Opinions, please: quality of Prius II's stereo?

I have a II and the stock system sounds fine for me. then again I have tinnitus from working around jet engines so anything is fine with me.

 

That explains it !!!

REV

 

I compared the II's and III's stereo's extensively before purchasing my II. I don't need bluetooth - others may.

IMO, for the $230 I have in front speaker and powered subwoofer upgrades, it blows the III's JBL system away and was much cheaper.

The only drawback is that now I have (2) 10's in a 45lb box in my trunk. I wired in quick disconnects so I can take it out if necessary, but haven't needed to yet. I previously had a powered 8" tube, but it wasn't cutting it, so I went with these MTX subs:





And replaced my front sqawkers with these:

 

^

Could you give the information on that sqawker replacement? How was the fitment?

 

These are the sqawkers I used:
Dayton Audio RS75-4 3" Reference Full-Range Driver 4 Ohm

They're 3", which was still too small of diameter to have them rest on the mounting tabs from the old ones. So, I dremeled out some of the sqawker grill cover and just liberally hot-glued them to the plastic cover. I looked long and hard at potential sqawker replacements before choosing these - that's why I didn't want to compromise on something that would fill the mounting hole better instead of trading off on reduced higher-range frequencies.

Besides, with an efficiency of 83dB @ 1W/1m, I wanted these up closer to the windshield. They'll have a wider dispersion since the plastic grille openings are only 2.5" to begin with (the driver cone diameter is 2.5" too). Gluing them to the cover seemed like the best option. I kept the high-pass capacitor from the stock speaker harness - I'm not worried about these vibrating excessively and falling down. And they haven't either after a few months.

The stock system has pretty good speaker placement and imaging. I had to adjust the treble up slightly to compensate for the reduced efficiency of these sqawkers over the cheap OEM's (that were louder but way harsher), but the sound is a lot cleaner.

Combined with these subs:http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B001J1XWZ4?tag=priuschatcom-20
The system is great for me. I've done a lot of stereos in other vehicles, and I feel that any further speaker/amp/HU replacements will yield significantly less return on this modest $230 investment for my needs. But, everyone's needs are different

Dave

 

Thanks Dave for the detail response. I finally found those on the site you mentioned. I like them but was hoping for a higher range. I did find a pair of Pioneers that look like just what I want. What do you think?

 

I disagree. I upgraded the stereo on my II w/the Kenwood DNX690 (includes Bluetooth, DVD, and Garmin) for $625. Adding the needed accessories and a professional installation and I'm up to about $850. It looks/sounds great and I have a bit of extra cash left over for the back-up camera, which is going in Friday. I allotted myself $1000 for the stereo upgrade b/c I knew I wanted these features and I knew that if I bought a III w/them all, I'd be looking at spending about $3,000 and it would be of a lesser quality (particularly the navigation).

 

Music wise, you have just upgraded the headunit. Nothing more.

Navigation wise, i would have bought a III and got a Garmin portable, which is super easy to update, is portable...and i would have a good JBL sound system. A Garmin can be had for around $200 or so with lifetime updates. I would have spent a tiny bit more than you...yet have a superior sound system to boot. Now, to beat the JBL system, how much more are you gonna have to spend?

The folks above installed these 3" woofers which seems great...but still it does not solve the door woofer quality. I believe that on the II, the door woofers play music, not just bass...so, you have mid to high frequencies coming from multiple sources in different planes. The door speakers can't really play low on the II...so, you would need to add a sub. As for the huge box in the example above...no thanks...this will add weight to a hybrid car and robs precious cargo space. You will need amps to power all of these speakers (and sub) too...because no stock (or aftermarket) headunit will do an adequate job of powering poor efficiency speakers (as those seen above).

The JBL may not provide thunderous bass of a highschooler's Pinto nor does it provide ultra-refined sound of a Mark Levinson Reference system...but it does provide pretty damn good sound in a very stealth package with very good balance and staging (via digital signal processing that is simply not seen in any low-to mid-end aftermarket system unfortunately)! No cargo space is rob. No humongous power is needed to drive it. No extra weight.

 

I've read Thai's posts in the past and have come to the conclusion he must work for JBL. There's no other excuse for his fanboy-ness of the JBL system.

Anyways, congratulations Thai as you've just been the first and only user to make my ignore list :welcome:

Dave

 

Nope, all it takes is basic understanding of how a sound system should work. Remember, parts don't always make up the whole. You can install Boston Acoustics, MB Quartz, etc....but if it is not done right, then it will sound as good or worst than your II base system.

