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Sub woofer Install for dummies, no upgraded audio.

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by Austin5, Apr 4, 2013.

  1. Austin5

    Austin5 Go Bruins

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    Subwoofer install for dummies by a subwoofer dummy... No upgraded JBL audio.

    2010 USA prius, step by step mostly..


    -I had no clue how to install a subwoofer a week ago. And even after reading the tons of articles on here, its still scary to work with wires in the car! So this should help and answer a few questions that may have been obvious to others but weren't to me.
    -I’m sure most the info is in the forums but it took hours of searching for me, and I know there's a great forum post with the JBL audio and a subwoofer, but I do it differently.
    -If you or your car get hurt im not responsible, I had no idea what I was doing beforehand, may not be all 100% accurate, but mine works great :)

    My subwoofer has a built in amp, so if you don’t, you’ll just need to attach the amp to the speaker at any point.

    We begin:
    1. You’ll need:
    -- A subwoofer and amp, or sub/amp somb
    - Speaker Wire kit (power wire, ground wire, speaker wire, remote turn on wire (or more speaker wire...), and a fuse for the amp, and one for the power wire)
    -- Wire Stripper
    - Flat Head Screwdriver
    -- Allen Wrench
    - Razor blade(recommended), or wire tap-ins
    -- Hex Nut Driver/ Socket wrench
    - And Possibly an Allen Wrench set for the fuse holder.


    2. Remove panels around door from prius rear, and the battery cover in the back left of the car

    [​IMG]

    You can pull right at this friction clips location ^, and once that one pops off, pull the rest with your hand, along with the bottom so it looks like this:

    [​IMG]

    3. With the battery, lift up on the red tab shown below, loosen the screw with the socket wrench, and get your power wire underneath the screw and tighten. You don’t have to disconnect anything on the battery.

    [​IMG]

    4. Take that wire, and connect the fuse in the middle of the power wire, anywhere less than 3 feet from the battery connection. (White circle below!)

    [​IMG]

    5. Connect the power wire to your amps power connection.

    6. Take your ground wire, run it from the Ground on the amp, to a ground location in the prius. I used the screw in the back of the prius (Red circle in picture), because I don’t use them for anything , (Do not let the ground wire touch your wire from the battery! Or the fuse will blow)

    7. (optional, recommended) Take a small piece of speaker wire (few inches long) and run the wire from the amps remote turn on, to the amps power screw. The amp should power on!! If it doesn’t, check your connections, somethings wrong.

    ---------

    [​IMG]
    A mess right now.. clean it up after you’re done..

    8. Amp off, connect your speaker wire to the amp for the left/right, and then move yourself up to the back seat where the rear panels are off.

    9 (right). For the right side, you're looking for the red and white wire at the top of the connection to the door. Then either use your wire tap-in (not recommended by me) (shown below with the red wire), use a razor blade to make a connection without a wire tap-in. (shown below with the white wire)

    [​IMG]

    10. (optional) Power up your amp and test it with music, some bass should work.

    11 (left). The left will have a black and yellow wire, on the bottom of the connection to the door. Use a razor blade like seen below to carefully cut a bare spot of wire again.

    [​IMG]

    12. Connect your wires, and use electrical tape to cover these up well.

    [​IMG]

    13. (optional, recommended) Power and Test Your speaker, make sure you hear all bass sounds. If not working, somethings wrong with the connections. try switching your speaker wires on the amp around.

    14. Before placing panels back on the car, run the remote turn on wire up the right side of the car, under all the panels, all the way to under the steering wheel. I found this the easiest to use, unlike many suggesting the centre console, AND this will have 100% hidden wires, which you couldn’t get with the centre console.

    --Ignore how theres two wires, one is used for LEDs
    [​IMG]

    15. Connect it to a fuse that turns on with the car (just put it under the fuse and pop the fuse back in, or buy one of those special fuses with an outside connection, if you must.

    The yellow 20 works out well, used for the rear windshield wipe.
    [​IMG]

    16. Test, turn on your car and make sure the amp is on with it, and off when the car is off!

    17. Run all the wires from the car connections, to the amp, inside the door panels you removed at the beginning, put all the panels back on, and then shorten any wires that need to be shorter at the amp.

    18. (optional) Add a switch from radio shack if you want. I ended up connecting it through the same switch for my accent LED lighting, under the wheel. There's a screw over on the left side underneath

    [​IMG]

    19. Done. clean wiring, professional looking, professional sounding.. But not professional at all. ;)

    [​IMG]




    Thats it hope I helped
     
  2. Spaz

    Spaz Junior Member

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    Good job on the write up, I like that trick with the remote wire wrapped around the fuse. I would watch those speaker connections though, a bit of solder on them is worth rolls of electrical tape
     
  3. Radiospank

    Radiospank Member

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    Nice write up.
     
