gen. 4 JBL

i hate jbl. am i the only one, or is gen 4 vastly improved?

remember when peeps were complaining about the v rear speaker volume, and toyota saying 'that's normal'?

 

huh, my wife's hycam has a pretty fancy system, and sounds like carp. again, maybe vast improvements to gen 4.
but if i were picking a system off the shelf, jbl would be at or near the bottom.

 

I'm impressed with the JBL sound system in my gen 4. I even like my base sound system in the gen 2, which is weird.

 

The brochure says mine has "JBL 10 speaker premium sound system". It sounds fine, but the controls aren't as intuitive as my previous 2 FORDs.

The audio for the Bluetooth hands-fee phone is MUCH better than the FORDs were - sounds like the person's voice, not synthesised.

 

There's something under the Passenger's seat under a plastic cover and a couple of cables running out of it, hard to the left under the seat runner. There is no such thing under the Driver's seat.

I'd assumed it was a computer - but that's probably a misapprehension from 40 years ago when VOLVO put their Fuel Injection computer under the seat.

 

I tried gooling to find what make audio system is in Canadian Gen4 and found zero information. Tideland, do you know by any chance what is inside of Touring and Technology trims? Thank you.

 

Focal is the way to go for speakers and then JL amps and sub w7


the bat cave

 

Thank you for the reply. I visited Toyota dealership today and asked them if they know what audio brand was inside of Advanced Techno package. The rep asked his peers, checked all documents he had on the computer and could not give me the answer. He just said that it sounded good. Tideland, how do you like the audio in your Touring? If you answered the question dozens of times, I apologize. Thank you!

 

Thank you again Tideland. Interesting, so much all kind of information about US Prius and almost nothing about Canadian siblings... on google. In my Gen 3 base, I am OK with CD and MP3 files but radio is very poor quality.

 

Nothing under the passenger front seat in my 4T with PCP.


2016 Prius 4T Premium Convenience Pkg
2016 NX200t F Sport

 

US models I have experienced:

'05 package 6 w/ JBL: it was OK enough, but it never overcame the road noise on that vehicle.

'13 Four w/ Entune and JBL GreenEdge speakers: road noise isn't as much of a problem, but due more to the car than the audio system. I'd grade it as "decent".

'14 Two w/ basic Display Audio: on par with the '05 as far as audio quality; Bluetooth was nice to have but a bit flakey. Benefits from lower base road noise in Gen3.

'16 Four w/ Entune and JBL premium audio: Muuuch improved over the others. Noticeable bass, even to the point where I sometimes turn it down, at highway speed. I listen at levels between 8 and 12, if anything it's overpowering. Reproduction is clear and sounds great as long as you consider the source. CD and my FLAC files over Bluetooth are good enough for me. USB MP3s derived from my FLAC sources are good enough, too. Heavily compressed sources like Pandora and XM vary, no fault of the system itself.

I appreciate audio quality, but I've never invested in truly premium car audio because, hey, you're in a car. I can't say if it's top of the line compared to other brands, but Gen4 JBL is the first one that sounds like an "upgrade".

This is under my Four Touring front passenger seat:

 

Canadian Technology with Advanced Package have Side Laminated Glass, which might help with wind noise on Highway speed. I like how HD Radio works in my daughter''s Forester. Sounds clearer then fm.
Good to hear that Gen 4 GBL sounds like an upgrade.