2010 Overall Audio Quality

I plan to buy a Prius and I have been reading a lot of user and specialist reviews lately and it seems that everybody complains about the audio system. Actually, I was excited when I've found out that Prius is JBL equiped, I have a good opinion about JBL. It seems ridiculous that JBL and Toyota cannot design together a reasonable audiosystem.

 

I can't speak for everyone but it seems the main issue is that the sound is unidirectional (comes from the front of the car only), due to the rear speaker placement (front of the rear doors). Compared to other car radio that have a surround sound stage, this brings much criticism. Other than that, the sound is good.

 

Disclaimer here: I'm over 30 (quite a bit over 30 ) and my hearing isn't what it used to be.

Before my new Prius arrived, I drove a Corolla with an inexpensive Sony replacement radio. I replaced the radio not for sound quality, but because I wanted an aux in.

I have the Prius II with the base radio. First of all it's a lot, lot better than the Corolla. The Corolla's radio had no measurable bass nor treble at moderate volume, and the noise from the car didn't help.

The Prius radio actually seems a bit deficient in the midtones to my old ears. Drum hits are razor-sharp in the high range, driving bass is thumpy in the low range, but in the middle I'm not getting what I expect. Maybe it's just the contrast to the old car. But overall I'm actually pretty happy with it.

The equalization on radio vs. CD vs MP3-encoded CD is quite different and I wish I could preset 3 different EQ's for that. I haven't tried aux in yet, but I bet it's different from all of those.

 

It's all subjective. I love my Prius audio system. Satellite and AUX (IPhone - IPOD/Pandora/Radio Paradise/Stitcher) sound is amazing. FM and AM are pretty good too. I did adjust the fader to be R3 and tweaked the equalizer a tad to give it a +1 in midrange (leaving the rest at 0).

There's a lot of mis-information as to what JBL (or BOSE) do when they "enhance a car radio". Basically, it works like this:

1. JBL engineers come in and check out new car with base radio.
2. JBL puts stereo microphones at every listening position (all 5 seats).
3. JBL records audio data in every frequency range.
4. JBL runs complex simulations to identify the optimum equalizer settings for each frequency that compensate for car interior, car materials, etc. This is a very advanced sine wave, that is programmed in hardware, not something you can set with the car settings.
5. JBL also identifies where additional speakers, subwoofers, amplifiers might increase audio clarity and documents those recommendations.
6. JBL leaves and gives Toyota a big fat report that basically says:
7. If you do nothing, these are the ideal equalizer settings to program the radio computer to.
8. If you add the following speakers and use these settings, this is ideal.
9. Toyota then implements the basic equalizer setting and on a case by case basis (car interior budget mostly) they decide what additional enhancements to do (add speakers, subwoofer, amplifier, etc.). Usually on lower end cars they just add the advanced equalizer setting.
10. Toyota can now call the radio a "JBL" system.

That's why JBL/Bose car audio systems are all over the place. They didn't design the radio, they just made whatever radio was put in the car sound as good as THAT radio can sound. They make recommendations for souping it up, but the manufacturer chooses what to use and not use. They only need to implement the basic equalizer settings to get the "label" to put on the speakers/radio.

BTW, my example is based on 10 year old methods. I would not be surprised if this is all done entirely via software modeling these days, without EVER putting a microphone inside a car.

 

That's why I added +1 to midrange... keeping bass/treb at JBL 0. It may just be my ears (43) which are loosing the ideal "balance" though.

 

The G3-II doesn't seem to have a midrange equalizer setting, right?

 

Doesn't seem like mine does. I think that he must have the JBL radio.

 

I think my Radio ROCKS! I like everything about it. But I have the JBL with NAVI. if that makes a difference ? :rockon:

 

DIdn't know that. Yeah, my III (JBL audio) has it.

 

Dumb question: does making changes to the sound system that draws more power impact mileage?

 

haha, not a dumb question. I was wondering the same thing!

 

I'm still on my first tank of gas from the dealer, so I have no clue I'm also still learning how to drive the hybrid so my MPG has been steadily increasing. I would think the stereo upgrade has very very little, if any, impact on MPG.

