Upgrading audio, adding amp and speakers

over sizing the speakers will cause the sound to degrade if thier is not much power there to push them. New speakers and a new amp to push them makes a hudge difference. I put in 50 watt speaker RMS and a 75 WPC @4ohm amp and its more than I need.

 

Amp and speaker upgrade should give the desired results although I am not familiar with the specs of your factory HU. From what I understand the 2013 might not be a good candidate for HU replacement do to vehicle interfaces incorporated. My opinion is scrap all the old speakers "including the tweeters" with components up front using active cross-overs with required wiring changes and coax in the back. I too have a 2010 Prius II that was heavily modified linked below.

frodoz Stereo Upgrade | PriusChat

 

Not sure about 2013 but I replaced the speakers and added an amp on my 2014 and it made a world of difference. I left the stock HU in because I actually like most of its functions, and I think the sound quality on the stock HU is pretty good. I went with a pair of MB Quart 6.5" components up front and Infinity Reference 6.5 coaxials in the rear doors, powered by JL Audio XD700/5. Later, I added a 10" JL sub to give it some low end push and now it sounds really complete. You must upgrade the dash tweeters because it made a TON of difference in mine.

 

I am also looking to upgrade the dash tweeters on my 2013 prius.
What size or the dash tweeters? What size will fit?
Can I purchase a tweeter that has the crossover built in, or do I have to use the (device) that is on the stock dash tweeter as the high-pass filter.

 

The factory uses passive cross-overs. Active cross-overs are far superior.

HowStuffWorks "What's the difference between active and passive speaker crossovers?"

 

So an active crossover is done via an amp, correct.

Any suggestions on dash tweeters for 2013 prius with passive crossover? Or guess I can use the passive crossover (device) that is currently on the dash speakers right now, until I get an amp.

Any recommendations on speaker and size that does not require much modifications?

I have already replaced the front door speakers, and will be doing the rear door speakers this weekend.
My plan is to keep the factory HU, replace all the speakers, get an amp, then a sub-woofer.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

The cross-overs come with the speakers and are tapped for frequency separation, gains are tuned at the amp. I do not know what size Squawker/Tweeter the 2013's have, but 3" was the largest my 2010 would hold in that position. Look at my linked Album post #3 for my recommendation. 2 piece components up front are less invasive (no hole in the A pillar). I put my cross-overs under the drivers seat and amp under the passenger seat. I did go high end on my install so you have to set a budget before deciding on which components.

 

Wiring direct to the door speaker in the front is the only way to bypass the dash speakers, on my 2012 the speaker wire is parallel with the dash and front door speakers.

 

Is there a AMP output from the factory head unit? I would hate to use a speaker wire powered AMP set up
if I didn't have to …….

 

Nope, just speaker outputs. I have an Alpine MRX-V70 running off the speaker outputs and it actually sounds good. I can't say it sounds any worse then my other systems I've had using pre-amp outputs. And it can turn on/off based off of the input. No remote wire needed.

 

Can you tell me more about your setup…….what speakers you used, ect. I think I might be going this route then.

 

Sure. I have plans to write up something at some point. But I probably won't be finished for a while yet. So here's a quick rundown...

I'm running the stock radio obviously. I cut the speaker wires behind the radio and spliced in an 8-pin molex connector. (From a PC 8-pin CPU power extension cable) One female connector on the radio and two males for the speaker wires. One male goes out to the factory speaker wires. So I can always plug this back in if I need to go back to factory. The other male connector runs the wires back to the hidden compartment in the hatch where it plugs into the amps high-level input. A Pioneer TS-SW3001S4 12" shallow mount subwoofer is also in that compartment. I need to rebuild the box as my initial measurements were off a little. I then ran additional speaker wires to all four doors. I currently have a pair of Infinity Kappa 62.9i in the front doors with a custom made mounting adapter. I don't have anything in the rear doors yet and am still working on the mounting adapters for them. I'm planning on picking up a pair of Infinity Kappa 60.9cs with the woofers in the front doors and the tweeters in the dash. Then moving the 62.9s to the rear doors.

I also put connectors on the sub+amp box so I can quickly disconnect everything and pull the box out to access the spare tire. The wires from the head unit use a female connector and the wires out to the speakers use a male connector. So, if I need the extra space for something, (which currently means if I need to put anything into the hatch) I can pull out the box, connect the two speaker wire connectors together and run my speakers directly off the head unit.

 

JGI, do you (or anyone else) happen to have a wiring diagram or pics that shows the back of the factory HU for the speakers? I have a PiP and am going to add an Alpine amp under the passenger seat to power the door speakers, which will be upgraded also.

Also, does anyone know if I can extend the ground on an amped Bazooka to the Alpine amp ground location (so it will be a common one)? I plan on using the seat belt bolt, but with the Bazooka in the hatch it means running the wire about 7 or 8', which I understand is not optimal. Would it help if I connected a larger gauge wire for that ground? It appears to be just 16 or maybe even 18 g. Should I cut it off close to the sub and then connect the fat wire?

 

Sorry, I don't have the diagram for the stock HU. What I did was I simply tapped the speaker leads into a LOC and then to the amp. No hiss on mine, the system is absolutely quiet. As for your Alpine amp/powered Bazooka, they don't have to be literally on a same grounding point - each one can be grounded separately (the car chassis is your common ground). 16 awg is way too thin to be a ground lead. Ground wires are typically 8 awg for a single amp and 4 or 0 awg for multi amps. You can use a 4 awg wire that goes into a ground distribution block, and then 8 awg to go to your Alpine and Bazooka amps, since they will not take 4 awg straight up.

 

Ah, that makes sense! Thanks!

 

This sounds great. What amp did you use to power all this?

 

I am going to go another route with my opinion: Save any money that you'd put to the Prius' stereo and get a nice home hifi / theatre instead. Although I put a lot of money into my system with some decent components, nothing beats the sound coming from a quiet environment with speakers made from wooden boxes; set up correctly in a room

 

Grren4ever....nothing beats a mobile escape pod with great sound. With kids, sometimes the car is the quiet environment ;-)