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Addingin an Amp to existing factory Radio

Discussion in 'Prius v Audio and Electronics' started by veedublove11, Apr 3, 2012.

  1. veedublove11

    veedublove11 Junior Member

    Joined:
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    2010 Prius
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    Two
    Hi there everyone,



    Thanks for checking out my first post. I am a long time reader of Prius Chat and I would like to just add a little bass to the factory radio. I think the sound of the system in the stock Prius II system is good enough for my wife and I, but if I can add a small sub to it I think it would make a big difference.

    I wanted to just turn the bass down from the factory head unit and have a sub handle the mid and low range sounds and take if from there. My problem is that I can't seem to find and adapter to allow me to tap into the factory head unit to get the RCA's and the remote amp power wire. I used and adapter from PAC audio for my silverado before that was perfect but I don't see that they make one for the prius.

    I didn't want to add an aftermarket deck at this point, anyone have any ideas on what I can do to get some rca off the factory radio without using one of those line level adapters that are usually noisy when the radio is off.

    Thank in advance,

    Marc

    2010 Prius II non JBL system
     
    #1 veedublove11, Apr 3, 2012
  2. Mac Prius

    Mac Prius Mod Junkie

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    I have a base 2 as well and changed the speakers out and added an amp. When you add an amp you need to also get an audio control device to interface with the OEM head unit. The unit I used is actually made by a company called AudioControl. I didnt add a sub....yet.
     
    #2 Mac Prius, Apr 3, 2012
  3. pdp

    pdp New Member

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    If you don't have the JBL system, my bet is that the speakers are powered off the head unit itself. If I'm wrong about this, then the rest of what I'm about to write won't make sense, so you might want to confirm that first.

    Anyway, since the speakers are powered off the headunit itself, you're not going to have any line out signals coming out of the head unit, only speaker level signals. Which means you're going to be stuck using a line out converter to convert the speaker levels to line out (I know, not what you want) OR, take apart the head unit, find the line out signals on the PCB (printed circuit board) and solder on wires to extend them outside of the radio so you can feed it to your amplifier. I also bet in your Silverado, you probably had a stock amplifier already, like the JBL systems, so there was access to a line out signal outside of the head unit already.

    Anyway, don't think you have much choice in this situation, unless I am wrong about my initial assumption. One other thought is, some aftermarket amps can take speaker level signals as input so you don't need a separate line out converter (basically, the line out converter is built into the amp).
     
    #3 pdp, Apr 4, 2012
  4. veedublove11

    veedublove11 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
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    Location:
    surprise az
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Two

    Hi there yeah, my silverado had a bose system in it which was a whole other adapter because of onstar etc, but yeah I was able to get the line out puts off of it.

    I don't know quite enough about how to work on the circuit board and i don't want to mess anything up so I think my best bet is to look for an amp with the line level converter built in like you said. I think alpine makes one that would work last I remember. Thanks again for the response on it, I appreciate it. Ill post some pics of how it came out...
     
    #4 veedublove11, Apr 4, 2012
  5. veedublove11

    veedublove11 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
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    Location:
    surprise az
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Thanks for the reply. I will google audio control and see what they offer oem intergration. I will want to change the speakers out at some point Im sure, but they sound okay for now. Thnaks again- Marc
     
    #5 veedublove11, Apr 4, 2012
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