'12 Prius III speaker upgrades

Did you ever replace the amp while keeping your factory HU? I'm wondering difficulty on this. Is there some way (via wire harnesses or whatever) to hook the amp through the HU for the door speakers? I don't know much about installing amps, but I assume the speakers all connect to the HU somehow...so just need to tap into that so amp sits between HU and speakers, right?

 

I want to do this too. I have a 2012 Three and I love the head unit but the sound is the worst I have heard in a car in a long time. Speakers and an amp would be nice if it's even doable.

 

What speakers are you using to replace the front in-dash Squawkers??

 

Hey guys, I had a long talk with a audio dealer, I have worked with before. I was talking about amps, speakers, upgrades and the such. It came down to wanting great clean sound. Not loud, but clean. The story goes, crap in crap out. Replacing the speaker, and amp correctly would be more than a head unit alone. His best opinion would be replace the head unit completely, like a Pioneer P4400 or so. This would get better sound to the stock speaker. The stock speaker will only replicate what the head unit will produce. Stock head unit not all that great. Then go for the speakers as a next option and amp if needed. Not what I wanted to hear. But going the head unit first, all the prewire for everythign can be done for anyhting in the future, so labor wise its a breeze down the road. so now again at a cross roads of what to do.

 

Yes, but then your entire Nav/Entune Fuel economy statistics system is gone and resale value may be an issue. Still have bluetooth phone, steering wheel controls etc to deal with. It's not something I am interested in doing to a brand new car.

 

I'm waiting on a new basic PIP. I don't think too much of the sound system. I'm going to be looking at something like the JBL ms-8. This takes the output of the stock head unit and tunes the system using a mic. Not a cheap solution but you can keep the stock head unit. This was used with a stock head unit in a BMW that won a major competition. Just another option.

Ken

 

pls reveal the "audio dealer's" name and location so that everyone can avoid him. what a load of nonsense. Someone in this thread already did a fairly simple upgrade of the stock speakers and got better sound.

ripping out the stock headunit, losing all the features and connectivity with the rest of the car, and keeping the stock speakers is the stupidest suggestion.

 

Okay let me get something here said, I have a mdl 2 unit not a 3 , sorry for the difference, all steering controls can me migrated to the Pioneer system easy. Kenwood units have a App for iPhone that displays GPS maps on display, Mine has no Nav unit. Yes just speakers will sound better, but do you want better, or much better sound. I'm a sound freak, so great clean sound and not that thump thump thump sh_t. My dislpay is just audio, yours may not

 

I swapped out my factory JBL headunit with a Kenwood DDX419, and the sound is much cleaner, and overall better IMO, and I feel it made a BIG difference.

BTW, Any updates on the speaker upgrade, OP? Specifically the front squawkers? I'm curious.

 

Ive been in the car audio business for sometime, from sales to custom installation. Upgrading the speakers within the car is the best bang for the buck when it comes to an audio upgrade.

Honestly what I am going to do is upgrade the speakers then install a 4 channel amp but still keep the stock head unit.

You are going to basically get the same wattage output between a factory deck and an aftermarket one. The stock deck might do 6 watts a channel as opposed to the aftermarket doing around 15 and thats being gracious.

Find a set of decent speakers and see what they can handle on an average/continuous load (RMS) and match that with a 4 channel amp.

 

Knowing the poor sound system in the 2012 mdl II, and waiting to upgrade this sound system, I made a adjustment on the HU, which helped a lot to the stock sound. On the EQ I set the high setting to one notch down from max, I set the mid to two notches from max and set the low to one notch above med level, then the fader is two notches to the rear. Now this really balnced the sound out quite nice and I can hear clearly the rear speakers. Still not the best sound, but is is more balanced and not grinding on the ears.

 

I have the same car as the OP, and am collecting info. I'll be doing an amp, speakers and sub.

I just had a quasi-crazy thought for the front speakers: what about using a good quality 6x9 coax in the doors and just blow off the squawker location entirely? I was thinking about the http://www.amazon.com/Focal-Access-9-Inch-Coaxial-Speaker/dp/B000LPQ4PE for example. This would be super-easy to install and should still be way better than the stock garbage.

My most likely alternative would be putting in two-way components, with standard tweeter in the squawker location, but (a) I'm not a huge enthusiast of bouncing the tweeter off the windshield anyway, and (b) having the tweeter half a mile away from the midwoofer is not great either. When I think of it like this, good-quality coaxes in the door sound like a pretty appealing option.

Of course, without being able to try and listen first, I'm stuck speculating. Anyone have any thoughts on this approach?

 

I looked around inside my Prius today and am having my doubts about the coax idea. The mounting of the 6x9's in the door are angled almost towards the front of the car. As a result, the angle of the driver's side tweeter would be pretty bad for the driver. I don't recall seeing the door-mounted woofers pointed at that angle in previous cars I've owned, don't know why they did it that way.

I also noted today that with the balance set at center, the sound is really obviously concentrated coming from the driver's-side squawker. I had to move the balance two or three clicks to the right to open it up. Pretty bad. Would like to fix that with the upgrade.

 

So I know I'm a little late to this party... but just got some audio for my 2012 prius three - installed a JL mono amp (tiny - under the seat) to power a JL microsub. Still have the factory speakers, but was urged to replace those with some Polk, Infinity, or Alpine speakers (for best sound with the factory amp powering it). Thoughts? Anyone have any suggestions?
p.s. how annoying is the HD radio reception going in and out?

 

How does the microsub sound?