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Installed Amp and Mini-Sub in Rear ‘Hidden Compartment'

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by ~sparky~, Jun 19, 2005.

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  1. ~sparky~

    ~sparky~ New Member

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    This weekend, I installed an Alpine MRP-F240 Amplifier (50x4 RMS at 2 ohms) and Kenwood KSC-SW1 Self-Powered Mini-Subwoofer in the 'hidden compartment' under the rear cargo area in my 2005 Driftwood Package 4 (AM). Photo of the finished product is below.

    The job was much easier than I thought, and went without a hitch – with the exception of some problems I had with the power and ground wiring (4ga wiring was evidently a little much - replaced with 14ga and made sure the ground was solid and viola - it worked!) I was most concerned about disassembling the dash and breaking something, but thanks to the extensive and comprehensive info on this site, it went just fine.

    I added these components after replacing all of the speakers last weekend (front - Infinity Kappa Series 60.7cs 6 ½†two-way component speakers; rear – Infinity Kappa Series 62.7i, 6 ½†two-way loudspeakers). Link on this topic and the ‘replacement guide’ I put together follows:

    http://www.priuschat.com/forums/prius-spea...rky-vt9542.html

    The sound is simply fantastic – better than I thought. I would highly recommend this upgrade for anyone with the non-JBL sound system. :)

    THANK YOU to bobc, danman, kev, htmlspinnr, finman, presto, priusham and many others (sounds like i'm accepting an oscar, doesn't it? :wink: ) who have provided great info that was such a big help!

    [Broken External Image]:http://members.cox.net/sparky0480/amp_+_sub_installed.jpg
     
    #1 ~sparky~, Jun 19, 2005
  2. leeskarha

    leeskarha New Member

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    Very nice install. Are there any heat issues? How hot does the amp get after an hour of good tunes? Did you create any vents?
    Looks great. I would love to hear it.
    -Lee
    PS Did you ever do a photo guide for the front speaker install?
     
    #2 leeskarha, Jun 19, 2005
  3. leeskarha

    leeskarha New Member

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    Also, how much did the total upgrade cost?
     
    #3 leeskarha, Jun 19, 2005
  4. ~sparky~

    ~sparky~ New Member

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    not sure about heat issues yet - but i think i will be ok - others have installed amplifiers in this same location, and no issues have been reported (as far as i have read). i don't have concerns about the sub - we shall see...

    no photo guide for the front speaker install - it's very similar to the rear - just a little more complicated due to the separate tweeters, and the fact that there's more 'stuff' in the front doors.

    total cost for my upgrade:
    Kenwood KSC-SW1 Mini-Subwoofer $177.95
    Infinity Kappa 60.7cs Front Component Speakers $159.75
    Infinity Kappa 62.7i Rear Loudspeakers $ 82.75
    Alpine MRP-F240 Amplifier $139.00
    20' RCAs $27.00
    Line Lev. Adapters (2) $13.30
    ------------------------------------
    Total $599.75

    i chose the "research and sweat thru the installation myself" option - you could also have everything installed - probably another $300 - $500, depending on where you go... but then, you wouldn't have the pride of a job self performed & well done :wink: .
     
    #4 ~sparky~, Jun 19, 2005
  5. ~sparky~

    ~sparky~ New Member

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    if you (or anyone else) is looking for a way to do this upgrade that's a little less complicated, less involved, and less expensive, i would consider the following:

    - infinity kappa 62.7i's in both rear and front as well (save $77)
    - eliminate the amp and just pull the signal for the mini-sub off of the rear speakers (save $139 for amp plus $27 for the rca's plus $13 for the line level adapters) - plus save the need to take apart the dash to get behind the head-end unit... :) :) :) (i was very concerned about this, but it really wasn't too bad)

    not sure how that would sound compared to my system WITH the amp, but it would save you ~$250, for a total cost of ~$340 instead of $600.
     
    #5 ~sparky~, Jun 19, 2005
  6. mtc1234

    mtc1234 New Member

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    This looks great and will have to go onto my pile of things to consider. Like the earlier post, I'm interested in any potential heat issues. Someone posted a while back about some over heating that they were going to mitigate with a vent and some fans.

    If you wanted to integrate an external device (read Auxilliary Input) does your setup help, or is it the same issues? I guess you have the same issues; if you connected an aux to the amp, you'd loose volume control through the stereo...
     
    #6 mtc1234, Jun 20, 2005
  7. ~sparky~

    ~sparky~ New Member

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    6 days and no heat issues yet - i've put the system to the test every day to & from work (20-40 mins each way) with no problems yet - still sounds fantastic, and no overheating

    all this and it's 110 in phoenix ! :cussing:

    if it's not a problem here, maybe we could conduct the next test on mercury (?)... :wink:
     
    #7 ~sparky~, Jun 24, 2005
  8. mtc1234

    mtc1234 New Member

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    yeah, but that's a dry heat...

    Did you go with a setup that can be disconnected, or long wires? (So you could get to the tire and other stuff under the compartment.)

    I wonder if it's possible to rig up something that would allow you to disconnect it/remove it temporarily and keep the rest of the sound system going. The sub would be fine to do that way, but the amp...
     
