Please Post Your Stereo Upgrades

I'd like to post pics but, my dog ate them. Well, really they're 1700 miles away. Our move east is not complete yet.

here goes my text descriptions for stereo mods.

Came with: Basic 6-speaker system, no external amp, single-play cd player plus the factory (or dealer add-on) 6-disc changer in the 'pocket' below the standard stereo. Nice but seriously lacking bass, crisp highs, and iPod!

Added Panasonic 6" subs under both front seats in custom boxes, powered by an aftermarket JBL amp (like 200 watts). Wow. Did that ever make the difference! I could have stopped there. Now, granted it wasn't a 12 or 15 inch sub, but it made the whole system just rock without losing a bit of cargo space. Okay, the below deck area in the hatch got an amp that took some space.

Then, we got a second Prius in the family. I put the 6-disc into the "new" Prius (hers) as well as the 6-inch subs under the front seats. Not sure what amp I used in the new Prius...anyway...mine got another custom set of the 6" subs under the front seats and an Ipod2car adaptor that plugged into where the changer was. Nice! Now I had 4,000 songs straight into the system with the added bass.

Decided new components were needed up front (alpine 6", not sure of model #), and coax in the rear (alpine). Really made a nice difference in quality, but the factory head unit really didn't fill the alpine with enough sound. Added a four-channel Alpine amp and that really made things crisp and clean. I used a high to low signal converter from Audio something out of Oregon. Damn if I can remember all these brands!

Finally decided to jump into the world of fiberglass and made an 8" punch sub enclosure for the right rear hatch 'pocket'. That is running off the same JBL amp (2 channels plus bridged channel) as the 6" subs, just tuned for 80 Hz. I really, really like how that project turned out and the sound is wonderfully full without being too overdriven, for lack of a better term. Solid. also wired in a bass volume knob to the front knock-out panel so if I want more bass I just dial up more.

Pics, i know, would make a difference, but there u have it.

Cheers,

Curt

 

I had the 6-disc JBL stereo, but I could've care less if the car didn't come with it. Stock would've been good for some extra cost savings, but it wasn't that big of a deal. The system has gone through several revisions in the past year, but I think it's to the point where I am thoroughly satisfied.... for now. The only thing I may change immediately is to bridge my fronts for more power. Check my sig for what I currently have

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(finman @ May 22 2007, 12:24 PM) [snapback]447393[/snapback]</div>

Curt,

Can you give us some tips on where to get started with a basic upgrade to the stereo? I have the standard, single disc stereo in my '05 Prius. Now that I'm going to be driving it on a regular basis, I need to do something about both the radio reception (but not necessarily switching to satellite), and the sound (I'd like to start with subwoofers and go from there).

How do I get started? I'm digging on this site for resources, but seem to see only posts that tell what people installed, not how they did it...

Thanks,
Rick

 

As far as subs go...I measured the dimensions under the front seats and decided 6" subs would fit. Not to be confused with sandwiches! Anyway I built the boxes out of standard MDF (dense particle board), sealing them airtight with silicone and flush mounting them into the box, wrapping them in grey speaker cloth, no grill, as they are under the seat, didn't think much would get under there to puncture a speaker. I've built sub boxes before so this wasn't hard for me. I'll bet a good google search would show some directions, etc.

Running wires in the Prius is pretty easy as all the interior panels come off easy snap, maybe a few screws here and there. I mounted amps in the below-floor cargo "hold", which is perfect. Out of sight, no topside cargo space is used up. I originally had just a high to low level adaptor connected to the rear speaker outputs behind the radio which converted to an RCA signal going back to the amp, then the amp out put going to the subs under the front seats. worked fine, but now I've a 4-channel device under the carpet in the front passenger footwell that does the same thing for the whole system. Audiocontrol...can't remember the model...RX-6 or something.

Power is easy as the small 12 volt battery is in the back right only 2 feet from the amp! ground is a bolt back there too. As far as the custom fiberglass 8" 'box', it was my 1st and when our move is officialy done I'll be able to find instructiions for most all of this! Plus pics! Speaker upgrades in the front and rear needed larger plates to fit aftermarket 6.5". And you have to drill out the rivets. Not a big deal, I've done all this type of thing before. The tweeter replacement took a bit of work to fit aftermarket 1" ALpines. Dremel and "custom" brackets.

Sparky speaker replacement and Chris Dragon stereo removal should be available here on PriusChat. If not, google the heck out of Prius stereo upgrades. I have those docs...but they're 1700 miles away and not accessible for a week or so!

After the boxes get unpacked, I'll try to post again to help.

Cheers,

Curt

PS the Ipod connection was the old iPod2Car deal online somewhere. works well but it seems the Dice unit may offer better features, etc.

 

All I want now is HD Radio. Anyone heard of a Prius unit yet?...

 

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Did you ever get those pics of the subpocket? i'm planning on doing the same

 

My next upgrade is to replace all 4 door speakers. I have had the rear panels off before so that I could trace back the wires to tap into when I installed my amp and I was amazed by how cheap and crappy the factory speakers are. Not sure what I want to go with yet.