  4. tach18k

    tach18k Member

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    Does the sub POP when the power is shut off on it?
     
  5. andreyco

    andreyco Member

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    I wouldn't do the razor blade splice that you did there. It's not very secure, and if it comes lose it can easily short out the speaker amp in the radio. It would be better to use T-taps, as they are insulated and more secure.

    Also, since you're tapping the windshield wiper for the remote wire, might as well find something in the back of the car that turns on (maybe the same windshield wiper wire, just in the back where it goes into the liftgate, again using a T-tap).

    Overall this is an easy way to do the job, just make sure you're using the speaker level input on the sub amp.
     
  6. Austin5

    Austin5 Go Bruins

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    I tied a pretty good knot with the cords, but will be using my friends solder gun to make them better.

    Yes very slightly, whys it do that?

    Was sick of the wire tap in's after trying 8 of them and them breaking. Solder will be done soon. and the wiper tap in would've been easier if I knew which wire.
     
  7. andreyco

    andreyco Member

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    I've attached what a T-Tap looks like. The ones you were using are a pain in the butt to work with and disconnect if needed.

    Also, you sub pops because it turns on before the audio system does. The remote wire connected to a more appropriate 12V lead would probably eliminate this.
     

    Attached Files:

    Austin5 likes this.
  8. tach18k

    tach18k Member

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    My Polk PA 660 4 chnl amp does the same, I have talked to Polk about it with one tech there, he wasn't too informed and blamed it on a high tech car. I asked about warranty and never heard from him again. In my amp I can adjust some sound and can get it almost noise free, but I lose a lot of sound. I may switch mine out if Polk wont solve the issue. But yes on power down, I get that thump/pop from the speakers and my gain is down to zero and I can get the same thump/pop when no inputs are connected just the out going speakers wires. I don't think Polk uses a soft power off to the unit.
     
  9. jimmybucher

    jimmybucher Junior Member

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    What i have done anytime installing an aftermarket amp to a factory radio and i get a popping, usually whe turning on i wire in a 1500 ohm resistor on the remote wire before the amp and has fixed it about 90% of the time. Worth a shot its so cheap!
     
    SFO likes this.
  10. theronpoe

    theronpoe New Member

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    I need to know how to install a subwoofer on a 2013 Prius 4. I want to use the JBL amp for the stock speakers, and just add my own amplifier for the additional subwoofer. I will admit that I am quite dumb when it comes to the terminology and process, so please be specific and clear. I have an amp, and matching subwoofers. What cables do I need to run out of the JBL amp and into the new amp?
     
  11. came_to_party

    came_to_party Junior Member

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    Judging by the one other post you've made on here you have absolutely no knowledge of car audio. If you need this done in 10 days I would suggest going to a stereo shop and having it done professionally.
     
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  12. theronpoe

    theronpoe New Member

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    Hello, I had a friend explain a couple things to me that i was very much misunderstanding about the Prius and its amps. I understand audio and car audio (as I am a professional Sound and Lighting Technician that deals, replaces, and fixes theatrical quality equipment on a statewide radius). It was simply other posts that I have misread that confused me and made me think that the Prius JBL system was somehow special.

    Now that I understand..its a very easy setup/install. I did the wireup in about 75 minutes. I, instead of running out of the amplifier, just tied into the wires that were discussed above. Great post! Awesome pics!
     
  13. Austin5

    Austin5 Go Bruins

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    Glad it helped out!!
     
  14. torparts

    torparts Senior Member

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    thanks for sharing!
     
  15. Skunkworks

    Skunkworks Member

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    Buy an amp with a low pass filter and a remote subwoofer control, mount the knob into a blank in the dash, mount the amp in the storage area above the spare or under the passenger seat. Use the rear speaker leads and tie them to a speaker level to RCA adaptor, this will give you a signal that has a full range for your amp to convert it to low frequency.

    This should get you started, just remember that you get what you pay for with car audio.
     
  16. Todd36

    Todd36 Junior Member

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    Would anyone please tell me if this guide will work with the upgraded JBL audio?

    Edit. Figured it out.
     
    #16 Todd36, Jul 19, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2014
  17. PriusLin

    PriusLin New Member

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    Sorry to revive an old thread but this guide was incredibly helpful. I registered on this site just to thank the OP. A local installer wanted $150 to install my Kicker Hideaway powered sub. I was able to do it myself in an hour and a half with the help of this guide. :D
     
  18. n23

    n23 Junior Member

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    For anyone interested in tapping into an existing fuse, please don't wrap the wire around a fuse blade and just jam it in there. Take the time to do it right. It's not even expensive.