My official Prius stereo mods thread.

H2OSkier · Oct 30, 2006

Not to speak for DocViijay but the separate signals go in the SSI which feeds the dsp unit.

Ken

rice.craig · Oct 30, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(H2OSkier @ Oct 30 2006, 12:02 PM) [snapback]340788[/snapback]</div>

Not to speak for DocViijay but the separate signals go in the SSI which feeds the dsp unit.

Ken
[/b]
Click to expand...

I was hoping to avoid the cost of a SSI and dsp unit, albeit with some loss (big or little?) of sound purity. But perhaps that's not possible.

The Prius JBL system certainly has the crutchfield folks baffled. I did my typical "call of at least three people" in tech support and or sales hoping to get some one who really knows their stuff. Today they all had the same answer--"you can't upgrade or enhance the JBL system because of the signal processing that the existing amp already does". Of course posters here know differently, but I was hoping to do an upgrade for south of $1K. Doesn't look like that may happen. I'll try one more shot at crutchfield when swing shift comes in. These guys/gals--I've found in the past--are more likely to have some clever ideas not in the "official" crutchfield knowledge base.

GeoGeek · Oct 30, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Wizard @ Oct 30 2006, 03:54 PM) [snapback]340835[/snapback]</div>

I was hoping to avoid the cost of a SSI and dsp unit, albeit with some loss (big or little?) of sound purity. But perhaps that's not possible.

The Prius JBL system certainly has the crutchfield folks baffled. I did my typical "call of at least three people" in tech support and or sales hoping to get some one who really knows their stuff. Today they all had the same answer--"you can't upgrade or enhance the JBL system because of the signal processing that the existing amp already does". Of course posters here know differently, but I was hoping to do an upgrade for south of $1K. Doesn't look like that may happen. I'll try one more shot at crutchfield when swing shift comes in. These guys/gals--I've found in the past--are more likely to have some clever ideas not in the "official" crutchfield knowledge base.
[/b]
Click to expand...

There are several options out there that will allow you to "tap in" to the signal path and add on an aftermarket amp & speakers....the JL Cleansweep is just one of them.
Originally I used a Scosche SLC-4 (which they sell on Crutchfield for $29) and although I don't have the JBL system, I've seen others (visit http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/priusaudio/) who've used it with the JBL system. I recently upgraded to the Audio Control Three.1, which acts as a Line output converter, line level driver, crossover & Equalizer all inone nice half-din unit. Others have used the Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1 or
3Sixty.2 and there's other Audio Control devices out there that could do the job well (the new DQL-8 or their LC-6i or LC-8).
The JL is a great piece if you really want the DSP, but you have to use it in conjunction with the SSI to do
your signal summing....the others I mentioned (shy of the SLC-4 & Three.1) can all do summing.

Shop around on ebay......don't count on getting good Prius advice from Crutchfield.....read up here on PC.
Sorry Doc for monopolizing your thread.
Cheers,
Matt

DocVijay · Oct 30, 2006

Sorry, I'm a bit overwhelmed right now with stuff, so time is very short...

ANyway, the purpose of the SSI is indeed to combine the front channel signals. It takes the high and low and combines them into a single flat channel. THis then plugs directly into the dsp unit, which removes the factory equalization. From there it just goes to the amps, and then you have beautiful music.

eagle33199 · Oct 31, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GeoGeek @ Oct 30 2006, 07:12 PM) [snapback]340954[/snapback]</div>

There are several options out there that will allow you to "tap in" to the signal path and add on an aftermarket amp & speakers....the JL Cleansweep is just one of them.
Originally I used a Scosche SLC-4 (which they sell on Crutchfield for $29) and although I don't have the JBL system, I've seen others (visit http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/priusaudio/) who've used it with the JBL system. I recently upgraded to the Audio Control Three.1, which acts as a Line output converter, line level driver, crossover & Equalizer all inone nice half-din unit. Others have used the Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1 or
3Sixty.2 and there's other Audio Control devices out there that could do the job well (the new DQL-8 or their LC-6i or LC-8).
The JL is a great piece if you really want the DSP, but you have to use it in conjunction with the SSI to do
your signal summing....the others I mentioned (shy of the SLC-4 & Three.1) can all do summing.

Shop around on ebay......don't count on getting good Prius advice from Crutchfield.....read up here on PC.
Sorry Doc for monopolizing your thread.
Cheers,
Matt
[/b]
Click to expand...

I also used the Scorsche SLC-4 with my JBL system to add a sub, and it works great (although i'm seriously considering doing something along the lines of Doc's system here... although i'll probably go incremental - first get speakers, then if thats not enough get the rest). You can see the details of my install here: http://eagle33199.servebeer.com/Prius_Stea...ox_Tutorial.pdf

I agree, crutchfield is great, although they don't always have the info you need... in my case, i got the scorsche module and convinced crutchfield to e-mail me the wiring diagram for the JBL amp (it's in the document somewhere if you want it).