 

nope, no pics...but it is now on my list! i will get them posted this week even. See, I'm writing myself a note to get this done. Really. I'll do it. I swear.

Maybe i should skip work to get this done...it seems ultimately more important...

 

HERE is a thread on my stealthy stereo upgrade. The Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X792 has built in high-pass filters, a 24bit DAC, and plenty of other neat features that satisfies me enough that I have yet to install my midrange amplifier.

I have not taken pics or done a write up but I did install a 1500watt (RMS) Diamond Audio D6 1500.1 Amplifier to power 2 10D9D4 subwoofers (now called HexPro). Originally I usd high level inputs from the rear speakers to get signal to the amp and later I added the deck and removed the high-level converter.

 

I know that i'm getting *a little* off topic, but ....... Here's my issue. I have the amp, speakers, sub, wires and amp kit, BUT I don't know where to tap into the wires to run to the amp, and then where/how to run the wires back to the speakers. I'm sure that there's an easily explainable way to do this, but I don't know what it is. The only other time I ran speakers and wires was when i was putting a stereo into a car that didn't have one (RIP 84 Camry) so it wasn't so much of an issue.

Who wants to be my mentor?

BTW, FINMAN, I found your pics yourhttp://rides.webshots.com/album/131088271MKmWlf ... looks very nice and stealth, great job... you should mass produce tat bad boy and quit your day job!

 

This was my first DIY car audio adventure.

The project car is my wife's 07' Prius with "Premium JBL" system and bluetooth and navigation. The JBL premium system on the Prius is widely known to sound really bad. The front speaker outputs are heavily altered depending on volume, the soundstage is awful, and the sound lacks lows and lacks definition. I needed a solution that would sum the front channels, clean up the sound, and well.... sound great.

My solution:
Soundproofing / deadening in the floor and doors,
JL-Audio ZR-650s in the front (personally, I wouldn't pay retail for speakers this expensive for a car, but I got them cheap from someone),
PXE-H650 (installed after the stock JBL amplifier and on top of it)
JL-Audio 300/4 amplifier (installed in the hatch compartment above the tire)

Having never done anything like this before, it took a lot of study (much of it here at priuschat) and a leap of faith. Amazingly, it all worked out and sounds awesome.

I set the 300/4 to "low input voltage" and set the Input Sensitivity most all the way up. I set the Prius HU volume at 40 (out of 60) for the autotune process on the H650. I find that it works well to use the HU volume control instead of the remote. Most music is listened to between 35-50 (50 is rocking). Talk radio is usually between 30-40.

I did the Auto-Tune sequence (H650) but have not yet played with manual settings. The soundstage is incredible after the autotune. Really unbelievable what a difference it makes.

I think I should be able to get a bit more range out of the 6.5" ZR-650s. It seems they should go lower. I'm sure this can be solved with manual settings on the HR650 and/or the crossover controls on the 300/4, but I haven't played with it yet.

PROBLEM: The power kept dropping at the H650 and this problem became more frequent over time. I checked and double checked all connections. I ran a new power wire to the battery and changed the ground as well. Problem kept progressing. I finally pulled the H650 and sent it to Alpine under warranty.

PROBLEM 2: I reconnected the stereo without the H650 or the 300/4 amp, and you know what ? .... The system sounds really, really great. In this case I think at least 70% of the improvement came from new speakers and the sound proofing and sound deadening. I miss the perfect staging with the H650 but my wife can't tell the difference (and it's her car after all). It sounds plenty good but not as perfectly clean and detailed at very loud volumes.

Hopefully the fixed or replaced H650 will not have any problems.

I took pics and will post up sometime.

 

Kirk,

Good job. Now what you need to really make the whole effort worthwhile is a subwoofer!

 

thanks,

If there was a pre-fab subwoofer for the rear corner compartment (opposite the battery), it would be hard to pass up. To get the same solution via DIY is more than I want to do and we're not willing to give up trunk space. The other option is to put small subs in the rear doors to replace the 6.5"s.

 

Another option is to get rid of the Toyota Nav unit, replace it with a real GPS system, then use the space under the driver seat for the sub.

 

A couple of speaker enclosures for the rear hatch areas don't sound very difficult; I'm surprised no one offers them. I've worked with fibreglass before, but it's pretty nasty-smelling stuff. Is there an environmentally acceptable alternative? Would a moulded paper-based product do the trick?

 

Hey, I forgot about webshots! Yes, the fiberglass sub (my 1st attempt even) is on my photo page.

And here are the subs under the front seats pics. I guess only 3 pics at a time??

These pair are old Panasonic 6" mid-bass. The other pair I made (we're twice as smug as some Prius owners, we've 2 in the family!) are Fosgate 6" subs. Both brands sound great, even in the tiny boxes, like 0.33 cubic feet.

Anyway, an Audio Control LX6i (Line Output Converter - LC6i=)
is tucked under the carpet under the front passengers feet to turn the Toyota radio signals into RCA signals to run my 2 amps. Enjoy!

 

So which wires did you run into the audio control lx line out converter?