Have you seen these Focal OEM style separates?

I've been looking at them as well, but was not sure because they have zero reviews that I can find.

 

They are reasonably efficient, but not damn efficient. I bought kenwood KFC-1664SKFC-1664S that were just as efficient. I eventually got JBL GT6-69 speakers that are 1db more efficient. I am sure the focal's are higher quality but the kenwoods cost $50 from crutchfield and the JBL's were on sale for less.

 

I am not sure the focal is engineered for the prius; it is engineered to fit in a hole the same size as the prius door speaker hole.
Focal says the speaker is for "Toyota Prius, Camry, Tacoma, Tundra, and FJ Cruiser models".
I don't think the focal tweeter is designed to go in the squaker hole. It is a bit on the small size. I would guess it is designed to mount on the door, higher up,

The dash speaker location is the most critical location in the prius. I run a 2 way polk speker there, with a high pass at 100 hz. I would set it a bit higher, but my JBL MS_8 only goes up to 100 hz.

I am not a big fan of 2 way speakers because the human ear is most sensitive to midrange frequencies and they are being divided up by 2 speakers. I do agree that the door speaker location is a poor location. It is ideal suited for lower frequencies.

Still, with my reasonably low priced speakers and a DSP, I get quite decent sound. I suspect all of my speakers put together are about as expensive as the focals. I have 8 speakers, 2 JBL 6x9 in the doors, 2 kenwoods in the rear doors, 2 polks in the dash and 2 12 inch jenson subwoofers in the trunk area.

 

I looked at the Crutchfield web site. These are Focal speakers so they will be expensive. They are priced at $299. rated at 74 watts RMS. They have the same mount as the original Toyota, Lexus, Scion speakers. I would recommend adding a aftermarket amp to power them. This is why they are so expensive. But worth the money

 

FroggyTaco,

Focal is a pretty well established speaker manufacturer (I have a set of Focal monitors driven by a two-channel NAD I use as a shelf-system, sounds pretty good). Their car stereo stuff is top-notch, I auditioned the 6x9 Toyos before going with the Focal 165 AS3 (three ways), which retail for about $500/pair. In the Prius, as I am sure logpok and frodoz737 will echo, three-way or bass in door with two-way coaxial in squawker is the way to go in the Prius, because with the windows down your mid-range disappears. A 3" mid-range will fit easily into the stock squawker location, bringing the midrange up from the door to directly in front of your ears. That is what made the difference for me, hearing a midwoofer/tweeter combo vs a woofer, mid, tweeter.

Of course, my experience is with the speakers driven to their optimum RMS by a full-range amplifier, not directly from the head unit. Which, if that is what your plans are, I would recommend looking for speakers with higher efficiency, I know Infinity used to make a coaxial 6x9 with an efficiency of 94dB that would fit in the door of the Prius, I might match those with a small two-way coaxial in the squawker location and you'd be out the door for less than the Focals. You could even through in a small class-D or "T" mini-amp for less than $100 to squeeze a little bit more out of them.

 

Most of Infiniti's speakers are 2 ohm speakers and they specify their efficiency not at 1 watt as the rest of the world does, but at 2.82 volta rms, which translates to 2 watts. This boosts their efficiency by 3db. So their 94db is really 91db at 1 watt.

I agree with everything in your first paragraph. When I was in the middle of my install, I was listening just to my 2 way polk speakers in the dash. It didn't sound great, but it was quite listenable. Getting some reasonably mids and higs on the dash is the most important thing for the prius.

I have no problem with focal speakers except for the price. In terms of bang for buck, I think it is much better to spend
$400 (which I what I paid from amazon) for a JBL MS-8 than $300 or $500 for some door speakers. If you have lots of money, get them both. My next step is to add some mass loaded vinyl and to get my roof insulated...

 

I've said it once before on this forum and I'm going to repeat it: db efficiency is a meaningless statistic in comparing car audio speakers. This is from personal non-scientific experience. Even JL Audio used to have this written on their website, not that JL Audio are a company I'd rely on.

I've had a number of sets of Focal speakers from entry level to Utopia and liked them. There's complaints about sibilance / harsh tweeters but I never found them an issue. On another website an audio mad freak (who's opinion I trust) said he loves his Focal home speakers, but wouldn't have Focal in his car.

I do like the idea above of speakers driven to their optimum RMS. Sounds really flash that. My formula for power to speakers was quite simple. Take the power rating of the speaker and double it. Power is cheap and there's something called dynamic headroom - fond memories of 700w x2 feeding a pair of 6x9. I'm cured now though. Factory system and I'm happy with it.

 

I don't fully trust any printed specs. However, among a given brand, I presume the efficiency numbers are accurate relative to their other products. However, I don't have lab equipment to accurately measure efficiency, so I do rely on manufacturers numbers to a reasonable extent. If you don't, and you don;t have decent equipment to measure specs, all you are left with is guessing.

As for JL Audio, they have curious specs on their JL HD500 amp. The unit is rated at 4x100 + 1x500. The total is 900 w RMS. According to their web page HD900/5 - Car Audio - Amplifiers - HD - JL Audio they recommend a 60 amp fuse. I find this very curious. Since they rate the unit to produce full power at 12.5v, multiplying 12.5*60 yields 750w. So if the amp is 100% efficient, it will produce 150w less than it is rated to produce. If the amp is 80% efficient (which is a more reasonable rating), it will produce 600w, which is 300w less than it is rated to produce. This is a $1000 amplifier. So clearly they have good reason to question the accuracy of their own specs...