 

That's what I would expect! Though I have to admit that this forum has kind of awakened my competitive side, and I want to get every MPG I can from my new Prius!

More on topic, I finally tested the audio quality of my Prius trim II today, and I have to say, with just a little bit of tweaking, I was actually very impressed! But this is only under one very limited set of circumstances. I never listen to the radio or CDs, only my PMP, which is a Meizu M6. This play is known for its superb audio fidelity, and its ability to play back FLAC files, so I did have high hopes for how it would sound. I only had one 1/8-1/8 cable laying around, and it was on its last leg, so I went to RS to pick up another, and did some testing. The Meizu has a wealth of EQ and spatialization effects, which really helped me overcome the fact that my Prius II only has 'treble,' 'bass,' 'fade,' and 'balance!' And then something called ASL control, or something like that, which I need to check the manual to see what that does. But back to the Meizu, I played around with the Virtual3D settings, and some of the other features, put the fade in the car back a few notches, and after only a few minutes of tweaking, I managed to pull out of the combination of Meizu and Prius a pretty amazingly enveloping 3D soundstage. It sounded good enough to bring a big dumb smile to my face, which I when I know I'm liking what I hear, so I have to say, at least via the AUX input, I think I'll be happy with the audio system as is. The bass is a little boomy, but there was plenty of it. I'm going to work some more tomorrow to see if I can do anything to tighten it up. At least on the small amount of music I sampled (just some M.I.A.), that is about all that's needed to make it sound really great!

 

Why does putting the fade toward the rear help? I'm not arguing, just asking.

 

Thanks Radioprius. That's exactly the type of workaround I'm looking for. I'll contact a local shop and see if they're up for doing something similar on mine.

I gotta wonder though whether they had to mod your existing speaker brackets? I don't believe the factory speakers are the same size as your replacements.

 

I don't have my Prius yet, but I can take a guess.

You're going to have to drive rear speakers a bit more in a hatchback than in a sedan, because in non-hatchbacks there are speakers on the rear panel, and they'll reflect sound off the back glass.

 

Ya, that probably explains it. It was a similar thing in my last vehicle, which was an SUV. With all that open space in the back, I found it necessary to "move" the sound back via the fade controls, so it didn't feel like there was this big blind spot a couple feet behind my head. That just didn't "sound right." Listening music is a very psychological experience after all.

It's pretty much the same situation with my Prius. Starting off, with the fade set at 0, it felt like the sound was placed somewhere in the dash. Using the fade control allowed me to move the sound back so that it was placed right around me, in the driver's seat. It's a similar thing to when you calibrate a surround sound setup in a home theater. You set up an SPL meter in your seating position, play a test tone through each speaker, and calibrate their decibel level so that their output is all uniform. It just a much simpler process in a car, since it's a much smaller space, and you can only control the system as a whole via the fade control, as opposed to each speaker individually.

 

I would never have considered even trying to fade it into the rear. I just went a played with it, and it does sound better faded into the rear. Thank you!

 

Glad I could help!

Well, I played around with it some more today. Listened to some hard rock and some acoustic folk. Fixed the boomy bass problem; the bass on the Meizu was set way to high, simple enough. I dialed it in a little more to my liking. The only real problem with the sound, that I haven't quite been able to over come, is that, at least with the one rock album I listened to, MewithoutYou's "Brother, Sister," the vocals are too far back in the soundstage, and are overwhelmed by the music. Comparing it to my home theater (since we're dealing with a surround sound setup, and not a traditional stereo setup), it sounds like the center channel speaker is set at about half the decibel level of the surrounds. With enough tweaking, I was able to improve it enough that it wasn't too offensive, but it's still not ideal. Maybe with some more tweaking of my Meizu, I can further dial it in. I also, though, need to listen to a wider range of stuff; the Sybil Baier album I checked out didn't evidence as big a problem with the vocals being too low.

Also, and more troubling, I've noticed a light amount of static, via the AUX input, that covers some of the upper frequencies, and was bugging me a bit. I'm using a new cable, so that is not the issue. It's not too bad, but I really wish it wasn't there at all.