continued to blow me off. I dropped it off at 1:30 and was scheduled to pick it up at 4:30 that day. I showed up at 4:30 to find out they weren't even half way done. I noticed the manager had the main power wire ran from the back of the car through the firewall and into the engine compartment. I questioned what he was doing and he said hooking up the battery. I was pissed to say the least. After I told him AGAIN about the 12V battery in the back he replied, "Oh thanks, you just saved me 15 minutes." He also didn't know there was a JBL amp under the seat. He didn't listen to a word I said, and now the car isn't even half way done even though it was 4:45. I was upset so I spoke with the Store Manager and he refunded my money back to me for the service installation. Other than the fact that now I have to go back in because they did not snap my dash back together properly I'm pretty happy.

The sub definitely helped out. There is a sensation of good, clean, deep sounding bass. It's not overpowering like a typical 12" sub in a box which is good. Next step may be to replace the tweeters. The sub also didn't take up too much cargo space and can be easily removed if need be.

All and all I am happy with the sound that this sub produces, as you can tell I just wasn't very happy with the carelessness of Circuit City.

A question for you out there, is it ok that circuit city hooked the bass tube up to the amp instead of the rear speakers for a signal? Probably in their minds that was easier than taking the paneling off the doors to tap into the rear speakers.

[Kev1000000]

i was looking to get this done at circuit city as well, i might not now...

Does any other place install it better?

[BitShifter01]

Although I was extremely dissapointed with their level of customer service, try not to be bias against them. I'm sure there are more reasonable Circuit City employees out there that will listen and do a good job. Just don't go to the one here in Columbus, Ohio off of Brice Rd

You'll love the sound of it after the install!
Regards,
Bit

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kev1000000\";p=\"83972)</div>

 i was looking to get this done at circuit city as well, i might not now...

Does any other place install it better?[/b]

[DanH]

In spite the bit of a flub up on their part that does look like they did an nice job. At least they didn't do any serious damage to the Prius.

To me it would make perfect sense to go to the amp for routing. It's a singular point for connection and I believe common practice.

I am going to put an older 8" Bazooka sub I got from a coworker in soon when I get the appropriate wiring harness. (I have the non-JBL system, so the one mentioned in the article will do the trick.) One thing I have contemplating is how I want to mount it as I'm not sure I want to screw it down through the rear mat and not be able to remove the mat easily. One thing I have been cosidering is strapping it in with the tie points available back there.

What kind of tweeters are you considering upgrading to?

[kazu88]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BitShifter01\";p=\"83967)</div>

I was upset so I spoke with the Store Manager and he refunded my money back to me for the service installation. [/b]

Here's another CC horror story.

I bought the identical bazooka self-amp sub woofer to my 2004 prius JBL stereo at a local Circuit city. The sub was on sale at $99, but to install it, I had to pay for installation ($55) and a bunch of wires... costing me total $250.

I made an appointment today at 11am. The kid at the shop said he never worked on Prius. I had bad feelings about this...

I showed him how it works, where the battery and JBL amp are, showed him the print-outs of the Prius chat forum related to the Bazooka installation.

Store manager quoted "2 hours" for the installation. So I went back in a two hours, and the whole dash was taken apart...I wondered "do they know what they are doing???"

I waited and waited. When it was all done, it was 5 hours later, at 4pm. I wasted my whole afternoon for this.

I wonder if I should ask for the refund as well?

The stereo sounds pretty good, but I'm still trying to figure out the best EQ setting would be. I had it installed in the same location, in the trunk area, right behind the rear right passenger seat. I'll post a pic if there's a request.

Lessons learned; Before you go to the shop, ask the installer if they have worked on a Prius before, and ask what their installation plan is, and how long it would take.

In retrospect, I should have driven 15 minutes more and gone to the West Covina Circuit city, which was featured in the LA car review. I think someone on this forum said they installed the dang thing in a hour or so.

Serenity now, serenity now.

[Arroyo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BitShifter01\";p=\"83967)</div>

A question for you out there,  is it ok that circuit city hooked the bass tube up to the amp instead of the rear speakers for a signal?  Probably in their minds that was easier than taking the paneling off the doors to tap into the rear speakers.[/b]

It's okay. If fact, it's better. Amplified Bazookas have a built-in crossover network. Hooking it up to the amp section allows the crossover to cut off the bass signals feeding into the front and rear satellite speakers. This reduces the stress on the satellites and results in a cleaner, less distorted midrange response.

[devo1182]

Talked to a guy at Circuit City, because of reading about Bazooka here.
Bad vibes. Went to a locally owned place, got what they recommended in my price range (low). They did the job in estimated time and I am happy with sound of stereo now.
When possible, I think it is better to go to locally owned place.