Speakers / amp question

If you have a 2009 Package 2 Prius, without the JBL radio, then you have 6 speakers. Two 6½" full range speakers in the rear doors, two tweeters in the front door sail pillars, and two 6½" mid-bass drivers in the front doors.
The most common speaker upgrade is to put a new set of 6½" component speakers (these come with separate woofers, tweeters, & crossovers) in the front doors and a new set of coaxial 6½" speakers in the rear doors. You can drive these off the factory head unit, but you'll do much better to add an aftermarket amplifier (4-channel). The amp will either need to have speaker level inputs or you'll need a line level converter (like the Scosche SLC-4).
Good Luck!

 

Has anyone verified that the front door of the Prius II is a 6 1/2 " driver? I thought it was a 6x9 driver??

 

Rrolff,

If you get a component set (i.e. 1" tweeter and 61/2" mid bass) for the front and a co-axil 2 or 3 way 6 1/2" speaker for the rear,then all you have to do is get a 4 channel amp. You will not need to worry about the ohm calculations and the gain balancing for he front stage, the passive crossover will take care of that for you.

That is unless you are going to go to a active crossover in which you will need a sound crossover/processor between your head unit and your amps. You will then need 1 amp channel per speaker.

If I were to go with a passive setup, in my opinion is to abandon the stock tweeter location and mount the tweeters on the door as close to the mid bass. It would should much more balanced. If you want to mount the tweeters in the stock location then I would suggest the active crossover setup to be able to properly tune the front sound stage.

Hope I did not confuse you. One more note is, check to see if the head unit from UK is capable to tuning into US AM/FM. I know that some system have a switch or way to switch between European FM/AM frequencies and US frequencies. If not they you will have a hard time tuning to US FM channels.

Give me a PM. If you are in Sol Cal, I would be willing to help on your install. Since we have the same Prius II model.

 

Did you order that weird "OEM" nav unit thing? I hope that works out for you. The whole thing just seemed weird to me and looked odd.

 

South OC. Nice area. I lived in the Irvine and Tustin area for 10 years so its not too far if you need help. I currently live in the San Gabriel area. All sounds good. If you are looking for sound material I recommend Second Skin Damplifier Lite. http://www.secondskinaudio.com/products/vibration-mat-damplifier-lite.php.

Check them out. It is some of the lightest stuff I have seen and works rather well. Of course the thicker the better but there must be sacrifices for decent MPG. hahaha

 

Rrolff,

I would suggest the Boyo cameras as they have great night vision and good lenses. As for amplifiers, I would recommend any class D amp. Amps using class D circuits are much more efficient and very small (easy to hide and install). Look at the PDX series of amps from Alpine or the HD series from JL. I think of myself as a audiophile so I would only go with Class A/B amps but for the Prius I am going Class D to cope with the efficiency issue.

-Chan

 

Wow Arc Tubes, that will suck the amps out of your 12V system quite well. I guest that would be a great use of the DC to DC converter in the Hybrid system to keep warm. hehehe. I have not see those amps in quite some time.

Just a warning though, I have not really experience the noise pattern of he electrical system of the Prius but I have in my Nissan Altima Hybrid. I was able to put two 4 channel McIntosh in it and two Arc Audio Amps without any noise issue from the drive system. I find that due to the DC to DC converter in the hybrid system, things are great for audiophiles since I have not see my voltage in the altima hybrid drop below 13.8V when the car is on.

 

Rolff, I followed the adaptation of a prior generation of this HU into a Volvo in another forum. The product had it's issues, e.g. very slow gui, mediocre quality audio specs. (I can't yet post links, if you want them pm me.)

The unit you selected, 2 Din Indash DVD GPS Navi Toyota RAV4 Digital Panel PIP, seems to have the same (very) limited EQ, 2 band 100 Hz & 10K Hz. and power stats. It's screaming for an aux amp and EQ.

No doubt the display on the new version is better, I look forward to reading your reviews when you receive it.

 

I will agree with banshee on the amp upgrade. Both the Alpine PDX and JL Audio HD series are great amps. They are extremely efficient, powerful and come in a very small package. I have the new JL Audio 900/5 HD 5ch. amp in my car and it is amazing. A bit more pricey than the Alpine stuff but a bit more power too which is never a bad thing. I have a single 10" sub in the car as well which is why I went with the 5ch. unit. Not sure if you'd go that far, but a little added bass never hurt anyone if you like good sound. Good luck with your project and please feel free to ask any questions if you have any as I have already jumped in to with both feet. The great thing for you is not having the JBL system to have to work with or more favorably around as I am in the process of doing. Enjoy.

 

What limitations does have the JBL system impose? I am looking to get a 4-channel amp and replacing the 4 main speakers. Are there some major restrictions or am I am suppose to be looking for 6x9's for up front and 6.5's in the rear?

 

Or am I supposed to be getting 6.5's for both the front & rear doors?

 

Venom700,

It would be a good idea to read into Shawnb2's thread about his intall. There maybe problems with getting a clean signal to a aftermarket amplifier.

As for speakers, you can do a 6x9 in the front door and 6.5" in the rear doors. Else you can make simple MDF brackets to mount 6.5" or maybe even 8" speakers in the front doors. As I recommended on the other thread you have. I would abandon the stock tweeter position and go with full range speakers in the doors.

-Chan