Perfect Bass and Trebble & Midrange for the JBL Stereo?

I have mine in a V shaped

 

Re: Perfect Bass and Trebble & Midrange for the JBL Ster

The JBL system is the one place where the Prius has some problems. The highs are very tinny to me, and the low end is not tight. It's kind of blatty. I used to have a VW Jetta and I got spoiled with the stock Bose sound system.

I've been listening to alot of different music in my Prius and have settled with the following settings:

Bass: 2-3 notches up. Any more and it starts to sound like a pillow.
Mids: no change or down 1 notch
Highs: Down 2-3 notches. Helps to get rid of the tinfoil highs.

Fade: 1-2 notches toward the back just to give it some spacial effect.

Hope that helps. It goes without saying that it is ultimately up to the individual listener's ear.

 

Re: Perfect Bass and Trebble & Midrange for the JBL Ster

I use to own a Pontiac that let you set different equalizer settings for the tape, CD and for each radio station. And they would change automatically when you changed station. That was great and I miss it. That's the way all cars should work. More bass for hiphop, more treble for rock. The Prius just does not have that sweet spot for all types of music. I'm still in the process of adding a sub to the back.

 

Re: Perfect Bass and Trebble & Midrange for the JBL Ster

Maybe we need to push for Prius Console version 2.0!

 

^^ goes to 65 i think....

and anything below 55 will not harm your system at all

 

Re: Perfect Bass and Trebble & Midrange for the JBL Ster

Before I added a sub, I would use +1 bass, middle for the mids, and +1 treble. Now that I added a sub, I can turn down the bass to -1 or -2. This is really good for the sound quality, because it clears up some of the muddled sound that the bass has if you turn it up (with the door woofers trying too hard to pump out the bass), and lets the sub do all the work on the low stuff.

I wouldn't recommend installing a sub yourself unless you really know you're doing... the design of the sound system (at least the JBL one) SUCKS for any sort of modification. Although, I can't blame anyone other than myself for slipping while pulling on a wiring harness and slicing my finger open...

 

Re: Perfect Bass and Trebble & Midrange for the JBL Ster

krooster,

what kind of sub did you add? where did you place the speaker, amp, etc? Is it working out for you?

 

Re: Perfect Bass and Trebble & Midrange for the JBL Ster

I added an Infinity 10", with an Alpine amp (something-350 I think, it's a mono-channel). I wired speaker wires from the amp under the passenger seat, to the compartment under the hatch area where I put the mono-channel amp for the sub. To do this, you either need an amp that accepts speaker-level inputs, or you need this thingy (forget what it's called) that converts speaker-level signals to preamp-level signals. Then I put the sub in the hatch area. It's a pretty big sub enclosure, so it does cut down on storage space, but it's easy to just unplug the sub and put it somewhere else (or even move it to the back seats if necessary). Plus, the amp is out of sight and doesn't take up much space.

There have been many threads in the audio/electronics forum about adding a sub, and all the information is there (including electronic schematics for the JBL system), but you have to poke around for awhile to find all the pertinent information. Also, I can't stress enough how much of a pain in the nice person it was to install everything, and I wouldn't have known how to run the speaker wires from the JBL amp to the hatch area if I hadn't previously installed the XM radio kit. But then again, I have never installed a sub in a car before, so I'm sure if you've done it before it's a lot easier than I'm making it sound.

The sub definitely helps the sound quality of the sound system, although depending on how much music you listen to it's arguably worth the money.

 

The system goes up to 62.. then it says Max after that.. So.. techincaly it's 63.. and it sounds as if it's just hitting the peak of RMS sound at 62. The speakers handle it well though. I'm a music nut.. and classical sounds awesome at 45.. my bass and treble are up. If i want more bass, i but the fade back a notch or two. Treble is 1 notch higher (sometimes 2) than the bass. Treble is almost maxed.