 

Ha..fair enough..I know where Thai is coming from..and I'm not here to argue..but I think the Kenwood, and its built-in amp and increases watts make the factory speakers sound MUCH better than the stock stereo.. Now, I haven't tested out the JBL system, so I don't know how good it is..but I'm more than happy with my stereo upgrade.. Different strokes for different folks. It's all good..now rock on! :rockon:

 

Yup, a little more power to the stock speakers should make it sound better. I would even argue that this may be a better route than having an aftermarket headunit powering inefficient and efficient speakers all jumboed together.

EDIT: my bad...MAX ATTACK is using his STOCK headunit to power inefficient aftermarket speakers! Hmmm.

 

I'm tempted to add that Magnum subwoofer/amp setup to my JVC KW-NT3HDT aftermarket head unit (with stock midranges/tweeters). It's rated as weighing 50 pounds; not too significant, though I wonder what it would entail costwise in terms of a loss of MPG cumulatively over time.

 

I think those would sound pretty good too. Those will definitely be brighter, I just personally didn't want anything that might be too harsh.

I like parts-express - they have spec sheets to make easy side-by-side comparisons of their drivers. Just look to the right of their "Product Details" section and you'll see a "Product Resources" section. They'll have the spec sheet there for frequency response and various speaker parameters.

The Tang-Bang line they carry is pretty good too.

Dave

 

I haven't noticed any change in mileage. It's really insignificant. A gallon of gas is ~6lbs - I doubt anybody really notices reduced fuel economy just after they fill up and add ~50lbs to the vehicle? BTW - I average 56MPG (computer calculated albeit) on the some 6k miles I've put on my '10 Prius so far, so I would say I'm pretty sensitive to fuel economy

Also, power draw is insignificant as well. I have these on a 10A fuse and have never blown it even playing at the loudest levels I can take.

I took a gamble on these MTX subs. Reviews have complained about the amp quality, but heck, ~$150 for decent subs and a nice box is still a good deal even if I have to replace the amp later. So far, no complaints and they totally blow my old 8" bass tube away. They play loud enough for me, low enough, and are very tight and clean.

My $0.02.

Dave

 

yup, I like the idea of using the head unit's internal crossover to spare the midranges and leave all the heavy lifting to the MTX. ;-) That is an amazing price, especially when it includes the amp. I'm sure it's built in China, lol.

Long ago, I had an Acura Integra hatchback with some JL Audio sub(s)...it sounded fantastic at the time.

 

Understanding how a sound system should work (from JBL's point of veiw) is a totally different concept than actually having a given system that SOUNDS GOOD. I can't agree with your assessment of the JBL system. It is vastly underpowered, and because of that, it has extremely muddy bass, very limited midrange and shrill highs. It's actually one of the reasons that I DIDN'T buy a III, even though I WANTED the Bluetooth portion of the upgrade.

It's worth nowhere near $1000 (maybe $200-250)... and for $1000 you could put a system in a II that would absolutely blow away the JBL 'upgrade' in the III. It is slightly better than the system in the II, only because it's louder, but since it was not upgradeable without tearing the entire car apart .... wasn't a consideration for me.

Sorry Thai, gotta disagree with you on this one. I know you like your JBL system, and I'm glad you're happy with it, but I think you can do a LOT better for $1000.

REV

 

Everyone will have different opinions on what is good or not. And poor stereo quality is not specific to any particular manufacturer or model. I had a Nissan 350Z with an awful stereo system and a Nissan Altima hybrid with an excellent system. The 2010 prius II that I have, has an awful stereo system. If stereo system quality is a high priority item, then you should choose some other vehicle or consider upgrading to after market component systems. Don't buy a prius because you want a spectacular stereo system and then complain about it.

 

I have a 2010 Prius II, and I installed a Kenwood 6960 unit. I commute a long way and I wanted a good entertainment system with GPS. I have 8 GB of music on a USB stick inside the car, which I can select through a menu system on the touch screen. That's most of what I listen to, but I sometimes use the FM radio and the Bluetooth phone. The Garmin GPS is the main reason I bought the unit. It has an input for a backup cam, which I'll get around to installing some day. Compared to the high price of Toyota's GPS, which does a bad navigation job, I think I got great value.

I'm satisfied with the sound using the stock speakers, but I was not satisfied with the stock radio performance. In my opinion, the Prius can never be a great car for audio, because it's noisy, at least compared to my old BMW, which was a big, heavy car which was very quiet inside. But, unlike others here (cough! cough!), I realize that these views are only my opinions.

Last thing: Replacing the radio in a Prius II with another unit is incredibly easy. This car is far and away the easiest for cleanly installing a replacement radio.

 

The 6960 is a really nice unit ... discontinued now I believe, but you can still find them brand new.

REV