Connectors for 2007 JBL amp

Hi!

I've had my new 2007 Prius for six weeks and 2500 miles, and loved everything about it except for the not-so-premium JBL sound systems. It's time to upgrade. My plan...

Amp: Alpine MRP-F450
Audiocontrol LC-8 to sum front signals and control sub
Audiocontrol EQL to even out the JBL amps highly processed signals
Front: CDT audiio CL-61A-25PRO 6.5" components
Rear: CDT audio CL-6EX 6.5" co-axials
Sub: CDT audio EF-8 8" subwoofer (may up this to the EF-100 10"-ers)

All of the stock speakers will be tossed or at least disabled. The new 6.5" woofers will be mounted in the stock positions using Scosche SAC656 adapters or homemade MDF spacers. The 1" component tweeters will be surface mounted lower in the door or the kick panel to improve sound imaging. The subwoofer will go into a custom made fiberglass box in the left side cubby of the cargo area. I'll do a limited B-quiet install in the doors to get rid of the major harmonic vibrations.

I'll use the LC-8 to sum the JBL front signals; flatten this with the EQL, and then feed channels 1 & 2 of the Alpine. The front and rear door speakers will be driven in parallel at 2 ohms off ch 1 & 2--using an L-pad (Partsexpress.com) on the rears to attenuate for just a bit of fill. The JBL's rear signal will be fed through the LC-8 to the bridged channels 3/4 of the Alpine to drive the subwoofer. The LC-8 has an optional dash mounted volume control for the sub. I've used this 3-channel approach on other vehicles. It's cost and space effective, and works well.

I plan to do the builds and installs myself--especially after getting a $600-800 estimate just for the subwoofer box! Now that I'm up to my nice person in alligators (and having forgotten that my original intention was to drain the swamp), I have a couple of relatively minors needs.

I had purchased a Bazooka FAST-8113 wiring harness to make "splicing" into the JBL system a bit easier. I've gotten too old to spend a day upside down and backwards trying to solder into stock wiring. However, the 2007 JBL has three rather than two plugs, so the 8113's no longer is an option. I turned to Toyota. For older Prii you could buy Toyota parts 90980-10821 (the connector on the stock wire harness) and 90980-10820 (the female mate to this), and a bunch of "repair splices" to DIY an harness. For the 2007, Toyota sells the stock harness connectors (90980-10801 & 90980-10803), but neither I nor the Toyota parts guy have been able to find a part number for the female mates to these--if they exist at all. Question--does anyone have a part number for these? Is there an aftermarket harness to splice into JBL? I've checked the usual suspects (Scosche, Metra, etc.) but come up empty.

...and very minor need. I was going to use a Metra pigtail to plug the new woofers into the stock Toyota in-door connectors. The model checks say that none of Metra's Toyota pigtails work with the Pruis, although the picture of one of them looks close. Has anyone found a pigtail that works?

Thanks!!!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Nov 18 2006, 08:11 PM) [snapback]351578[/snapback]</div>

The Bazooka FAST-8113 connector only has the taps specifically needed for their sub, but that's OK since it does have every wire which feeds into the JBL amp. I had planned to cut off the Bazooka specific ones (the only ones I don't need ), and then cut and splice my aftermarket amp wires in. If it had worked it would be convenient. All the soldering work could be done on my shop bench. And it's a clean set-up--just plug the modified Bazooka harness between the factory harness and the JBL amp to hook up the aftermarket amp.

I've been in communication with the Bazooka folks, but haven;t gotten an answer yet. Keep hoping though!

Unfortunately americaninternational doesn't list anything for the 2nd gen Prius?!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GeoGeek @ Nov 19 2006, 11:09 AM) [snapback]351751[/snapback]</div>

The DQL-8 looks great and was my first choice. Unfortunately it's not readily available yet. A local shop said maybe a month, and woofersetc, who's an authorized dealer, said they wouldn't have them for some time. The LC-8/EQL doesn't do everything the DQL-8 does, but will cover the "must haves" in my proposed set-up. Plus they cost me a total of $200 on ebay vs $600 for the DQL-8. Call me cheap--oops someone else already has that handle

"Freaked out about cutting and splicing" isn't the best term for me; try lazy instead I had hoped to do the cutting and splicing on the shop bench, then just plug and play.

