2010 Prius Audio Specs

Where is the JBL AMP located in the III? Can you please list the links to the AMP/speakers installs?

thanks

 

I guess you haven't heard the Audi Bose systems then. The Prius JBL sounds fantastic by comparison. I'm waiting for the day that PSB makes car speakers...

 

Check out Focal. They make great studio monitors and car audio speakers. Really nice imaging, natural sound, etc. Quite pricey, but better than most the other high end audio speakers, imo.

 

Tom, there should be as the 6x9" are in the front and on 6" in the rear.

 

Larger speakers play the lowest frequencies better. It would be natural for the JBL amp to route these to the the 6x9 front speakers. But these frequencies are non directional so you should not be able to tell what speakers they are coming from.

Its likely that the amp is set up for the rear speakers to be fill. That is they are amplified less then the front so that a sound stage is set up in front of you. How well Toyota did with the equalization and fade is a matter of differing opinion. Set it up the way that you want to hear the music. Depending on your taste you may want to add some aftermarket sound components.

On the us cars the jbl system has 8 speakers, so there should be components in the rear not a single co-axle speaker. Is the canadian version a 6 speaker system like the non-jbl US? I have no idea what the crossover frequencies are in the car. Does anyone?

 

I have my non-JBL 6 speaker system set to R1. I'm changing the head unit out this weekend, and should have a subwoofer added this month.

 

Does anyone know what the maximum mounting depth/clearance is for the front door speakers (6"x9")....I'm considering a few different aftermarket replacement speakers and I want to ensure that they will fit....adding spacer rings is no big deal, I just want to make sure they'll physically fit without hitting the glass.

 

JBL specs for 2010 Prius: JBL Premium Sound for Your New Toyota

 

6x9 can put out a lot more bass than a round 6.5" speaker.

 

Although the surface area of a 6x9 is greater than that of a 6.5" round driver, the geometry of the 6x9 driver makes it more susceptible to physical distortions affecting fidelity, particularly at higher output levels; this is why the most high-end component speaker systems use round drivers, particularly for the lower frequency range.
If you're going to use a separate subwoofer, then the conventional wisdom says go with a round speaker component system up front.

 

That is true, but for space available, 6x9 makes the most sense. Toyota JBL uses Distributed Subwoofer system, whereby the woofers make the bass, while the midtweets (in dash and upper doors) takes care of all the frequency higher than bass frequency. So, the 6x9 are mainly for bass...and fidelity for bass frequency is not as important.

In high end components, there is a tweeter and a midrange woofer. In the JBL system, these two speakers are covered by one speaker, the midtweet speaker. So, not much midrange goes through the 6x9 for you to be concerned about fidelity. All high frequency and midrange frequency go through the midtweet.

This is why in high end systems, you have a tweeter, midrange, AND a subwoofer. In the JBL car systems, you have the midtweets to hand the high frequency and midrange...and the 6x9 to handle the deep bass. Of course, 6x9 can't match a true subwoofer in deep deep bass nor earth-shattering bass, but it is decent enough in a car audio for it to work.

I have not really test the Prius JBL system, but the JBL in the Camry is pretty damn good! The one in my Sienna is also pretty good. My van has midtweets, 6x9s, AND a subwoofer too.

 

I looked at replacing the 6x9s a wile back - the mounting depth really lowers what you can do. For this reason, I went the 6.5" component route (with separate tweeter). Keep in mind, highs are directional - while lows aren't.

There was a thread a while back with a good cheap under-chair subwoofer. For the record, I went with Infinity reference components, and the Boss bass600 for under seat http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...63607-just-little-more-bass-would-nice-4.html ... Funny - many bought it last year before Christmas - it was $70 including shipping... Now it's $140...

 

Mounting depth is shallow because most (if not all) JBL woofers use neodymium magnets which are tiny compared to the older big magnets.

Yup, the midrange and highs are directional...that is why, in a correct system, the midrange and tweeter are together in a kickpanel or something similar. Although i am not a big fan of midtweets, JBL's midtweets are not half bad...they produce highs good enough (for car environment) while making decent midrange. This is why i like how JBL puts the midtweets up high in the upper dash firing upward & toward the cabin. This elevates the soundstage and makes it more expansive as opposed to mounting the tweeter in the doors. The 6x9s and the 6.5 woofer (in the rear doors) are responsible for lower frequencies (including bass) and, as you said, bass are not directional.

Even though bass is supposedly non-directional, i always like for the subwoofer to be placed in front or near the passenger cabin. The sound pressure or whatever it is called is directional. So, if you place the subwoofer in the cargo area, the rear passenger will hear/feel more bass than the front passenger. This is why i kinda like Toyota/JBL setup. Granted, it is far from perfect, but for a car environment, it ain't bad. The bass (although not particularly deep) is more evenly distributed around the cabin and is thus, more NON-directional than a single big subwoofer unit. The Camry's JBL system benefits from 6x9s in the front door and also the rear deck. The 6x9s in the rear deck uses the cargo space as a box.

(In the same line of thought, this is why in a home theater setup, you ideally want the subwoofer to be in the front of the room with your front channels.)