    #8 mtc1234, Jun 24, 2005
  9. ~sparky~

    ~sparky~ New Member

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    i used the 'long wires' approach - and was glad for it today. i had to remove the entire tray to get to the jack - had to remove the rear wheels to install my new splashguards (i would call them mud flaps, but mud is illegal in arizona, so we don't have it). :lol: :lol:
     
    #9 ~sparky~, Jun 26, 2005
  10. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    Here's a shot of my amps installed in the same location. I actually mounted the equipment on a raised board of wood so it could be removed in emergencies where I have to get access to the spare tire. This is the initial version of the amp rack as some major changes had to be made due to changing up one of the amps:
    [Broken External Image]:http://intdata.homeip.net/albums/dansprius/IMG_0094.sized.jpg

    I cannot put the cover over the equipment rack as a lot of heat gets generated by the 2 amps since I wired up the sub @ 2ohms so it's presenting the maximum load on the Sony amp, and I am running each of the front speakers bridged 2-channels each from the Kenwood amp. My solution for this is to cut a 3/4" MDF the same shape/size as the stock cover and install intake/exhaust fans to move the air. I like my music moderately loud. :)
     
    #10 Presto, Jun 26, 2005
  11. talonts

    talonts VFAQman

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    You could also try mounting the fans to the board, running ducts up through the slot left for storing the cargo shade, and make a grill cover to replace the right cubby hole lid. That way you have less to worry about when placing stuff in the rear.

    Or if you want to get really slick, remove a bit of the bottom of the cubby hole storage box (or just heatgun it and push it up), run a duct under it to the factory vent in the rear 1/4, and duct the exh fan to there - then strategically place the fans/ducts so that the amps are fed from the cubby hole lid area, and exhausted behind the cubby hole.
     
    #11 talonts, Jun 30, 2005
  12. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    ^^^

    I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the idea. I'll get the cover cut and installed later this week since I'm going camping in a few weeks and I want to use the cargo space for my gear.
     
    #12 Presto, Jun 30, 2005
  13. chadkrisel

    chadkrisel New Member

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    hey there peeps. I have one question. Did you hook up the amp to the 12V battery in the trunk? Did hooking up an amp interfere with the performance of the car---as it is part electric :wink:

    Thank you so much. All of your info has been very helpful.
    -Peace,
    Chad
     
    #13 chadkrisel, Jun 30, 2005
  14. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    I have it hooked up directly to the battery as well, and i'm drawing around 30amps normally. No problems with performance whatsover, unless you count the marginal decrease in economy for the additional weight of the equipment in the back:)
     
    #14 Presto, Jun 30, 2005
  15. veedubdrew

    veedubdrew Junior Member

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    Does that Kenwood self-powered sub rattle the plastic tray around? I HATE rattles (and the Prius has not been kind to me in this regard) and while I want to upgrade the mediocre sound system I certainly don't want that storage tray and tools buzzing around with the bass.

    -Drew
    2004 Tideland Prius #7
    Los Angeles
     
    #15 veedubdrew, Jul 15, 2005
  16. NuShrike

    NuShrike Active Member

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    Only the bass speaker cone rattles at highly pumped volumes. And you can feel the car rattle a little through the arm rest and brake pedal. :mrgreen:
     
    #16 NuShrike, Jul 15, 2005
  17. veedubdrew

    veedubdrew Junior Member

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    Does anyone know how many amps the little Kenwood self-powered sub draws?

    I've added a set of Infinity Reference 6012i speakers to the rear of my non-JBL car (substantial improvement) and I'd like to add a little bass, but am concerned about taxing the DC-DC converter.

    Any amperage info out there? Thanks in advance, and thanks for all the advice from everyone about speakers, my rears don't distort anymore!

    -Drew
     
    #17 veedubdrew, Jul 22, 2005
  18. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    I can draw a sustained maximum of around 40 amps while driving around and I have not have any problems with the DC to DC converstion being able to keep up. I recently went on a roadtrip with the stereo cranked all the way. The only problem I had was the subwoofer amp kept overheating once an hour and would take 5 minutes to cool down before it played again. I don't think you'll have any problems running the Kenwood self-powered sub along with your speakers.
     
    #18 Presto, Jul 22, 2005
  19. danjonas

    danjonas New Member

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    Sparky (and all others in this site):

    Love the upgrade. Just took delivery of my '05 salsa red package 3, and can't stand the sound coming from the speakers. Thank you for these posts and your install guide for the rear speakers.

    I'm reluctant to break open the dash without detailed instructions. Where can I find them on the site? The equivalent of your speaker install guide for the installation of the amp/subwoofer and dash cracking would make my day.

    This is my family's second Prius. My wife has an '01 white with 90K miles, still running strong.

    Happy New Year all! For off site communications, send to [email protected].
    Thanks.

    DEJ :lol: :lol: :lol:
     
    #19 danjonas, Jan 12, 2006
  20. ~sparky~

    ~sparky~ New Member

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    glad the guide was a help!

    i used the eddie bell xm radio install guide - it provided one of the best guides w/ diagrams for taking the dash apart & was very helpful. may be search the forum (?)

    it wasn't nearly as difficult as i thought it would be...
     
    #20 ~sparky~, Jan 14, 2006
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