2007: JBL or non-JBL if adding sub?

I'm seriously thinking about a 2007 Prius. My wife just got one and we love it--this would be our second. The only thing I don't like about the Prius is the crummy sound quality. My wife has the JBL 9-speaker system. This leads me to three newbie pre-purchase questions:

(1) If I am planning to add an aftermarket sub like the Bazooka, or aftermarket rear speakers with better base, is there any reason to prefer the JBL system over the non-JBL system (other than the convenience of a 6-CD changer)? I don't need to worry about sound quality in the back seat.

(2) Are the audio controls for the single-CD changer integrated into the touchscreen in the same way that the 6-CD changer is?

(3) As for aftermarket: Which is the better bet, adding a Bazooka or changing out the rear speakers? I'm interested in sound quality, not loud volume.

Many thanks for your help!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Jul 16 2007, 03:09 PM) [snapback]479736[/snapback]</div>

Wow! I hadn't seen one of those before. (I guess I don't get out enough.) That's a major aesthetic and functional improvement over a Bazooka in the rear cargo space. I won't have NAV.

Second, I take it from your "yes" answer to question #3 that I should do both. Do you recommend anything in particular for the rear speakers?

Thanks again!

 

I wound up doing this in two stages (one done, one still to come). I went with the non-JBL system, since I'm not much of a cell phone talker. I put the money saved ($1500) into stage one: "everything but a sub." I added a Rockford Punch 400x4 amp (under the seat, just like the JBL amp) and swapped out all of the speakers for JL VR-series equivalents. (The non-JBL system has separates in the front and coaxials in the rear.) I kept the OEM head unit, but hooked it up to a JL CleanSweep, a gizmo designed to flatten the frequency response of the signal from OEM head units. Supposedly the signal is as clean or cleaner as the signal from an aftermarket head unit, and you don't lose the steering wheel/touchscreen capabilities or mess up the look of the dashboard. I can't tell you how well the CleanSweep works, since I changed everything at once, but all told, the the sound is markedly better than the JBL system in my wife's Prius.

Stage two is harder: figuring out how to add a reasonably high-quality subwoofer that will neither break the bank or take up cargo space. My first idea was to replace the tool tray above the spare tire with a custom-built enclosure of the same size, but the cost would have been close to the cost of all of "stage one." The guys at the shop are now trying to figure out a less ambitious scheme, perhaps using the area currently occupied by the smaller storage bin in the left rear corner. If anyone has successfully solved this problem, by all means let me know!