I got a hand-me-down toyota prius (gen 2 with nav & JBL) a while ago, and i am a bit of an audiophile. I value sound quality a lot, and the JBL system really doesn’t do it for me now that i’m used to really high end speakers/headphones in my home and daily life. From what i understand the JBL system very integrated and is a mess to replace, so i am just wondering if anyone has done it. i’m wanting to replace everything, the stock amp and all 8 door speakers (voiding the center dash speaker for convenience) and add a subwoofer, amps, the whole package. I am just looking for any help or info about how to start this process. I don’t mind putting in the work to do it right, but it will be the first time I have worked on a car’s AV system outside of a simple head unit/speaker upgrade in a CRV
I am also an audiophile and have won IASCA awards for SQ. Why would you replace it? For starters there is excellent sound with the JBL system. If you tune it it correctly for your tastes in music. No need for a subwoofer, the bass in my car is perfect. It brings up the low end and does a great job of filling the gaps between the low highs and the high lows. Does it thump, No, but it shouldn't if it is setup correctly. I shut off all the speakers except for the front minus the middle speaker. Whoever came up with that one should be fired. I have a great soundstage even at high volume. Which is rare as 90% of the cars just create a confusing sound mess with no soundstage. The Prius has a decent amount of road noise, and unless you are going to soundproof it, and fix the window noise, you are throwing good money at bad. And to make the Gas Mileage folks happy you will be adding a lot of weight and cutting your gas mileage, with sound proofing. I suggest you futz with the system and work it until you get a great sound, it can happen.
