Prius LE Speakers

I’m going to follow this thread because I know nothing about upgrading sound system and I’m going from 2009 Ltd with JBL to and XLE with base model stereo system. I know the factory installed JBL isn’t the best but I will miss it. As it stands I’ll probably be buying a portable CD player for my audio books from the library. : }

 

6.5"

Not sure about what braket kit is needed yet

This is what an installer advised me,

"without an amp and routing sound through a processor to clean up, you'd get essentially the same sound, paper cones are fine"

"Toyota designs that speakers set to work with road noise, cabin noise and to achieve optimal sound for what they are."

"It looks like above the head on ithe nterior roof in front and passenger seat there may be noise canceling microphones, designed specifically for the specific head unit, speakers and cabin noise road noise.. if you change any of the hardware.. if those are noise canceling mics and not Bluetooth mics then you will lose that advantage because you'll introduces new variables that's it's not tuned for"

That's just what he advised. I have no idea really. Anyone know for sure about any of that?

 

Those mikes in the ceiling are for voice control over the display software and phone. Its possible they could have a dual purpose of monitoring ambient noise vis-a-vis the sound system, but doubtful.

 

I didn't think noise cancelling has become so prevalent that manufacturers wouldn't mention it in the car's feature list.

 

Toyota paper speakers are legendary trash. There's zero doubt in my mind that an aftermarket speaker could produce better sound. The system is tuned for the stock speakers so yes using a line output converter to an aftermarket amp would be ideal. I don't think it's an all or nothing situation however. You just wouldn't get the results you're after just throwing some random off the shelf replacements in there. It would take a knowledgeable person to pick the correct speakers to use, this beyond most retail car audio shops. Like he said they wouldn't just drop in, you need to make custom baffles to mount the new speakers to the door. These might exist already as I'm sure the stock units are shared with other Toyotas. The parts lists aren't 100% yet so I haven't been able to cross reference them thus far.

No, they design for economy, that's why they're garbage.

No, nope, no way.


I'm still formulating my plan to tackle the system in this car, since I have the JBL so it's a little more difficult. I'm starting small, first adding a small subwoofer, and replacing the harsh JBL tweeters. Later I'll get into the doors and see what I can stuff in there. Ideally I'd like to do a 6.5" mid woofer in the front door if there's space. I will probably delete the dash speakers since they're in an unideal location for sound quality purposes. (firing directly at windshield) Ultimately I'll do a 5 channel amp to power everything. The parts pile has already started.

 

Indeed! Doors 6.5"

Not sure about the other hmmm

 

Is it possible that dash speaker has phone calls only routed to it? Noticed on calls it seems to go to a mono speaker on driver side area. Still not sure

 

Yes it does sound like that is the case. The assistant voice also seems focused there as well.

 

I was hoping to cram this JBL basspro nano under the passenger seat, but not enough space so it has to go in the rear area. That is also a harness to splice into the factory JBL amplifier outputs so you don't have to cut the factory wiring. The 23 with JBL shares the same amplifier as many other Toyotas 2018+

 

I wonder about the quality of the Toyota upgrade kit for the Japanese domestic market? It replaces the front door speakers with woofers and replaces each dash speaker with a two-speaker unit with a speaker pointed to each front seat(so 4 speakers total in the dash*: a left-driver, left-passenger, right driver, right passenger). There's also a module added somewhere(under a seat next to the JBL amp maybe?) that slightly alters the timing of the channels so that the driver and front passenger don't have a tiny phase shift from left to right because of the differing distances from the dash speakers.

 

I haven't seen this, got pics/details?

 

Premium sound 8ch speaker & double tweeter system

Most browsers should auto-translate most of the page. I've found that using my phone's translate function through its camera works for anything the browser doesn't get.


Okay, this is a bit interesting. I didn't realize there was as much worldwide variability in the audio systems as there is.

Standard 6-channel audio: dash x2, front door x2, rear door x2, no external amp
- base option in Japan
- base option in North America (LE/SE trim)
- only option in Europe

Premium 8ch & double tweeter system: dash x4, front door replacement x2, rear door replacement x2, external amp, tuned by Yamaha
- upgrade option in Japan

JBL 8ch audio: dash x2, A-pillar x2, front door x2(replacement?), rear door x2(replacement?), external amp
- upgrade option in North America (XLE/Ltd/XSE/XSE+)

 

Here's a white paper on the double tweeter system: https://www.denso-ten.com/business/technicaljournal/pdf/Vol03-04.pdf

 

Haha, this actually looks pretty legit, I don't even want to know what it costs. I have a pretty similar setup in my other vehicle. There's nothing like having a good tweeter pointed on-axis. (at the listener) They have it configured as a 3-way with a mid next to the tweeter which is necessary since the distance between the door woofers and the tweeters is more than ideal. Neat that someone cared to go the lengths. I'm still stunned by how bad the JBL is..

 

There is no subwoofer. It is four full-range speakers on the doors and two tweeters on the dash. There is no subwoofer even with the JBL option.

JBL also has the identical six-speaker configuration as non-JBL, but the four door speakers have built-in tweeters ("1 + 1")—that's why they call it a 10-speaker system.

Gen 4 specs:

LOCATION SPEAKER NAME QUANTITY SIZE IMPEDANCE RATED INPUT POWER
(1) Front No. 2 Speaker Assembly 2 6.5 cm (2.6 in.) 4 Ω 20 W
(2) Front No. 1 Speaker Assembly 2 16 cm (6.3 in.) 4 Ω 20 W
(3) Rear Speaker Assembly 2 16 cm (6.3 in.) 4 Ω 20 W

Gen 4 JBL specs:

LOCATION SPEAKER NAME QUANTITY SIZE IMPEDANCE RATED INPUT POWER
(1) Front No. 2 Speaker Assembly (1 + 1) x 2 8 cm (3.1 in.)
Rated 4 Ω
(3.4 to 5.2 Ω)
3 W
(2) Front No. 1 Speaker Assembly 2 17 cm (6.7 in.)
Rated 6 Ω
(4.6 to 7 Ω)
7 W
(3) Rear Speaker Assembly (1 + 1) x 2 17 cm (6.7 in.)
Rated 4 Ω
(3.6 to 4.4 Ω)
6 W

I don't know why the wattage for JBL is lower. Typo or for real? Also, it says that the dash speakers have built-in tweeters—that sounds like a typo.

 

I didn't realize until doing a little extra research today that those dual tweeters were designed as pods so they could be installed in many vehicles rather than being locked into a single model. While the speakers are the same from vehicle to vehicle, the amp is custom tuned to a specific model. So if you ordered a kit for a 2023 Prius and a 2023 Corolla, they would come with identical speakers but slightly different amps(externally identical, but tuned differently).

As for cost, the option in the JDM Prius catalog is priced at about $820 USD. I'd like to assume a bit of that cost is labor, so maybe $700-$750 in parts before shipping?

When I get my car and get a little further along in my house projects, I'm hoping to talk to an importer and see how much I can bundle together to get the best deal on shipping.

I now see a negative with the idea because I'd also have to order a pair of A-pillar trims from an LE to really do it right(since the JBL tweeters would no longer be functioning). Yes, that's a bit over the top, but I'm wired that way. I'm Sarah -n- Tuned's spiritual brother. lol

 

On Gen 4, JBL is pretty bad and sounds muffled even after adjusting the equalizer. I also had the base sound system, and I think the base sound system was a little better. JBL is louder though.

Is the JBL still pretty bad on Gen 5?