DocVijay · Oct 31, 2006

One thing to keep in mind is that the 2006 wiring is different from the 2004-05 for the amplifiers and such. They changed the stereo enough so that Tom' excellent write-up was pretty much a waste of time. Most of it was still accurate as far as wire colors were concerned, but the configuration of hte plugs has changed completely (from two to three plugs) and the relative loactions of the different speaker wires and such. I had to use TechInfo and some elbow grease to figure out what was what. But it all works now, so I'm happy. Any way, all the correct wire locations/colors will be in the write-up. There are also a couple of issues I've run into (nothing detrimental to the system), but that will probaly need a bit of tweaking, like gain and crossover frequencies. I may go back and use the shops RTA if they let me. Or if anyone in the Tampa Bay area has one that I could use...

My days (and nights) are wrapped up in an Apellate Brief right now (as well as three kids under the age of 4!), so the stereo write-up has been completely sidelined until that is done, but it is coming.

Also, I'd like to thank Eddie (eagle33199) for doing the excellent write-up of his amp/sub install. I'm going to let everyone read that first, so I don't have to write up on all the little details. Besides, he did such a good job with pictures and such that I can't really add anything. Just follow his directions for that stuff. I'm going to focus on the speakers and the JL Cleansweep boxes and such. If you don't mind I'd like to put a link to your website from my write up.

Cheers, and I hope you're getting more sleep than I am.

eagle33199 · Oct 31, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DocVijay @ Oct 31 2006, 10:26 AM) [snapback]341204[/snapback]</div>

One thing to keep in mind is that the 2006 wiring is different from the 2004-05 for the amplifiers and such. They changed the stereo enough so that Tom' excellent write-up was pretty much a waste of time. Most of it was still accurate as far as wire colors were concerned, but the configuration of hte plugs has changed completely (from two to three plugs) and the relative loactions of the different speaker wires and such. I had to use TechInfo and some elbow grease to figure out what was what. But it all works now, so I'm happy. Any way, all the correct wire locations/colors will be in the write-up. There are also a couple of issues I've run into (nothing detrimental to the system), but that will probaly need a bit of tweaking, like gain and crossover frequencies. I may go back and use the shops RTA if they let me. Or if anyone in the Tampa Bay area has one that I could use...

My days (and nights) are wrapped up in an Apellate Brief right now (as well as three kids under the age of 4!), so the stereo write-up has been completely sidelined until that is done, but it is coming.
Also, I'd like to thank Eddie (eagle33199) for doing the excellent write-up of his amp/sub install. I'm going to let everyone read that first, so I don't have to write up on all the little details. Besides, he did such a good job with pictures and such that I can't really add anything. Just follow his directions for that stuff. I'm going to focus on the speakers and the JL Cleansweep boxes and such. If you don't mind I'd like to put a link to your website from my write up.

Cheers, and I hope you're getting more sleep than I am.
[/b]
Click to expand...

Actually, not my name... the second section in there (with the diagrams for removing everything) i copied from somewhere else, probably here on PC (i left the title page in so that person would still get credit).

Anyways, yes the plugs changed from 2 to 3 for the JBL system in '06. however, like you pointed out, the wire colors all remained the same. Also, you can take the two plugs (that were originally one) and stick them up right next to each other, and the order of the wires and such is exactly the same.

Doc, if you want to, feel free to append my document there to whatever you write up - it's best if we keep all the info in one location. If you have trouble doing that, you can PM me your write up (in PDF, word, whatever) and i can join them all together.

prberg · Oct 31, 2006

Doc-

great work... I bet your system sounds great. I just had a more simple question. I have an '04 with the non-JBL system. I have already replaced the stock speakers with some upgraded Pioneer aftermarket ones (TS-G1641R or something similar). the sound improved quite a bit. I'm not ready to install an amp and sub yet but I did see that you upgraded your tweeters and it was quite easy. Wondered if you could advise it that would be a good upgrade for me as well.

guess I was wondering if you basically just replaced the tweeters in the doors (up by the side mirrors), from the pics on your website I wasn't sure if they were located in another place. Do you think with the non-jbl system I would get any better sound than from the stock tweeters? (They look to be some sort of plastic). I get some high range sounds from them but nothing amazing. Would I be able to just wire in new ones and that's that? Could you reccommend a good model? JL is good?

thanks so much for your help.

