New Audio System

I started with a Standard Stock Prius System.

I have to admit that this process took MUCH LONGER than I thought it would. It took me about 12 hours to install everything and I still had to wait 24 hours for the silicon to cure. But is is complete. My sound system is completely revamped.

I changed the 4 main speakers with 65 RMS speakers. I had to customize brackets to install the speakers. I went with 6-1/2 speakers because they are more common. I had to drill the mounts into place, then seal them with epoxy to ensure a solid seal. The wires from the amp to the front door were feed through the rubber grommet. The rear doors were harder. I had to cut off the existing connection, and lead a speaker wire down to the amp. Then I cut off the wiring harness inside the door and wired that into the new speakers.

I am using the factory radio because I like the built-in accessories like steering wheel control. This meant that I had to use High Level inputs for the amp. This involved running speaker wire from the radio unit to the amp. I cut the wires for the rear speakers so I could preserve the original door tweeters. This meant that I had to double wire the the connectors. Making two channels into four channels. After this I ran the power and ground cables. It took me a while to find a place to attach the lead-on wire. I decided to go with the Gray Pin on the back of the MFD. This means that the system will be turned on when the car is turned on.

Lastly, I installed the Bazooka Subwoofer. I bought the T-Harness so it made life easier. I attached the harness to the back of the radio and nothing happened. You must cut the "Power Antenna" wire and attach it to the amp lead-on wire. The pin on the radio is dead. Also, watch out for the red wire coming out of the battery cable. It is live & needs to be secure. I blew a fuse when it touched metal.

All in all- it was a good install. Some what difficult but nothing that a person with good skills can't handle. I also installed the mud-flaps, XM Sat, and Speed Lock system while I was doing all of this.

Everything works fine. I did have a scare when the MFD was having problems, but I found that a modex plug was not attached. That fixed it.

Pictures on the way!

Totals:

DVD Navigation: $750.00
Speakers: $130.00
Amp: $140.00
Speed: $65.00
Mud Flaps: $55.00
XM: $299.00
Bazooka: $130.00
T-Harness: $45.00
Parts & Accessories: $150.00

Total:$1800.00

Time: 12 hours
Difficulty: Medium to High

 

I tested the pin on the radio itself with the radio on. I got no power coming off of the pin. The T-Harness that you can buy from Bazooka has a blue wire labeled "Antenna Line". This also is the Amp Turn-On wire. From my experience the wire was dead.

I cut the wire going to that pin & spliced it onto my turn-on lead from the amplifier. So if the amp is off, the bazooka is off.

The pin i attached it to was on modex 13. It is the gray wire i believe it is number 11 pin. The information i got was from DanMan32. He was of great help. The Modex can be found on the right car side of the MFD.

Because I did not cut the front wires, the sound for the beeps remained the same. I did not notice an increase in volume & the sound is still active when the radio is off. I believe that the sound for the beeps is coming from the door tweeters.

Looking at circuit city's website & going to the store, they did not appear to have anything for the Prius. The guy could only find a 1/2 inch depth adapter which was NOT what i was looking for. Crutchfield has another adapter which might work better. It is the shape of a triangle. It is made for a Honda.

What i had to do was retain the front speaker connection to the tweeters. This meant that the wires had to stay intact. So i have to cut the rear speaker wires only. Then I cross wired those speakers on to the adapter that came with my amp. I basically had to have both front & rear speakers coming from the same channel. This cost me the ability to fade front to back but it allowed me to keep the tweeters.

So as far as the amp is concerned it has 4 channels going into it when in reality it only has the two rear channels going into it.

Hope that helps.

Hdrygas,

I do have to say that i can make the sound much higher than i should. If I want to go blasting the speaker system now i can. But i have found that moderate volume actually sounds a bit better. Less bass but better on the ears.

 

I used the stock head unit. I will post pictures this weekend. I don't have a digital camera myself.

 

I added a 4-channel amp. Each channel goes to one of the 4 door speakers.

The bazooka has a built-in 100W amp.

 

A: You will have to run new speaker wire anyways.
B: The rear speaker lines are on a seperate modex connecter than the front.
C: I was advised that cutting the front speakers would yield poor sounding tweaters. Attaching them to the amp, might blow them up.
D: You are still going to run into the problems with the rear door.
E: You can split the sound off after it enters the door but I don't know if that will cause the problems that were listed to me.