I plan to undertake a car audio project with a help of a friend who is well versed with the car electronics (however he has never worked a prius or hybrid before). Everything is pretty much DIY and I have gathered or at least tried to get information from here and couple of other sites. And, finally we decided to come up with the following upgrades. I need your valuable inputs and advice on this process. I plan to build a custom fiberglass trunk corner sub woofer enclosure. The components we finally agreed on are as follows: Head Unit Pioneer: FHX-720BT Dash Kit: Metra 95-8240B Wiring Harness: Metra 70-1761 Amplifier: SSL EV2.2000 Capacitor: Power Acoustik PCX-3F 3-Farad Capacitor Subwoofer: PIONEER TS-SW2502S4 Speakers(4): Alpine SXE-1725S Tweeters(4): Soundstream TWS.3N Amp Wiring kit: 4 AWG Kicker CK 4 p.s. I'm not a native english speaker and it is not my forte so I apologize beforehand if I cause any misunderstanding or confusion. Later: I realized I didn't post my prius's spec. I have '07 Touring with JBL and Nav. Everything is stock per say.
you're gonna need a TATO to interface with the JBL amp, or else scrap the JBL amp and rewire the whole car. also most likely need a Metra Axxess to keep steering wheel button functions.
Hey, I am glad to see you again and thanks again for responding to my post. I plan to do away with the JBL amp and use the SSL amp solely. I plan to rewire the whole car too. And, as far as the steering controls go... I would just like to keep the call answer function. I seldom use any of the other buttons. But that Metra Axxess adaptor ($50ish) was pushing me a little more than the already used up deviation from my Budget. I might revisit the idea in some months when I have more moolahs to shell out.
Instead of capacitor use good power wires and make sure every connection is good. Prius 12V battery is at trunk so you don’t need long power cable. Probably you should buy new 12V battery if you have old one in there. Optima is probably better for car amp use than the Toyota one.
I will most definitely stick with the Capacitor and I will be using the 4awg wiring kit. I do plan to get a new battery too and I have been looking around for the best price for optima. Isn't this the one I should get?: Later: The link never showed up but "Optima Batteries 8171-767 (DS46B24R) YellowTop Prius Battery" on Amazon is the one I plan to get.
Capacitors still needed with class A, B and A/B amps, but Digital amps are much better and run cooler...and you can definitely scrap the Capacitor with those. Realize you have a Gen II and budget to consider, but here's mine. frodoz Stereo Upgrade | PriusChat
How did you come up with that conclusion? First of all class D amplifier is not digital. Cooler running has nothing to do with needing or not needing capacitors. Capacitor does not help against constant current flow. Class D amplifier has smaller idle current flow that A or AB so theoretically its power consumption varies more than AB and it would benefit more from capacitor than AB. But it doesn’t need it eather. Class AB amplifier will use more power (to produce same power) but this load takes longer than capacitor can supply so capacitor won’t help. Not that capacitor is totally useless but OP would get better results by spending the money on something else (like sound deadening). PS. Nice install
I stand corrected in that D does not mean digital...which was a slip of the tounge. Perhaps tech has changed but old school was always cap an A, B or A/B. Originally I capped my JL HD 900/5...which I push hard and frequently...but later determined it was not needed. Anyways...with an AGM battery and no alternator, a cap is a non-issue with the SSL EV2.2000...even pushed all the way.
Oh, I am getting Sound Deadening too. I have ordered "FatMat 25 Sq Ft x 50 mil" and I will be getting some foam for the back grill and other non-accessible areas. I am not going all out on Sound Deadening like Ultra from Gen III forum but plan to do just about decent job there.
don't buy an Optima battery. they are a bit overrated for what they are. You are putting in a basic install so no point spending heaps on power supply. And that amp will be lucky to put out 400rms given it's got 40a of fusing. I'll repeat: capacitors do nothing in car audio, regardless of A/B or D. Ask yourself why none of the big car audio brands make them. I'm talking from experience, not from unqualified opinion. Go to a SPL competition. Not one of the serious competitors will be using a capacitor. No Cap, No Optima, upgraded alternator. No power supply issues in daily use.
Hi all, Maybe I'm just misinformed, but according to this thread there is no separate alternator: Alternator | PriusChat Is there any part we can/need to upgrade in order to use an aftermarket amp? Or can it be wired to the battery? The next questions could be: 1. How much Watts RMS max can we use without upgrading parts? 2. Can we use any battery, or does the Prius have trouble charging a bigger battery? I know a bit of these things, but the whole Prius and hybrid engine is all new to me. Please forgive my ignorance...
Yes, you can wire it up to the 12VDC battery, but have the amp switched on. I run 900 watts but others have run upwards of 2000 watts. Don't need bigger battery, but stock type is vented with reverse position poles. Media for user: frodoz737 | PriusChat
Thanks for you reply, I forgot to mention I drive a gen II, I don't know if that makes a difference. What do you mean with reverse position poles?
I am curious to know the best way to rewire the system. I recently installed kicker 3 ways to replace the stock door speakers and alpine tweeters to replace the stock ones. I have a 5 channel 3700 watt boss audio amp with a double din pioneer display. however, I keep getting crackling in the system (my theory is the speakers aren't getting enough power because it only happens with hard hitting bass). So instead of running all the speakers through the stock wiring I would like to rewire the entire set up to my amp in the hatch. Any tips?
