Best single upgrade to standard stereo

Hands-down, get a sub.

Everything else requires you to change many related components.

 

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I'm going to throw you a curve ball and say (5) "dynamat/b-quiet" for $120 - 200. It's noise and vibration damping/supression mats that you place inside the doors and trunk floor. I did it a few days ago, and my prius is quieter now & the stereo sounds much better.

I did a write-up in the audio forum. If you live in LA, maybe I can show you my prius & help you with the installation, too.

Kazu.

 

If I had the money I would do a dynamat/b-quite job, however I might start off with a powered sub. Second on the list would be having a professional shop do a speaker swap with something aftermarket. I wouldn't even consider swapping out the head unit. There is just too much vehicle integration to the stereo system, at least from a user interface perspective for that to be realistic. Anyway, every speaker guy I have ever dealt with has pretty much stated that factory head units are just fine, the issue is factory speaker quality.

 

For Under $200 you can get an 8" Bazooka with an internal 100 watt amp for the sub AND a 4x25 amp for the door speakers. (Mine was an "open box" unit from Circuit City, paid $169.)

The door speakers in the car really do look like junk - after having them pulled I can't believe they sounded as good as they did. (Think magnets the size of quarters) - I recommend you keep the volume level coming out of the 4x25 moderate until you get to upgrade them.

I ended up putting Rockford Phosgate components in the front - they were removed from a former car and happened to fit. New Infinitis for the back.

Before the upgrade I would crank the audio up to 62 and wince at the distortion before backing down a notch or two. Now I wouldn't go over 47 with the same source material. Over 50 is painful with the new goods.

4x25 + 100x1 might sound like a pitiful power output to some audio enthusiasts, but in the confines of the Prius, it really rocks. I listen to a mix of 80s on top 40, some classical, and most demanding, PIPE organ. The new system deals with the base of pipes quite well - the factory speakers choked on the same music.

The only downside of my upgrade is the MFD "beeps" when you touch the screen are annoyingly loud. I think there is a post on the board to reprogram the system to reduce this.

 

From my experience, there is no question about the subwoofer being the first choice. I put in the Kenwood Mini Sub in under the passenger seat and my regular stereo sounds like the music is live.

 

my recs:

1) replace the speakers
and
2) mini-sub

then, if it's still not enough:
3) amp

speaker replacement is EASY - see my guide at:

http://www.priuschat.com/forums/prius-spea...rky-vt9542.html

and my post on amp and sub at:

http://www.priuschat.com/forums/installed-...ent-vt9711.html

good luck! :wink:

 

Hi Sparky,

I have the JBL (option #6) package on my 2005. I'd like to do what you did, however I just read this post. If this is true, would that mean that it wouldn't be advisable to intall the crossover since the feed has already been filtered at the head?

Here's the quote I'm refereing to.
"One thing to note/remember: On the JBL system, the front speakers have a digitally filtered crossover in the amp. So, the fullrange speakers have the highs cut off their feed from the amp, and the tweeters have the lows cut off from their feed from the amp."

 

This may have been answered before elsewhere too, but I'll post anyway...
I just ordered the Kenwood mini-sub from audioallies.com. Is it best to install it in the compartment beneath the hatch or below the passenger seat? Or, does it not make a difference? Either way, I'm going to have Circuit City put it in...I just wanna know what to tell/show them. And, how should it integrate into the stereo controls? Does it become a part of the "rear" speakers, or is it somehow independent? Thanks...

 

sorry, phlambert... not sure - i have the non-jbl & am not too familiar with the jbl system. there is extensive info on this site on the jbl system - i suggest you start with:

http://www.priuschat.com/forums/jbl-premiu...red-vt7284.html

good luck !

