2010 Overall Audio Quality

[beejay]

I'm very disappointed with the overall audio quality in my new Gen III, 2010 Prius III, JBL- 8 speaker model - and I'm speaking comparitively to my former 2009 Prius II, 6 speaker car. I'm taking it back to the dealer tomorrow but would like to know if anyone else has the same issues. BTW, I'm a Consumer Electronics Professional and lifelong audiophile. First issue - AM/FM: I listen primarily to FM-radio because I used to work at a radio station and I love the format. I'm finding that the FM tuner cannot seem to grab onto stations - many sound noisy and static-y as if they're not properly tuned, and I lose stations at short distances from the tower (I live in Oakland and had to drive into SF to hear my favorite station without static) AM has engine noise. Second issue: sound quality - it's awful, sounds like my old 9 volt transistor radio and gives me listening fatigue headaches. It sounds thin, muddy and one-dimensional; all of the sound seems to come from the center of the dash as if it were monaural. Voices and vocals are hollow and nasal, guitars, horns, keyboards are all indistinct. I turned off the DSP which improved things somewhat, but I'm still suffering from tinny, hard, one-note treble, poor mid-range clarity, and muffled distorted bass. I've tried every tone and position combination and finally settled on turning down the treble and mids and shifting the balance slightly to the right/rear just to get the sound out off my face. Are the lower front speakers woofers only? If I put my ear to them, I hear low muddled sound but can't really tell. Third: XM-Satellite fades out occasionally, but sound quality is even more brittle and painful than radio.
How could the sound differ so radically from the 2009? Any thoughts? I'm afraid the dealer will tell me that it's working correctly.

[cycledrum]

Originally Posted by beejay

I'm very disappointed with the overall audio quality in my new Gen III, 2010 Prius III, JBL- 8 speaker model - and I'm speaking comparitively to my former 2009 Prius II, 6 speaker car. I'm taking it back to the dealer tomorrow but would like to know if anyone else has the same issues. BTW, I'm a Consumer Electronics Professional and lifelong audiophile. First issue - AM/FM: I listen primarily to FM-radio because I used to work at a radio station and I love the format. I'm finding that the FM tuner cannot seem to grab onto stations - many sound noisy and static-y as if they're not properly tuned, and I lose stations at short distances from the tower (I live in Oakland and had to drive into SF to hear my favorite station without static) AM has engine noise. Second issue: sound quality - it's awful, sounds like my old 9 volt transistor radio and gives me listening fatigue headaches. It sounds thin, muddy and one-dimensional; all of the sound seems to come from the center of the dash as if it were monaural. Voices and vocals are hollow and nasal, guitars, horns, keyboards are all indistinct. I turned off the DSP which improved things somewhat, but I'm still suffering from tinny, hard, one-note treble, poor mid-range clarity, and muffled distorted bass. I've tried every tone and position combination and finally settled on turning down the treble and mids and shifting the balance slightly to the right/rear just to get the sound out off my face. Are the lower front speakers woofers only? If I put my ear to them, I hear low muddled sound but can't really tell. Third: XM-Satellite fades out occasionally, but sound quality is even more brittle and painful than radio.
How could the sound differ so radically from the 2009? Any thoughts? I'm afraid the dealer will tell me that it's working correctly.

Wow! Worse IYO than a 2009 base audio system?

My 2009 JBL system can do pretty well with the right source. Geez, I would hope the GenIII is an improvement.

[mlibanio]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Toyota Audio! I still find it truly confounding that Toyota can make one of the worlds most complex and sophisitcated vechiles, and yet can't get an audio system to sound right. Toyota audio generally has terrible spatial imaging issues, poor bass and excessive treble, strange mid-range frequencies that on some songs are either too much or too low, and I quite agree that the audio sounds very monaural. Plus I find that I am constantly fiddling around with Bass and Treble settings on my car because the sound can be so annoying. I commented previously on my 2010 Prius that the JBL sound system should be avoided and just stick with a base stereo, as an aftermarket would be much better.

The dealer unfortunately will be able to do nothing for you, as they have nothing to help with your audio woe's. Your best bet as I found is to replace the speaker wiring with thicker gauge wiring (I don't think you want to do that quite yet though! LOL!) and replace the speakers. Things improve a bit, but not much. Anyway, install a bypass amplifier and it should improve without voiding your warranty.

[dmvp]

When I drove home from the dealer I left the radio on, as I had no idea how to change anything and didn't want to try while driving. I thought it sounded pretty lame.

Got home, put in some CD's and I'm blown out of the water! The sound is amazing!! So yeah, I think maybe the FM receiver must be pretty bad. I'm wondering if you have an iPod with a FM adapter? If so, you could hook that up and it might sound just as good as the CD's do? Just a thought.

I only listen to CD's so I'm happy with my Audio experience.

[a priori]

That just isn't right -- on many fronts. If you are an audiophile and you could live with the base system on a Gen2, you are a patient person. I didn't like the premium JBL on my 2007, but I found I could live with it just because I liked everything else about the car (well, almost!).

I find the 2010 JBL premium sound to be a major step up. I haven't yet listended to a CD, and I listen primarily to the satellite stations, AM radio and my iPhone (now through BT streaming audio). I find the sound to be significantly better than my '07. The lower road noise and background noise helps a lot. The removal of the giant front, center speaker really helps.

Go back to the dealer and ask to listen to the sound in another 2010. I can't believe yours is right. I had the radio and then the amplifier replaced in my 2007. It was due to some real problems within the amp, so I wouldn't doubt it could happen to you. As others have said, sound systems just don't seem to be high priority with Toyota (Nissan has things in a bit different order).

[beejay]

a priori
Thanks for the support - I stopped by the dealer today. They want the car for a whole day to drive it around, compare to other 2010's and call for sikmilar complaints - the service mgr agreed that he heard static on the radio and that the in door speakers don't sound right. So with any luck I won't score a "no trouble found". Yeah, the base 2009 system was quite a bit fuller and cleaner - not great great but no objectionable stuff either.

[josel777]

Same problem here, FM stations sound noisy and staticky. This is by far the worst radio I have ever owned.

I have a Prius II with the base radio.

[7th_paramita]

I have a Prius II and the FM reception is poor. Whereas in my previous car, a Maxima, I was able to get constant good reception, on the same routes now, I loose the reception at times and it deteriorates frequently.

[PriusCrazy]

Originally Posted by dmvp

...put in some CD's and I'm blown out of the water! The sound is amazing!!

I only listen to CD's so I'm happy with my Audio experience.

Same here dmvp. I've noticed a remarkable difference with CD's (MP3 format too).

[brick]

The trouble with FM makes me think that the antenna might be to blame. Looking at pictures of 2010s it seems that the whip is a bit thicker/shorter than what I have on my 07. The length of the mast is critical to signal gain, and that can make the difference between clean, satisfying sound and a staticy mess. One of you mentioned that it sounds monaural...maybe it is monaural because the radio doesn't have a strong enough signal to pull in stereo? That's what my little hand-held radios do.

I have never owned a car that didn't need an audio upgrade from the factory system. The only reason I haven't done speakers on mine is because I've been listening to news radio (BBC World Service) almost exclusively.