Pics of my dual-amp/double-din touchscreen/new speakers/subwoofer setup

Hey folks, I am stoked about my new setup. You might remember my old thread: Pics of my subwoofer/amp install | PriusChat

That thread covers the install of my subwoofer and subwoofer amplifier. I now went full on and ripped out the factory radio and amplifier, as well as the speakers. If you have read the amazing analysis of the JBL system (Prius JBL Audio system response, specs, and photos) then you know that you are missing a lot of what is going on with this so-called "upgraded" system. Many people, myself included, tapped into the rear speakers as inputs to a subwoofer... the cutoff below 70Hz makes this a dismal proposition (hey it's better than nothing). Trust me when I say that getting a RCA input for your sub from a setup that is not cutting off frequencies below 70Hz is a really good thing.

Here is a list of the gear I got (black friday prices):

Pioneer AVH-X4500BT 7" touchscreen with bluetooth+ipod and 3 pairs of 4v preamps ($300)
Alpine MRV-F300 50W RMS x 4 at 4 ohm ($200)
Focal IS 165 6.75" 2-Way Component Speakers ($150 x 2)

I am not going to post tons of pics of my install process... it is really not different than the threads which I found on here. I had to fabricate wood rings to fit these speakers. I never did that before, I bought a rotary cutter tool with a circle attachment and made 4 of them (after I screwed up one or two). I used 1/4" red oak, a hardwood, since I wanted them thin and strong. I used 1/2" wood screws to secure the speakers to the rings, and 3/4" sheet metal screws to secure that to the door panel.

For the tweeters, I had to get a little creative. For the rears, I used the original speaker mounting rings, but I spent quite some time with my Dremel carving out a space big enough. Once the tweeters could fit, I "glued" them in with Sugru, which is a quite awesome thing if you don't know about it. Just a little snake of Sugru all around the void on the inside... they came out really nice.


I added Molex quick releases for my tweeters so the panel could come off as before


For the front tweeters, I thought about dremeling the sail panels, but I didn't really like that prospect so I used the mounts that came with the tweeters and 3 screws each. You gotta be bold when you are drilling those holes! They are aimed right at the listener and I am really happy with them.


For the amplifier, I used a 8ga KnuKonceptz kit for the wiring, plus I bought two more 10' Rockford Fosgate RCA cables off of Amazon. I attached the power cable with the included 50A fuse and ran it under that duct thing and up the firewall and through the cable ducting to the front passenger seat. For the ground, I attached it to one of the attachment points for the old JBL amplifier. I had to scrounge around at work for a different bolt because of the shape of the terminal with the wiring kit I bought. I could have used a different terminal but instead found a bolt with no washer (it is not a common thread... it's like a M8x1.25). I work with machine shops though so that helped. The 3 plugs on the right are things that attach to the seat.


You can see the mess that is the speaker connection splices. Hey, they work. One thing that I should mention is that every schematic I found has only 2 plugs on the JBL amp... mine had 3 plugs. That made it a little harder, but also Toyota did something insane. We all know that from the front channels, the woofers and tweeters are independently driven from the amp. What is insane is that they use the same exact color wires! I took a semi-educated guess and got the correct ones, since in my new setup, the front speakers are driven off of a single connection (I chose the Front Tweeter connections for no particular reason). These speakers have built in crossovers so you can just wire the woofers and tweeters in parallel on a single amp channel.

How does it sound in comparison? AMAZING... and I don't have it fully dialed in yet. I have the gain only set to about halfway and it gets far far louder than the JBL system, and the quality is much better.

 

Thanks! I am not a pro, I just took the time to understand everything that was going on. You just have to take baby steps.