i have an '08 package 2, non-jbl. i'm looking to upgrade the speakers only at this point. anybody have any suggestions on where/what to use? i was thinking about 6.5" boston acoustic SX60 components for the front and matching 6.5" boston acoustic 3 way SX65 for the rear. any thoughts? if i do an amp, i'm going to be tempted to put it in the trunk to tap the standard car battery in there and buddy it up with a subwoofer...also, will i even need an amp? if so what kind might i consider, that could do the under seat thing possibly as the jbl do currently? how many watts does the non-nav output? can it get installed without voiding any of my warranties? anybody know how many watts the non-navigation head unit pumps out, just incase i can avoid the amp install issue? i wouldnt mind having a nice sound system, but i wont have it bump if it kills more than 1mpg. thanks, daniel
I upgraded to Polk Audio 6.5 inch components in front and rear on my 2004. I mounted the tweeters where the stock tweeters are in front (had to cut out some plastic & glue them in) and in the rear the tweeters mounted easily by cutting 2" holes in the door panel. For a sub I added a 8" compact powered sub under the passenger seat, wired to the battery in the rear and to the head unit. I think the stock stereo amp is pretty low power, since the speakers are very efficient (the magnets are only the size of a small stack of dimes). The upgraded speakers did not sound very good until I upgraded the head unit. I went with a Sony MP3 CD receiver mounted under the stock stereo where the storage bin is. It is an older model with 7-band equalizer built in (I like it better than the newer models). Overall sound is very nice compared to stock.
You don't NEED an amp, but I would highly recommend getting one. The JBL package isn't all that powerful. The non-JBL is really lacking in the power department. I would say you're lucky if you can squeeze out 15watts RMS (per channel), from the stock system. If you're serious about sound, and I'm not talking about earth shaking bass, I would definitely get an amp. You'll notice some improvement with a speaker upgrade, but it'll really shine with an amp.
ok, so clearly the amp is a must thanks to non-power efficient after markets. should i try to install the amp under the passenger seat like the jbl (is it prepped to go there in a non-jbl prius) or should i trunk mount it with the 12v.
I say go for a speaker upgrade and an amp in the storage tray. Keep in mind that you'll need a way to get signal from the factory head unit into your amp.....either use a line level converter (LOC) or some device that can take speaker level inputs and send out RCA jacks to your amp. The Boston's are nice....trust your ears as far as speakers go. For the amp go with at least 40 watts rms x 4.
