2010 Overall Audio Quality

[Iceman123]

Just got the Prius IV...For the last 2 days I have been trying to figure why I only seem to hear the from front speaker with the JBL speakers..I saw that the speakers were balanced on the touch screen ..I unbalanced them to see If I hear music coming from the sides from the Driver seat ..No chance...I clicked the auto "SOUND" balancer, ON ..No dice...Kept continuing to hear music coming from the front of the car..I got out of the car and put my ears next to the bottm speakers on the door...music was faint..sat in back ..music was coming from sides...but more from the front of the car..This was when car was balanced and when I turned on the AUTO on "Sound" button...Haven't tried my Ipod yet...But as of right now the music sounds like I placed a 30 year old Pocket transistor radio by the front window of the car...I am hoping I am doing something wrong..I will check Ipod tomorrow..If no dice..goin back to dealer...for remedy...because the sound system is god awful to the Murano(Nor any car I owned my whole life) I just turned in.

I can confirm that there is WAY to much static on AM/FM too .

[aroide]

Overall, I like the sound less than my 2007 Prius (JBL) I used to have. I have noticed that sat sounds cruddy (blame it on XM/Sirius and their continual lowering of bandwidth/channel over the years). USB audio from my iphone 3gs sounds best with bluetooth audio and CD a close 2nd. Maybe the difference here is the iphone DACs vs. the Prius DACs??

Anyways, I found it sounds much better and *predictible* when ASL is turned off (its was on by default). Searching through the TIS, I found this statement on the back fo the JBL 8-speaker install manual. It is an addendum to the owners manual:

For Prius equipped with genuine JBL Premium Sound
ASL (Automatic Sound Levelizer) should be switched OFF to insure correct listening performance
The JBL amplifier will adjust the sound level and spectrum precisely to assure your optimal listening experience while noise level is increasing with vehicle speed.

So apparently, we are all SUPPOSED to have ASL off if we have a JBL premium setup? Interesting for all to know.

[Welshdog]

I am fairly satisfied with the sound in our NAV equipped IV. I remind myself that the Prius is NOT a luxury car and that while quite nice it is thus not appointed with luxe materials and equipment. I read somewhere in Priuschat that the speakers have very tiny magnet assemblies. This may be true but I have found they will play very loudly. Kinghts of Cydonia by Muse at volume level 36 from my iPhone via streaming makes the rear view vibrate so much I can't see behind me. Heh heh.

[Iceman123]

Originally Posted by Iceman123

Just got the Prius IV...For the last 2 days I have been trying to figure why I only seem to hear the from front speaker with the JBL speakers..I saw that the speakers were balanced on the touch screen ..I unbalanced them to see If I hear music coming from the sides from the Driver seat ..No chance...I clicked the auto "SOUND" balancer, ON ..No dice...Kept continuing to hear music coming from the front of the car..I got out of the car and put my ears next to the bottm speakers on the door...music was faint..sat in back ..music was coming from sides...but more from the front of the car..This was when car was balanced and when I turned on the AUTO on "Sound" button...Haven't tried my Ipod yet...But as of right now the music sounds like I placed a 30 year old Pocket transistor radio by the front window of the car...I am hoping I am doing something wrong..I will check Ipod tomorrow..If no dice..goin back to dealer...for remedy...because the sound system is god awful to the Murano(Nor any car I owned my whole life) I just turned in.

I can confirm that there is WAY to much static on AM/FM too .

Played with the switch that says "MID" it improved the music sound in the car significantly. However the music sound experience in the car is far from a surround sound experience, the loudest speaker in the car, by far , is the front window speaker...Maybe I am impartial to what I had since my last 2 cars was a Murano and Lexus RX300.

On another note...My Iphone(Ipod) did not work..Kept getting "Device is not compatible message"..Noted in another thread !

[dc202]

Feed it a good signal, adjust the fader, and it performs well. It is lousy with FM and SAT, but quite good with CD and aux, assuming you have a good AUX source. (For the record, I like bass heavy dance, hip-hop and reggaeton music while driving).
Try adjusting the fader so that the signal is in the rear footwell area on the graphic. Also play with the mid and bass. It took me awhile but now I am relatively satisfied. The system is certainly not up to any audiophile's standards but it is OK, IMHO, after proper adjustments and given a good quality signal. The FM capture is pretty bad and XM/Sirius is a complete joke (I was a subscriber from the very beginning and just recently canceled my sub largely because of deteriorating audio quality).
Another tip: If you have an IPOD, trying going with a connection setup that feeds directly from the charging interface instead of using the mini jack on your IPOD, assuming you are not using Bluetooth.

[Tad Moody]

Turn off the cars crappy stereo, buy a good MP3 Player with FM, and a set of studio-monitor headphones.

[Philosophe]

Originally Posted by Tad Moody

Turn off the cars crappy stereo, buy a good MP3 Player with FM, and a set of studio-monitor headphones.

... and stay parked on the side of the road, as using headphones while driving a car is illegal almost everywhere.

[kaikarma]

Thanks for all the audio tips.

I had to take in my Prius IV with JBL 8-speaker audio system last week after experiencing completely dampened/muffled audio on and off. It ended up being a pinched wire from the factory installation. They also said this had happened with one other vehicle; in that case, it was faulty wiring tied to the Homelink system.

If you're experiencing horribly muffled audio, then perhaps it is the wiring.