Yeah, I agree--with subs bigger is better. I'm thinking about swapping the 8" for a 10". Tomorrow I'm going to do some detailed measurements to ensure I can build a 0.6 ft^3 fiberglass box into the rear driver-side cubby. If I can, I'll definitely go with the 10".

The CDT 25PRO tweeters are quite deep, so I don't think they will fit in the sail location, altough I haven't done a test fit yet. We'll see. Do you know if the JBL amp does any DSP to time correct for the ear to speaker differences between the stock tweeter and woofer locations? No one has mentioned this before, but if there is a time correction then the stock location would absolutely be required. Hadn't thought about this issue before. I better no some more research tonight!

BTW: here's a great link for turning your system using the Radioshack sound analyzer http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=67948. In the post there's also link for a downloadable sound test disk.

I hope to start my build-out this week. I'll update my post has interesting developments occur B)

 

Hi Cox,

The Infinity Ref's are nice speakers. I upgraded my Ford Escape's sound system a couple of years ago with them and have been happy with result. The upgrade to the Escape was a prolonged project. First I did the headunit (the stock in dash CD changer became a CD eater)... "Oh! that sounds better. I wonder how new speakers would sound". Two months latter new speakers were added, and they did sound better. But not that much better. So a month latter in went an amp. That sounded way better, but the low end was still not where I wanted it... A month latter we added a subwoofer--reconfiguring 4x70w amp to the 3-channel configuration I described above. First it was an 8" sub because I didn't want to lose too much cargo space. A few months latter, the sub grew to a 12"-er. I think the Escape project is finally finished, but of course now I drive the Prius all the time :lol:

So this time around I've decided to do the whole project at once, and based on the Escape experience I hope to do it right first time around--although the sub may be an 8"-er again. I was thinking about going up to a 10", but I think the install in the back driver-side cubby will be a bit cleaner looking with the smaller sub. Stay tuned...

The Kenwood sub is a nice "idea". I tried one originally in the Escape project--installing it under the front passenger seat. It was one of those--gosh! this thing is surprisingly loud for the size of it. But I wasn't happy with the quality of the sound. The base was very sloppy. Nevertheless, it's two years latter and I bought one to try out in the Prius. It did help fill in the bottom end of the JBL system, but again I just wasn't happy with the sound quality. It went back, and I decided to upgrade the entire JBL. Note: as you no doubt have seen on this site lots of Prius owners have done the Kenwood install and have been happy with it.

Let the cutting begin! The data is in--Toyota (after checking with 3 different dealers) doesn't offer a mating pair of connectors, as they have for the older Prii; Bazooka may some time in the distant future make a FAST8113-like connector for the new JBL configuration; Metra, Scosche, etc. don't offer anything... I'll go ahead with cutting and splicing into the stock harness. Tonight I hope to get the speakers changed out. Over the T-day weekend, get the whole thing finished...assuming I don't waste too much time watching football B)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cox @ Nov 21 2006, 07:57 PM) [snapback]352868[/snapback]</div>

In theory no. Since the JBL system remains as a preamp, everything it does, the new system will do only louder The bluetooth/naw voice comes through the driver side speaker. Whether I will get blasted away whenever the car speaks to me, remains to be seen. I have turned the sound level for bluetooth/nav to the lowest level as a precaution.

Finished getting the rear speakers installed tonight. As might be expected the first door took 2-3 hours by the time I cut new speaker mounts out of MDF and figured out exactly what I was doing. The second door took about 30 minutes. I hope tomorrow the front doors will go equally fast. The new rear speak's sound pretty good, even though seriously under powered by the stock JBL.