-Peter B

DocVijay · Nov 1, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prberg @ Oct 31 2006, 09:58 PM) [snapback]341668[/snapback]</div>

Doc-

great work... I bet your system sounds great. I just had a more simple question. I have an '04 with the non-JBL system. I have already replaced the stock speakers with some upgraded Pioneer aftermarket ones (TS-G1641R or something similar). the sound improved quite a bit. I'm not ready to install an amp and sub yet but I did see that you upgraded your tweeters and it was quite easy. Wondered if you could advise it that would be a good upgrade for me as well.

guess I was wondering if you basically just replaced the tweeters in the doors (up by the side mirrors), from the pics on your website I wasn't sure if they were located in another place. Do you think with the non-jbl system I would get any better sound than from the stock tweeters? (They look to be some sort of plastic). I get some high range sounds from them but nothing amazing. Would I be able to just wire in new ones and that's that? Could you reccommend a good model? JL is good?
thanks so much for your help.

-Peter B
[/b]
Click to expand...

First, yes you would get better sound from upgrading the tweeters, probably more so than a woofer upgrade. IF you want to get some tweeters, you would have to make sure that their frequency range is within close to the crossover frequency of the factory system. For example, if the system splits the signal at 3500 Hz, and the new tweeters start at around 4000 Hz, you'd have a 500 Hz gap where the speakers were not in their "zone." Yes they would probably work, but it would not be ideal. If it's the other way, where the range of the tweeter is greater than what hte amp puts out, then you're just fine. Unfortunately I don't know off hand what the frequency split is in the Prius.

I was lucky that the JL Audio tweeters fit so easily into the stock location. Not all tweeters will be as easy to install as they were. Different manufaturers make different sizes. For example, MB Quart tweeters are much too wide for this location without extensive modification (which is a shame becuase I have a pair just sitting around...). You would have to actually measure to see how close they are to the stock size. I didn't do this becuase I was prepared to make them fit anyway. I just happened to get lucky.

GeoGeek · Nov 1, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DocVijay @ Nov 1 2006, 08:15 AM) [snapback]341805[/snapback]</div>

First, yes you would get better sound from upgrading the tweeters, probably more so than a woofer upgrade. IF you want to get some tweeters, you would have to make sure that their frequency range is within close to the crossover frequency of the factory system. For example, if the system splits the signal at 3500 Hz, and the new tweeters start at around 4000 Hz, you'd have a 500 Hz gap where the speakers were not in their "zone." Yes they would probably work, but it would not be ideal. If it's the other way, where the range of the tweeter is greater than what hte amp puts out, then you're just fine. Unfortunately I don't know off hand what the frequency split is in the Prius.

I was lucky that the JL Audio tweeters fit so easily into the stock location. Not all tweeters will be as easy to install as they were. Different manufaturers make different sizes. For example, MB Quart tweeters are much too wide for this location without extensive modification (which is a shame becuase I have a pair just sitting around...). You would have to actually measure to see how close they are to the stock size. I didn't do this becuase I was prepared to make them fit anyway. I just happened to get lucky.
[/b]
Click to expand...

Doc,
Just thought I'd chime in with a non-JBL system owner perspective.
In the non-JBL, since there's no outboard amp, the signal hits the factory front tweets at full range.
There is a little capacitor on that tweet to limit it to a high-pass setup.
So any aftermarket tweet (assuming an acceptable impedance) should work, so long as it has it's own capacitor and/or passive crossover. Keep in mind that you're just using the output from the head unit (probably <25 watts). To get the full benefit of an aftermarket tweeter (or component set) you'll want to
power them with an aftermarket amp, no doubt.

Just adding an upgraded tweet in a JBL system would probably yield okay results, but probably would
be disappointing in the base Prius system.

Did the previous poster put the Pioneer's in front & rear?
If not, he could migrate them to the rear doors and do a component system in the front, replacing both the mid-bass & factory tweets...and get a nice outboard passive crossover in the process......he's still want to power them with an amp (IMHO).

Good Luck.

DocVijay · Nov 1, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GeoGeek @ Nov 1 2006, 09:01 AM) [snapback]341830[/snapback]</div>

Doc,
Just thought I'd chime in with a non-JBL system owner perspective.
In the non-JBL, since there's no outboard amp, the signal hits the factory front tweets at full range.
There is a little capacitor on that tweet to limit it to a high-pass setup.
So any aftermarket tweet (assuming an acceptable impedance) should work, so long as it has it's own capacitor and/or passive crossover. Keep in mind that you're just using the output from the head unit (probably <25 watts). To get the full benefit of an aftermarket tweeter (or component set) you'll want to
power them with an aftermarket amp, no doubt.

Just adding an upgraded tweet in a JBL system would probably yield okay results, but probably would
be disappointing in the base Prius system.

Did the previous poster put the Pioneer's in front & rear?
If not, he could migrate them to the rear doors and do a component system in the front, replacing both the mid-bass & factory tweets...and get a nice outboard passive crossover in the process......he's still want to power them with an amp (IMHO).

Good Luck.
[/b]
Click to expand...

OK, I wasn't too familiar with the non-JBL system.