 

hello ehalt... i'm almost sure the kenwood does NOT fit under the seat - i did not try, based on other posts saying it's a just too wide for the space, and it blocks the vents. i installed mine in the rear hatch compartment, and it sounds MUCH better in this compartment with the enclosed space to work with - kind of a second enclosure if you will... i had the unit working up above the hatch & it didn't sound nearly as good. i put it in the compartment, closed the lid and !VIOLA! - fantastic sound.

re: wiring (assuming you do not have an amp), you should pull the signal from the rear speaker wires (red/white and black/yellow) - tap into the wires just before they go from the pillars / front door scuff plates into the rear doors, and run the new wire along the rear door scuff plates, under the seat, under the carpet in the hatch area and into the rear compartment.

i installed an alpine amp (in addition to the self-powered mini-sub with incorporated amp) - the alpine powers all of the speakers, has a separate pre-out for the sub, and lets me run the other 4/6 speakers with a hi-pass filter so they deliver the highs & mids, and let the sub handle the bass. great sound, but it's a bit more complicated...

fyi - the sub does require a little tuning with the included remote to fit your taste. if you are looking for a ground-thumping, jaw-rattling, neighbor-disturbing bass unit, this one is not for you... but if you're looking for great bass to round out your sound in a clean, hidden installation, this is perfect.

there's a separate thread specifically on the kenwood unit at:

http://www.priuschat.com/forums/kenwood-mi...sub-vt7080.html

you could also do a search for 'ksc-sw1' or 'mini-sub' (?)

fyi - i priced this at CC here in the phoenix area and they said they would install it for $65. :wink:

links to my threads are above if you are interested.

good luck! 8)

 

So for the Kenwood SW1, is it better to feed it a line-level/RCA, or speaker-level input from the rears?

I'm wondering the Kenwood performs better with one over the other since the sub is already self-amped, what's the point of feeding it an amped signal... unless it's to maintain MFD volume control.

Would the line-level be cleaner, and still let me maintain volume/fader/treb-bass control from the MFD?

I'm dissatisfied with the stock JBL system + Kenwood SW1 now with the huge volume-drop centered around 230Hz. It's dropping my favorite bass guitars in my music. Is this the stock-speakers fault, or the JBL amp's?

To get decent bass volume for 50Hz creates a booming overlap around 80Hz which tweaking the crossover for the SW1 won't fix.

Maybe I can drop in a crossover and levelers between the JBL amp and the rear-speakers/bass to flatten the uneven output, because I really don't want to go to a 2nd amp setup.

 

i'm feeding mine w/ line level and it sounds great, but i'm doing that out of necessity / convenience - i installed the amp in the back and thought it would be better since i needed to bring ALL signals to the rear compartment and then back.

not sure about the difference, and not sure about how to do this with the JBL system... sorry. :roll:

 

All you have is speaker level outputs. The head unit on the standard has no line level outputs, and on the JBL unit, the head unit outputs FIXED LEVEL line out R&L to the amp under the passenger seat, where the sound gets processed there. For JBL, the rear outputs are best, as they are the only ones that are full range outputs. The other ouputs are filtered for proper crossover.

 

I'm quite aware of these facts reading and memorizing most of your technical posts.

I'm just asking if converting the speaker-level outputs from the JBL amp to line-level rcas would improve the signal quality to the sub and hence better performance, or moot, it's the same?

Maybe the question is better framed as does the sub's speaker-inputs and rca-inputs get processed differently by the built-in crossover and amp.

 

IMO the point is moot.

Let's assume you tap into the rear speakers (as I did) and run two sets of speaker wire to the trunk.

You can now either, convert the signal to a line level (e.g. PAC2) and plug that into the line level input of the amp OR you can leave the signal as is and plug directly into the amps speaker level input. In either case, the signal is going to be converted to a line level before the amp processes it.

In other words, your signal is going to get converted, whether you do it externally or not.

Two related arguments however: If you run the speaker level to the high level input, the conversion occurs close to the amp. This can elad to some interference thus causing a slight degredation in sound. However, if you convert the signal outside of the amp (e.g. PAC2) you're going to be increasing the amount of cabling, processing and transition points before the signal gets to the amp. This can also lead to some signal degredation. Given these two options, I would choose the simpler/cheaper method. Use what you've got without having to buy anything more.

Just my two cents... and change.
--GD