Quiet stock '14 Prius 2 stereo?

I have a 2012 prius, not a 2014. In 2012, the factory speakers are super-cheap. The most critical (and hardest to replace) and the dash speakers.
Decent ones can be had for about $30-$40. The front door speakers are more important than the rear door speakers. I recommend efficient 3 way speakers. The factory head unit doesn't put out much power. The replacement speakers you buy should be at least 90db efficient, more is better.
I had some 6.5 inch speakers and I eventually bought some 6x9 speakers for the front doors.
You can see pictures of the factory speakers at weasel.com: 2012 Toyota Plug in Prius Stereo comparing them to factory 2002 camry speakers, as well as showing my stereo build.

I happen to be selling my 6.5 inch speakers along with the mounting adapter, in the private sales forum. They are 92db efficient, and have decent frequency response.

Also, there is very little sound dampening material in the prius, especially the doors. Adding some while the door skins are removed is a good idea.

 

With only $200 to spend, I'd get a small amp and subwoofer. There are no pre-outs so you will need tap into the rear speakers. The battery is already in the trunk so that should be easy to access.

 

I still have the stock headunit. I just upgraded the amplifier. I recommend some big 'bass blocker' caps on the dash speakers, in order to get lower frequencies through them.
I still have the polk dash speakers, and they sound quite good. I had the pioneers, but they are hard to come by, and about 2db or so less efficient than the polks. I put the pioneers in my 2002 camry.

 

Most of the dash speakers I have seen require some cutting of the dash. I did see someone fabricate a dash speaker with
what looked like a 1" tweeter and some sheet metal. The door speakers are riveted on, and require drilling out to change the speakers. The speaker adapters crutchfield sells for the front door requires drilling a hole in the door. The 6x9 adapters don't. I suppose you could remove them and rivet back the OEM speakers. The rear door adapters don't require any new holes.

There are some subwoofer installations that use a wire harness that is inserted behind the radio and doesn't involve cutting wires to get the audio signal. You will still have to get power for the subwoofer, but that can be done without cutting any wires.

I am not sure about adding sound deadening material. It is generally quite difficult to remove (which is a good thing in general, but not for you). You are really limited if you have to restore the car exactly back to stock.

 

I checked out your website at weasel.com which is very informative. I have been reading thorough front door speaker replacements on Prius chat and I notice there are some installs done in which the front door speakers are replaced with coaxial speakers and the stock tweeters in the dash are left installed. With the difficulty of replacing the dash tweeters it is tempting to leave the stock speakers installed. Also I notice the speakers you installed in the front door are coaxial and not component. I may not have these speaker terms correct. What I mean by coaxial in the door is a speaker with at least one tweeter. Any reason you did not go with component set such as tweeter in dash and woofer in the door? Looking at the helpful photos on your weasel.com website it appears Toyota does go with a woofer in the door and then tweeters in the dash. Does this sound right? My audio installer recommends leaving the stock tweeter since it is difficult to replace and install coaxials in the door instead of a woofer as a component set. Any comments or recommendations? This is for my Prius Sedan 2014 without JBL. Thanks!

 

You could put the tweeter in the door, but it will be pretty off axis with your ears. The factory dash locations are almost perfect in the Prius. Their position really brings a nice forward sound stage. I'm not sure why your installer considers the dash speakers too difficult to replace. It takes just a few minutes to remove the trim. You may have to fabricate a bracket to mount it, but that should be within the skill set of any competent installer. There's some threads which even provide a template.

 

Okay, great. I can replace the tweeters! Then do you recommend replacing the front door speakers with coaxial speakers or woofers? I am trying to find a 6x9 woofer but not many. 6x9 coaxial speaker much easier to find. On another thread on Prius chat someone wrote with tweeter installed with coaxial front door speakers the sound can be too bright. Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

 

I would go with a woofer. You can use a 6.5" rather than a 6x9. They'll need to make a baffle. You'll have better options that way. Just keep the depth to about 3.25" or less and you should be fine. I'm going with a 7" for my install.

 

Thanks, I have spent a lot of time researching (two days) and thinking about whether to get 6x9 or 6.5 for the front doors. I do not aim for the best but good enough for my budget-ha. From what I can tell from my research the 6x9 will give me more bass than 6.5 but I am installing an amplifier with subwoofer which should help with the difference in bass between the 6x9 and 6.5 I think/hope!
For those interested I am installing
Alpine W535HD HU
Alpine SPR-60C 6.5 component speakers for front doors and tweeter in dash
Alpine SPR-60 6.5 coaxial 2 way speakers for rear doors
Alpine PDX-V9 5 channel amplifier
JL Audio CP108LG W3v3 subwoofer
for my 2014 Prius no JBL.

Any comments or suggestions welcome! I am a couple weeks away from install.