2010 Toyota Prius model II Head Unit Upgrade

Spiderman...thoughts?
Spoke with an installer who pointed out that the Prius has two four ohm speakers wired together in series which equals 2 ohms total. if I use the infinity speakers (2.1 ohms) then it becomes 3 ohms. He said that is asking for trouble and recommended I stick with a four ohm speaker? How much of a difference in volume/bass did you find between the 2 OHM and 4 OHM speakers?

 

What is it that you're doing, Mike?
The stock Prius front speakers consist of a door panel speaker and the dash squawkers. He's correct that these speakers are wired in series, with a capacitor which acts as a crossover. It all depends on what you're replacing. You can use a multimeter to measure the resistance of the front left/right speakers where the wires enter the radio unit, and there are passive components you can add, if needed, to keep the impedance of your new speakers the same.
What are you replacing and/or adding? Let's begin there.

 

I am in the Orlando market and just trying to improve the sound without going broke or complicated. All the local shops want to upsell the world to me and I can't get decent advice locally. I was hoping to just add some speakers and perhaps change the in dash speakers and want to keep everything looking factory. I am also deciding between whether to spend money on an under the seat subwoofer or an alpine powerpack to increase power to the speakers. I just got off the phone with Cruthfield that recommends I just get a set of JBL's or another 4 Ohm speaker so I am not putting additional stress or strain on the in dash receiver. The local shop here said I shouldn't use the Infinity speakers because if there is ever an issue with the stereo, Toyota will say it was mismatched and put up a fight on the warranty. I am not wanting a $1000+ system.

At this point, I am tempted to just order these below, and call it a day:
GT7-96 | 6” x 9” Three-Way Car Audio Loudspeaker | JBL US

 

Spiderman....the two fours appear to be sonically matched which means while 2 four ohm speakers usually reduce to a 2 Ohm, these are more like components that are balanced together on different frequencies to ultimately = 4 Ohms. I just wish Priuschat or someone in the states would start carrying the Alpine Kit they sell in Japan for our cars.
SXS-69S｜ALPINE Japan

 

Just installed a Kenwood DDX471HD with the Metra brackets, wiring harness and Axxess steering wheel controls.
Metra has a wiring harness for plugging in their ASWC-1 control module without tapping the Toyota wires. Something interesting about this wiring harness is that it includes the AUX input cable which allows you to use the center console input plug. It converts it to a pair of RCA plugs so you can plug it into your AUX input on your aftermarket HU. My question. If you look at the wiring harness explanations on page 14 of the HU install document, it shows that plug #4 is the one responsible for the AUX input. It appears that plug #3 which is the steering wheel controls actually contains the AUX in also. So if this is true, what the heck is plug #4 for?

 

Spiderman...I suspect that the speakers may be in series to maintain proper resistance. I have attached a link showing what I mean. If anyone doesn't use the harness and just splits/splices the speakers together, they might be cutting the resistance in half and causing significant stress on the headunit. Any thoughts on this topic? Your documents were really helpful for the install I did and this is the one thing that stood out to me as a potential concern.
Wiring Diagrams | Eminence Speaker

 

hi all, new to my prius. I'm looking to keep my stock HU in my 2013 prius 2 non jbl and install an amp but i have two questions, Does anyone know the colors for all of the speaker wires that i need to tap into for a line out converter? I know this is a HU upgrade thread but i imagine someone here knows the wiring, any help would be appreciated

 

Does anyone know if the JBL with nav will work on a setup with just the basic stock jbl non nav setup? I want to switch head units and since my system is already jbl I wouldn't think it would be a issue but wanted to make sure.

 

Wow this is awesome - the documentation is concise and to the point - thanks !

 

Spiderman, thank you for such a wonderful PDF doc... Makes life a lot easier..

I have a 2010 Japanese Prius import on its way to me.. Have just ordered a new head unit, but have discovered how much of a pain it can be to replace.. I see this PDF doc was written a long time ago so maybe Metra make cheaper parts

Do you know if this product is a suitable replacement for the Toyota Head Unit Surround* Toyota part #: 55405-47080

I cant paste links ... but on Ebay if you search for Metra 95-8226B 2010-2012 Toyota Prius Double Din Radio Dash Install Kit

Thanks!


Edit: Link -

 

Thanks for the info very informative. I aslo like to make my own wood baffles and usesound dedening material like dynomat to give a sturdy babble for the speaker to mount to. This gives a better low end response.

All the newer Toyota models and Lexus models have the same speaker sizes and mounts. You will find that the front speakers will be 6x9 size and the rear will be a 6.5 inch speaker. They will either be bolted with four 10mm bolts on the front doors, and three 10mm bolts on the rear doors. or riveted to the door frame. The tweeters will be 3.5 inches and mounted on the door or on the dash. These are held in place with two 10mm bolts. But t both have the same speakers. On the JBL system you will find a slightly better pair of speakers and a JBL amp. On the sedans the JBL amp is mouted under the passenger side. Hope this helps. thanks

 

I just finished replacing my dash speakers last night in my Persona. So I have the Navi non-JBL system. What I was surprised to find was the connector behind the speakers that used to connect the door speaker in parallel. I just used it to connect to the new speakers and not have to fabricate a jumper. Also, the white wire is + and black is negative. I did have to trim dash slighty but not too much. These are Kicker's 3.5" speakers(Kicker 41DSC354).

Works great and sound isn't even comparable as the squawkers could not even hit those upper frequencies. It did pull the sound stage slightly forward as they are much brighter. I plan to replace the door speakers next so that should pull it back.

Hope these photos are helpful.

Kicker 3.5" install by sfcyclist2012, on Flickr

Kicker 3.5" install by sfcyclist2012, on Flickr

 

Thanks for the pics, I plan on upgrading mine as well...2013 non-nav, touch screen not JBL.
I'll probably stick with stock HU for now and just upgrade the speakers.

Thanks @spiderman for all the tips and instructions you have started here.

OnePlus One?

 

This was an awesome guide, thanks

 

I realize that this is an older post, but I just want to make sure that I am understanding this...

When speakers are wired in series, their impedances should add together, so wouldn't the pair of 2 ohm speakers combine to be 8 ohms?

I thought these speakers (at least the JBL version) were actually wired in parallel. Is the non-JBL different?

EDIT: Just dug out my wiring diagrams - it does appear that the non-JBL is parallel wired. The JBL version is a bit more confusing - it appears to show a separate wire run to each speaker, but the color of the wires is consistent (for example - the RH rear speakers both use red and white wire colors).

 

does anyone have the diagram or happen to know which wire is which for the stereo, i know acc=gray, groud=brown, battery=light blue, but not the rest anyone have the list of all the wire

 

I can't edit my old post, but I just saw a typo in my earlier post - I think I meant to ask whether a pair of 2 ohm speakers wire in series should be 4 ohms (not 8).