Help! Huge car stereo install questions!!!

So I NEED your help! I am looking to purchase a newer prius but I am a HUGE car stereo junkie. I'm not talking low end best buy type garbage. I need to know what type of wattage a prius can handle and what steps I would need to take to beef the car up. Are prius' alternator based or is there some sort of inverter system I would need to put in place? I will be running a total of 10-13 speakers totaling around 3,500 watts. I HAVE RUINED A CAR IN THE PAST with this setup by frying an alternator, ignition system and battery and if I buy a prius, I just cannot afford to trash the car due to my audio needs! What measures do I take? Where can I buy the necessary equipment? Has ANYONE actually done a REAL high fidelity/high power setup in a prius before? A BIG thank you to anyone who can provide me with some answers! Oh yea, I'm a delivery driver so this system will be on blast 40+ hours a week!

 

I am talking about 3,000 watts continuous. I see that you have Arc audio amps and those are what I will be running. I figured that people would say a bigger battery and a capacitor but i'm afraid that might not be enough. I will be running either 4 or 5 Arc amps to Hybrid Audio Legatia SE speakers including a Hybrid Audio 6.5" long throw sub in the cab and either 1 or 2 10" Hybrid Audio subs in the hatch. My installer told me that since they have yet to do a large setup in a prius that I should do the research on its limitations and find out how to bypass them with either bigger equipment or more of it. I really want a prius and plan on getting one before the end of this spring because as a delivery driver....50+mpg sounds a whole lot better than the 27 i'm getting right now

 

Understood but i may not even do the subs depending on the overall acoustics. Honestly, if I can be satisfied with a huge front stage setup (the way music was originally intended to be heard) then I will stay away from any subs but in a Prius...there's not a lot of up front room. Trust me, I'm no "bass freak" but some music has notes that just cannot be reproduced properly without a sub. Final note, Hybrid Audio is currently developing a 13.5" reference sub that will eclipse any and all speakers in a sound quality sense. Look that company up, all they do is win REAL awards

 

You say "limitations to the inverter setup" but does anyone make a different and larger capacity inverter? I REALLY want to bulletproof this car with any and all precautions before an install. I agree with your cone area suggestion but with more speakers comes more amplifiers to power them which in turn need more current wether they are digital, HD, etc. Let me be clear again, I am not looking for some huge bass setup so the idea of "four 15s or 6 12s or 8 10s" is not for me. Ideally, I would like to run a pair of Hybrid Audio's L8SE midbass in EACH DOOR, 1 pair or Hybrid Audio's L3SE midrange and 2 pair of Hybrid Audio L1PRO tweeters that would be set up as 1 midrange with 2 tweeters on each side. They would be in a custom fiberglass enclosure that would mount at the bottom of the a-pillar completely covering up that small triangular window. Furthermore, 1 (and if possible) or 2 Hybrid Audio 6.5" long throw subwoofer(s) would be fiberglassed where the passthrough area is above the transmission by removing all the plastic below the shifter column. If that would be enough bass to keep up with everything else then I would stop right there. If not, 1 or 2 Hybrid Audio 10" subs would be placed in the back. Before even putting a sub in the back I would be running 5 amps. I could potentially be running over 3,000 watts peak power with no subs in the back. RMS at maybe around 2,500. And yes, I know that 2 8" speakers would not fit in each door. 1 could fit and the other would be put into a custom kick panel. I hope that was descriptive enough, LOL!

 

I currently have a handful of Alpine PDX amps that I'm dying to get rid of and I will before my next install. I also have the JL Audio HD 750/1 which are all SUPPOSED to be low current drawing amps but those companies are full of it. Trust me, in my neon, the JL amp for the sub paired with 2 Alpine PDX amps that were powering my front stage managed to fry my alternator, battery and ignition system! This is why I want to bulletproof my next car before an install which I REALLY HOPE IS IN A PRIUS!!!

 

You've been a big help! Your install pics are choice! That's exactly what I want to do to the triangular window but squeeze a couple tweeters around it. Maybe only one would fit so I'd use gauge pods for the other two. The only reason that I am talking about such big power is because it is what the speakers can handle. It's not like I would have every amp at full gain and my volume on high but I want the car to be capable of that for a long term commitment As far as sound deadening, of course. That's the only way!

 

I hear ya loud and clear. My intent with this thread was to find out the cars limitations and ways to bypass those limitations. I realize that it's not good for a sound stage but as I said before, I'm a delivery driver and there wouldn't be anything better for me than a Prius. Therefore, I realize that it's only going to get as good as it can in the stereo department. About the "need to annoy ever person within a block of your car" comment...that is not and has never been my agenda since high school 11 years ago I know that sound quality isn't generally achieved at extreme power. I also know that I don't hardly ever play my music at extreme power. I simply have an addiction to having the "best of the best" when it comes to such matters and I totally overkill everything. I'm the guy with the $5k stereo you pull up next to without ever knowing it because maybe I'm listening to comedy on Pandora or Christian worship songs at normal voice levels but then there's that one day where I drive by blasting something like Tom Petty's "Free Falling" or some Old School Snoop Dog "Gin and Juice". That's the day I build for Trust me, I'm not an nice person.