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Can a 2010 Prius III JBL stereo be grafted into Prius II

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by Aegison, Mar 8, 2010.

  1. Aegison

    Aegison Member

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2009
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    Location:
    Southeast MI
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Intro: I searched & read lots of threads, but didn't seem to find a yes-no answer to my question, so here it is (apologize if it's been answered & I didn't find it).

    In Brief: Can the JBL head unit from a Gen III Prius 3 be retrofitted to a Gen III Prius II, and if so, how hard is it?

    In Detail:
    I'm looking at moving up to a 2010 Prius from a Gen II, and will have to go on a lease. Locally, it seems all the dealers have in 2010's

    • some Prius II's without anything much added on, and
    • lots of III's and IV's -- most all of which have navigation and/or the solar cell roof -- often plus a few other things which price them through the roof.
    And, there is a strong bias on the dealers' parts to sell what they have in inventory, rather than to find what someone wants and acquire it.

    So, as I'm picky about interior/exterior color, buying a Prius II looks like my best way to go.

    Problem is the single-CD pedestrian stereo in the Prius II.

    My questions, though many will object to this being what I'm thinking of, are these:

    • can a JBL unit from a Prius III be installed into a Prius II without great anguish? If so, is it relatively easy or darned complicated?
    • does Toyota or anyone else make a wiring harness to go from one to the other?
    • I realize there are fewer speakers etc, but don't mind that, and that it may lack steering wheel controls etc. But can it be put in and make music through the speakers I have in the II? [and, those hidden speakers could be upgraded without it being obvious)
    I also realize that there are "better" upgrade paths in going to 3rd party stereo's such as Pioneer etc etc. but don't want to go that way. I'm just not as much of an audiophile as many others are. My Gen II prius pkg 3 Touring has the 6-CD JBL system, and I like it.

    So, despite other options -- does anyone know if the Toyota-to-Toyota retro-fit can be done, and if so, how hard it is to connect the wiring etc ... and does Toyota have a connector which would handle it, much like Crutchfield offers on most of their kits.

    Thanks one & all!
     
    #1 Aegison, Mar 8, 2010
  2. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Yes you can do it. It is likely that someone upgrading their jbl system will sell you theirs cheaper than the dealer. They should be able to also sell you the cables.

    IMHO doing this install is a pita and not worth it unless you are upgrading to something better than the jbl. There is a european document that shows you what you need to do, you should be able to find it if you search. You will need to pull out the head unit, install the amp, run cable between the head unit and amp, run microphone and cable, run new speaker wires to the amp. The amp is designed for 2 ohm jbl speakers but you have 4 ohm speakers with crossovers, so you will likely lose a lot of sound quality if you don't replace the speakers (I would upgrade to aftermarket speakers). Others have mentioned that the jbl in the gen 3 sounds better than the gen2.


     
    #2 austingreen, Mar 8, 2010
  3. bighouses

    bighouses New Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    do you really need the amp ?
     
    #3 bighouses, Jun 8, 2010
  4. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    The JBL system splits parts of a normal headunit into the amp and head unit. The head unit can not function without the amp. So yes you need a jbl amp for the jbl cd changer or nav to work.
     
    #4 austingreen, Jun 8, 2010
  5. jcgee88

    jcgee88 Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I wanted to do a similar thing when I got my 2009
    last February. Not being sufficiently technically astute
    to want to do this myself, I contacted one of the
    prominent Prius mod shops that is frequently mentioned
    on PriusChat (sorry, I forget their name), and asked for
    an estimate.

    They declined to do it, saying they get this request
    all the time and have to turn it down all the time. The
    main issue is that the Gen II AM/FM/1-CD unit has
    a different harness than the Gen II JBL unit. Frankly, I
    think that is a stupid design, it should be one harness
    supports all head units.

    Other replies imply that you can replace the harness,
    which I imagine is possible. Whether that is easy to do
    and/or inexpensive to do is a different story.

    Caveat: my experience is for Gen II, not the Gen III
    you reference.
     
    #5 jcgee88, Jun 8, 2010
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