Are speakers hard to install?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mywhitenoise @ May 4 2007, 02:14 PM) [snapback]435559[/snapback]</div>

If you do a search here for ~Sparky~ speaker guide, then no it is very simple. I did it myself, i wasn't about to pay some professional installer who was uneducated about the Prius and it's disassembly and possibly do a crapy botched up job. I did all my research here and the people here told me all I needed to know about it. I also got the proper tools such as a panel puller, i even insulated my doors with dynamat! The panels themselves were very easy to remove from the doors. I will warn you about the tweeter housing. When you take it off, pull it straight out. If the upper metal clip stays in the cutout in the door you can retrieve it with a pair of tweezers. Once you retrieve it, reattach it and use a pair of pliers to crimp it at the folded part, squeeze down hard and make sure you can't pull it off with your hands. After I did this, and reinserted it, it now has a nice tight fit to the door, even better than before i took it off. I only mention this because that was the most difficult part for me as far as speaker replacement, and I didn't read about this type of problem anywhere here.

Good luck, and just do alot of research and take your time and you will be fine!

 

Do you have the jbl system. If you do, that could complicate things for you. Because
you'll have a high and lo pass out put from the jbl amplifier under you passenger seat.
Othaerwise speaker replacement is pretty easy.

YOGI
PM me if you need more help

 

I have just installed a pair of MB Quart QSD216 into the front door of my Prius. It's tough!!

The tweeter are larger than the stock and I have to use hot glue to secure the tweeter on the 3 tougues that use to hold the stock tweeter. Yes, I already lose both metal clips for the tweeter column....I intend to ask for spare replacement clips from my Toyota dealer when I do my next servicing.

I dynamat both front doors, 2 layers, one on the outer panel internally and another layer over all the apertures on the inner door frame, sealing the air inside as much as possible to make the door act like speaker box.

The midrange speaker need to be elevated with 2 speaker spacer rings, almost 3/4 inches above the flush surface and even with this, with the window fully retracted, it just barely touches the magnet assembly. The MB Quart QSD216 is one with the least depth, you will have problem installing Focal which have a deeper magnet assembly. I had to squeeze the door cover in as the installed 3/4 " speaker spacer rings make it difficult to pop in the plastic plungers surrounding the new speaker.

I used standard Monster cable 12 Guage speaker wires (grey type) and wired from door to the boot where my power amp is, which is a JL Audio 300/4. The most difficult part is routing the speaker cables through the door grommet seals.

It took me 3 to 4 days just to do up the speakers, doors and wire routing to the boot.

My other components: - Sony CDX-C90 Head Unit, SONY 848 10-disc changer and Alpine H701 sound processor as act as my active crossover at 2.5KHz. CD playback is thru optical digital.

It took me about 1 month before I can move away from stock sound and completing my installation. Right now, the sound in my Prius is just stunning.....

(Audio)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Audio @ May 8 2007, 01:26 AM) [snapback]437366[/snapback]</div>

The stock tweeters are pretty small. The Infinity tweeters I used initially were a bit bigger so I had to grind down the tweeter pod opening a bit. The Focal tweeters were even bigger, and they just barely fit into the stock pods. The Focals required quite a bit of grinding to get them to fit.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(YogiLopez @ May 6 2007, 10:16 AM) [snapback]436333[/snapback]</div>

I have the JBL upgrade with Nav also.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was shocked to learn that the front speakers are fed by signals that are already split with a crossover back at the JBL amp under the seat. At least, this is what I read from the site Tom Morrow has at http://www.tom-morrow-land.com/tests/priusaudio/. I assume things have not changed too much between the 2004 MY and the 2006 MY, which I have. Why Toyota would want to do this - beats me.

If you buy component speakers for the front, how do you connect them? One could just not use the crossover that comes with the speakers, and simply connect them up to the same high and lo pass lines. But, who knows if the JBL amp crossover characteristics will match those of the replacement speakers? My friend suggested that the lo and high pass outputs could be reconnected to "add" the signal back together (so to speak), and then use that combined signal to feed the front component speaker crossover. Has anyone tried this? I think the JBL amp crossover would have to be passive in order for this to work.

I am trying to take advantage of a sale this weekend, so if anyone has solved the front speaker dilemma, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(twbutler @ May 18 2007, 11:38 AM) [snapback]445067[/snapback]</div>

The simplest would be to use the rear speaker lines to power your new components speakers up front. The rear channel is a full signal. You'll lose the rears, but you may not care. Given a choice to go with splitting the speaker budget for 2 sets of speakers, or pouring all the money into 1 good set of components, I'd take a good set of components. With a good set of components to set your front stage, you may not even want to consider cheaper speakers in the back for fill.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Presto @ May 18 2007, 07:31 PM) [snapback]445315[/snapback]</div>

The rep at the Tweeter audio shop recommended using the JL Audio Cleansweep (presumably using the rear spkr output as input), a JL Audio amp, and JL or Focal component speakers. In addition, I think BQuiet or Dynamat are also recommended. They have done this same upgrade for other Prius systems, and claim it sounds incredible. I am sure it costs a lot also...

If I knew I could safely tie the front lo and high pass outputs together to "sum" them back into a full range source, I'd like to try that option. I hate to lose the rears.

Does anyone have any experiences to share about their upgrades to their Prius?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(twbutler @ May 19 2007, 11:06 AM) [snapback]445655[/snapback]</div>

In addition to the JL Cleansweep, there are other devices that are capable of taking the output from your factory amp and turning it into suitable input for a full range aftermarket amp.
Rockford Fosgate makes a device called the 3Sixty (in both a ".1" and a ".2" version).
Audio Control makes the DQL-8 as well as a few other models that would work (I'm running their Three.1, but I don't have the Factory JBL amp in my Prius.)
The JL Audio is, no doubt, a very nice piece of equipment....just not the only one on the block.

By running a little extra wiring (i.e. separate leads to the rear tweeter & mid-bass) you could use the front outputs on the amp to feed to the rears. Then you could feed the full range rear signal to your aftermarket component speaker's passive crossover inputs. That way the only thing to buy is a nice set of components and some speaker wire.....plus maybe some sound deadening & wood for trim home-made rings (see DocVijay's page for a nice how-to on that topic).
Good Luck!