My 2015 Prius Three (Gen 3) Stereo and Speaker Adventures...

Over the weekend, I installed a pair of Coaxial speakers (Polk DB651) and Kenwood 2 channel amp. At first, I installed the Polks with the stock dash speakers left in place and ran it off the factory non-JBL Navigation headunit. Sounds OK.

Then I installed the Kenwood 2-channel amp, sounds much better! Dash speakers still in place.

I thought about it overnight, decided to remove the dash speakers altogether. I simply cut the connector off, stripped the ends, twist-tied them, then crimped them. Both colors should be crimped together. Pink to pink and purple to purple, etc. Easy!

Wow! What a difference. The result is very loud and crisp. I realize this is a budget setup, but I'm happy for now. I want to add a sub in the rear cargo area (off to the side in that little cubby as to not take up too much available cargo space) and call it a day. I plan to go with a JL 250/1 and JL W8 sub. Simple.

I mounted the amp in the rear cargo area using velcro. The amp does get very hot and I hope it doesn't overheat down there. So far so good. The amp was only $70 so if it dies whatever.

I recommend you disconnect the negative battery terminal. I wanted to work with the AC on so I made the decision to work on the car like this. As long as you don't short circuit anything (such as cutting a hot and ground wire), you will be fine. Use a volt meter to ensure what you are cutting into.


Excuse my dirty hands. I was working on this stuff all day. Thanks to those who have uploaded wire colors. I use that to identify the harnesses on the back of the stereo. I've seen this information NOWHERE online. So here's my contributions on how the actual connectors look.

The top (smaller) connector is the rear speaker harness and is coded as follows:

Red: Right Rear Speaker (+)
White: Right Rear Speaker (-)

Black: Left Rear Speaker (+)
Yellow: Left Rear Speaker (-)

The lower (larger) connector is the front speaker harness and is coded as follows:

Light Green: Right Front Speaker (+)
Blue: Right Front Speaker (-)

Pink: Left Front Speaker (+)
Purple: Left Front Speaker (-)

Brown: Ground
Light Blue: (CONSTANT 12V--Warning--Live hot wire)
Gray (the thin one next to it) Switched 12V (Remote turn on for your amplifier)




I routed my wires here on the passenger side. Remote wire, speaker wire, and rca pair. No noise. I stuffed them inside those pink plastic wire holders. Perfect. Routing the wires was a breeze. Take note of the high voltage battery pack at the rear. Use extreme caution when routing cables. There's little to no chance you can get hurt by doing something as simple as routing cables, but just use caution. I steered clear of it.



Used Metra speaker adapters as well as wire harness adapter (plug and play) and dynamat extreme on any larger flat sheet metals are that are flimsy. You don't really have to cover the parts that are stamped/creased. those are inherently rigid. I put dynamat directly behind the speaker and on any large wide open sheet metal areas on the inside of the exterior door skin. You'll notice Toyota uses a square piece of mat right smack in the middle of the door skin.

CAUTION: Dynamat or similar products are EXTREMELY SHARP. it will slice through your hand like butter if you aren't careful. As I was trying to press the mat onto the door, it sliced through my thumb like nothing. What I did as a result is take the waxy paper backing you peel off and fold it into fours. Then use that to protect your thumb as you press the mat to the door. Work from the center outwards in every direction. That or gloves. Whatever you do, use caution. It's been 10 years since I worked with the stuff and I forgot how sharp it is. I did not see any warnings on the box.






Here is how the twisted pair of dash speaker wires look after stripping back the insulation using my fingers:


These are the wires you need to crimp together (or solder,whatever floats your boat)


Parts list for those who are interested in tackling a similar project:

Kenwood KAC-5206 2-Channel Amplifier (65W RMS)

Polk 6.5" DB651 2-Way Coaxial Speakers (65W RMS)

Boss 8 AWG Amp Wiring Kit (Comes with RCAs and speaker Wire)

Metra 72-8104 Speaker Adapter Cables (Plug and play)

Metra 82-8147 6x9 to 6.5" Speaker Adapter Plates

Dynamat Extreme wedge pack (Perfect amount to do four doors without going overboard (See my pics) If you want to do the max for each door, maybe a pack for each door. If you want to do more than I did, maybe two packs. One pack worked well for me. Did not want to add too much weight.

As you can see, this upgrade didn't cost much and is really loud and crisp. I know some of you are audio buffs and I know you can use better parts, tweeters up high for better staging, etc. I didn't want to spend too much. I may switch to a set of components and a better amp in the future. Now that the wiring is mostly done, it wouldn't be too hard if i wanted to. Didn't really run into any issues. The hardest part was drilling holes in the door for the screws. The self tapping sheet metal screws I bought from Home Depot kinda sucked and only 1 out of 4 of the screws pierced the door sheet metal. I suppose they aren't manufactured evenly and some are sharp and others aren't. I eventually got them in. I'd source some high quality screws perhaps ones with drilling heads on them before tackling this.

I'm very happy with this upgrade and listening to music is a joy. I'll post pics on how I mounted the amp. It's nothing special. It sits next to the battery in the plastic tray.

 

Stock headunit. Non-JBL Navigation

 

I used a line-out converter from the headunit output wires then an RCA pair to the amp.

 

6x9 is stock in the front door. Aftermarkets may fit with an adapter. Some customization/drilling will be required.

The rears work. They just are faint. Maybe if amplified they will sound louder..