Ithe tweeters just get a full range signal and use a passive filter, then tweeter choice is much easier. Any tweeter will work, and if you use a high quality passive crossover, sound quality should be just fine. Withless than 25 watts though you'd want to get one with a pretty good sensetivity spec.

Yes, an aftermarket amp would do a lot to improve sound, but many simply don't want to go throught he hassle of adding one.

Yes, adding a set of components would be the ideal choice.

Actual Mileage · Nov 1, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DocVijay @ Nov 1 2006, 08:15 AM) [snapback]341805[/snapback]</div>

I was lucky that the JL Audio tweeters fit so easily into the stock location. Not all tweeters will be as easy to install as they were. Different manufaturers make different sizes. For example, MB Quart tweeters are much too wide for this location without extensive modification (which is a shame becuase I have a pair just sitting around...). You would have to actually measure to see how close they are to the stock size. I didn't do this becuase I was prepared to make them fit anyway. I just happened to get lucky.
[/b]
Click to expand...

Tweeters also fit in the kick panel B)

[attachmentid=5565]

prberg · Nov 1, 2006

Thanks for the good info guys. Yeah I put the upgraded Pioneers in both front and back. Those speakers gave me some pretty good highs but maybe upgrading the tweeter would give me even more? Doc, you think the Evolution ZR tweeters from JL would be a good choice? Would I need to install an inline base blocker? Is that what you mean by a passive crossover? Or does the tweeter have a filter to block out low freq?

-Peter B

DocVijay · Nov 1, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prberg @ Nov 1 2006, 04:09 PM) [snapback]342154[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the good info guys. Yeah I put the upgraded Pioneers in both front and back. Those speakers gave me some pretty good highs but maybe upgrading the tweeter would give me even more? Doc, you think the Evolution ZR tweeters from JL would be a good choice? Would I need to install an inline base blocker? Is that what you mean by a passive crossover? Or does the tweeter have a filter to block out low freq?

-Peter B
[/b]
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if JL sells the tweeters sparately. They do not come with a passive crossover for the tweeters alone, but rather a large crossover for both woofer and tweeter. THey don't list any separate crossover for tweeters only. Also keep in mind that these tweeters, if available, would likely run about $300 for a pair, not including the crossover. You can find great quality tweeters for much less.

Actually, I have an older set of JL Audio passive crossovers. I used them back in hte mid 90's with a previous system. I used them with apair of MB Quart tweeters which I also still have. If I remember correctly they filter at around 5000 Hz. If I can find them, I'd sell them pretty cheap if yo are interested. I haven't used them in around a decade or so, but I imagine they should still work just fine (it's not like they have an exiration date...)

DocVijay · Nov 2, 2006

I just noticed that AudioCOntrol has a brand new box that does what the Cleansweep modules do. It looks like it would be an ideal option for the JBL system. It also includes a graphic equalizer, so it has more.

It's the AudioControl DQL-8, and runs for around $600.

Maybe someone can try this and see how it works. I'm interested in the equalizer funstions, and I may switch to this unit later.

http://www.mobileaudiocontrol.com/product....oduct_id=231512

prberg · Nov 2, 2006

After listening to the stock tweeters I really am not getting much from them. There is very little sound coming from them. Maybe just because the stereo isn't putting out that much power? I'm still hopeful that the aftermarket tweets would help. Doc, I'd love to get the MB's that you have... but would they require modification? I would really just love plug and play on this one. I'm not that into spending alot of time for this project (although I am going to try to devote some time to the signal mirror mod at some point).

I'm still kina confused about the crossover thing. Is that something that is in-line with the speaker? Or are you talking about the JL crossover unit that I have to run all my speaker wires through? My experience is only with adding in-line bass blockers to speakers to keep them from 'blowing out' with extra bass frequencies.

thanks,

-Peter B

My official Prius stereo mods thread.

H2OSkier Member

rice.craig New Member

GeoGeek Member

DocVijay Active Member

eagle33199 Platinum Member

DocVijay Active Member

eagle33199 Platinum Member

prberg Member

DocVijay Active Member

GeoGeek Member

DocVijay Active Member

Actual Mileage Member

Attached Files:

DSC01360edit.JPG

prberg Member

DocVijay Active Member

DocVijay Active Member

prberg Member

About PriusChat

Quick Navigation

Like us on Facebook

Buy us a beer!

Useful Searches

My official Prius stereo mods thread.

H2OSkier Member

rice.craig New Member

GeoGeek Member

DocVijay Active Member

eagle33199 Platinum Member

DocVijay Active Member

eagle33199 Platinum Member

prberg Member

DocVijay Active Member

GeoGeek Member

DocVijay Active Member

Actual Mileage Member

Attached Files:

DSC01360edit.JPG

prberg Member

DocVijay Active Member

DocVijay Active Member

prberg Member