Who likes the stock speakers?

2010 III with JBL/navigation. No real complaints other than the difficulty overcoming the road noise of the Goodyear Assurance tires without having to raise the volume to louder than optimal level.

 

I don't know if the speaker magnets are neo. I doubt it. The cones are cheap paper, and they are one way drivers.
I also replaced the speakers on my 2002 camry. The magnets are much larger then the prius magnets, and they seem much more powerful.
I have experience with neo magnets from taking apart hard drives, and the prius speaker magnets seem unlikely to be neo.

Even the cheap OEM camry speakers used some kind of plastic cone, rather than the cheap paper cone.
Any name me one quality speaker that uses a plastic frame... There are none.. Even the OEM camry plastic frame is significantly more robust than the prius speakers.

I switched to some inexpensive kenwoods 6.5" 3 way speakers (which I now have for sale along with the adapter plates), and they sounded a whole lot better. Much better highs, lows, and I suspect they are more efficient than the factory speakers.

The prius OEM speakers are simply dreadful.

The OEM prius speakers have nothing to recommend them, except perhaps light weight.
And the OEM dash speakers are also significantly worse than the OEM 2002 camry dash speakers.
I have pictures of the prius vs 2002 camry speakers for your viewing pleasure at
weasel.com: 2012 Toyota Plug in Prius Stereo which details my prius audio modifications.

 

The stock speakers sound, well, stock, and nothing more. They do a good job of fulfilling the target goals of most factory car audio systems. They have ample bass with no rattling. They have a huge mid-bass hump that works to make even low-quality sources like talk-radio sound acceptable (by primarily making it audible) over road and wind noise.

However they are nothing like high-fidelity. The bass is over-emphasized to the point that all music is made boomy (another customer preference however - check your rental cars - 99% of the time the bass has been cranked by a previous driver to near the max) and there is no distinction between various bass instruments. The mids and highs lack detail and are generally muddy.

That said, unless one compares it directly to another system that sounds better, the vast majority of owners are going to be pretty happy with it as it gets loud, doesn't distort, doesn't rattle, and has plenty of boom.

 

I don't know how it measures out on a sound meter, but to me it sounds clean and "natural". I'm surprised anyone would say it's too bassy, given that lack of bass seems to be most switchers' main complaint and focus. It's a truly extraordinary ear that can hear or approciate hi-fidelity over the road noise. I think what most people miss is bigger "presence", which to me sounds unnatural. After searching for home speakers that would sound great for music while still being adequate for home theater purposes, I came to value clear, natural sound over "blow your socks off" presence. Bottom line, I like and am satisfied wtih the stock system, but I claim no special expertise, only a personal preference.

 

They're adequate for me, but are far from what most people would call good.

 

The stock system, like most that are better than bare-bones is 'bassy' in that everything has a lot of mid range punch that isn't present on a higher quality system. It doesn't have the real low end of a high end system, however. My PiP system is stock, but the system on one of my other cars has several thousand dollars invested in it. Initially, the Prius system sounds 'fuller,' but in time, it becomes apparent that this isn't terribly musical. Discerning individual bass instruments is difficult when compared to my better system. At the higher frequencies things sound flat and lifeless. Most of this is audible even over the road noise, and it doesn't take anyone special to hear it, you just need to live with systems of differing characteristics for a while where the differences eventually become obvious.

At lower volumes I would actually say the Prius system is somewhat better, because that fullness means the music and talk is more easily audible. Yet the difference at higher volumes is striking. The Prius' system doesn't beg you to push it when you get into a great song. Yet my more expensive system does just that; it sounds more like music, and gets loud cleanly and effortlessly which just begs you to turn it up, which I do frequently with that system. That virtually never happens in the Prius.

 

Who likes the stock speakers?

People who sell aftermarket speakers.

 

JBL Green Edge Speakers, certain songs they seem to generate rattles, dealer said nothing wrong with speakers, I got some Dynomat for the doors around the speakers problem solved….

I do like the sound though they are decent…. coming from a BMW with Harmon Kardon I'm impressed with what Toyota did.

 

I don't disagree with your explanation. I listen at low volumes, have low expectations when in a car, and don't spend enough time in the car to care. The stock JBL system definitely can't suck me in like my home system. The punched up mid range you describe seems akin to turning on dynamic volume on a Marantz receiver when listening to movies, to make the dialogue clearer. I'm just glad the JBL system is clean and clear at the volumes I listen, even with road noise.

 

Not me.

 

For now, I prefer the stock speakers as silly as they appear. This weekend I swapped three different sets of front speakers and they all had no bass. It sounded like a downgrade to me. I tried turning the base all the way up the fader to front and volume to almost max. Sound quality wasn't as good to my ears. The weird thing is the same speakers sounded great in my 360watt stock Honda so it must be the Toyota head unit. So with all doors having sound deadening applied the stock speakers sound pretty decent to me. I highly recommend sound deadening as your first mod if you are looking at an inexpensive way to get more out of the stock speakers and get that nice solid sound (almost Lexus like) when closing the door. Of course a more substantial audio upgrade will sound best but I just got the car and want to keep it stockish.

Speakers tested: Polk db651s, Rockford Fosgate Prime R1675x2 and Kenwood KFC-6965S.

 

IMHO, prius speakers are OK, better than the other toyota cars i have/had. i had them tested with a test CD with a full frequency sweep and haven't noticed any glaring problems. anyone expecting high fidelity sound in a car with all that road noise is a bit naive.

but i can see sound lacking in the second row. you can't have good sound with speakers just in the door. sedans with the speakers in the shelf behind the seats are hard to beat.

 

Stratman, You are right on point. Being a music man all my life (guitar, trumpet) I cannot believe the stock balance sound from this system. I grew up in the 60's when amplification was reaching an all time high. Teac, Techniques, Kustom, Fender, Henderson, Pioneer, Harmen Kardon, etc. A friend of mine back in the 70's use to custom build his own stereo system in his car. This was before you could just go to a store and buy the amps with all the by-passes and cross overs built in it. He built his own amps, put them under the seats, soldered resisters to his speakers, did his own cross overs, installed a 60 bar equalizer (yeah, he was crazy like that!) and then he would buy (his favorite) this Pioneer under the dash board unit that weighed about 30 pounds!! When he was done, we would sit in his car and listen to Pink Floyd's Dark side of the moon. Tell you what, nothing built today comes close to what this man could build for cars!! By the way, I totally really laugh and respect your photo next to your name! Pretty much spells it all out.

Anyway, I like the stock system in the car. The magnets in these cars save weight and deliver the quality needed. The only thing I want to do is boost it a 100 watts to get over the road noise.

 

P.S. the montgomery for me is from my favorite jazz guitarist, Wes Montgomery.

 

16 Prius v w/ Nav not JBL.
Tolerable sound...not so bad.

If I was to change a speakers I would start with the left and right ones on the dash.

Dash speaker seem difficult to access though.
Doors seem OK.

 

I just added a small amplifier and a DLS subwoofer in my trunk, that helps for the missing bass issue. There's a DSP in my player so all the speakers could be adjusted separately (frequencies, levels and delays). Sounds pretty amazing with stock speakers.