Audio Upgrade Reccomendations

Here's an article about putting a Bazooka BTA6100 subwoofer in a Prius. That was done at Circuit City in LA, but maybe one near you could do it.

 

If you haven't already seen it, check out my page on prius audio

http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/priusaudio/

I think the easiest and most cost effective upgrade is to simply power new aftermarket component front speakers from the rear channel of the JBL. Leave the rears disconnected. I think adding amps for the front speakers is probably the least cost effective thing you can do for the audio.

I think a good plan is to first upgrade the front speakers from the rear channel, and see if you are happy then. I am currently running on just that configuration (with Focal K2 speakers) and it's remarkably good, but still weak bass.

Then if the lack of bass still bugs you, the easy route is to add a subwoofer. The more involved, more expensive, but more stealth route that I'm taking is to use EQ and Maxxbass processing to get bass out of the door speakers.

 

Or you could go with a Infinity Basslink for a bit better sound.

Don't buy it from Crutchfield though, I got mine used on ebay for $120

 

The 62.7s aren't component speakers. You should install component speakers (60.7cs) all around; the difference in cost is minimal, the difference in sound quality is not.

If you add an amp but keep the gain the same, it opens up use of the volume levels from 45 to 60. Without an external amp, the JBL amp starts audibly distorting around a volume setting of 40-45. Relieve it of the need to drive a low-impedence speaker load, and the distortion drops. It's desireable to use those higher volume settings rather than increase system gain because the JBL amp has a flatter frequency response at higher volume settings - the somewhat drastic equalization it does at lower volume settings is usually not wanted at higher volumes. If you're wondering why you'd run the output of the JBL amp into another amp, rather than just replace the JBL amp, it's because volume is controlled in the JBL amp, not in the head unit.

I have two amps (one four channel for the door speakers, one bridged two channel driving a JL Audio subwofer) and I'm pretty happy with the setup. Now the biggest problem with the audio system is the amount of road noise at highway speeds. I think I need to get on the waiting list for a GS 450h.

 

I have the Infinity 60.7cs in the front and the non-component in the rear. It sounds just fine with my factory(non JBL) amp with minimal distortion and perfect stereo imaging with fade set +1 to the front.

 

If you are going that route get the best amps you can afford. YOu get what you pay for. The car I had before my Prius had 3 - 10's running at 2 Ohms stereo (1 Kicker CVR with 2 voice coils and 2 Audiobahn with single voice coils) I don't remember what wattage I had but it was a 2 channell Rockford Fosgate. I ran the Kicker off 1 chanell and the Audiobahns off of the other chanell. Now that I think about it it was probably a bit too much, it took my entire trunk space and weighed about 100 lbs.

 

Franks of Berkeley is one of the absolute top install places in the area. They are a small shop that does a lot of high end work and has done a ton of work on the Prius including custom sub enclosures. For mine, they did an incredible job that included installing the Kenwood sub and Alpine AMP in the rear hatch, installing 2 pairs of component speakers and a vais/sirius install on a 2005 package six. They made sure everything came out looking factory clean and sounding great. the only compromise was the kenwood powered mini-sub being far inferior to a true sub experience but I was willing to compromise for convenience on that one...

I also would recommend you look into Diamond Audio HEX series for speakers, you can get them on new on ebay for about half what they retail for. I personally prefer them to the Infinity's but either way, you'll have a a major upgrade...

Franks is far form the cheapest but they stand by their work (I had a problem with something loosening in my last car and even though it was four years later, they fixed it at no charge) and really understand what they are doing. Worth every penny in my opinion.