Sound Quality of Gen 4 JBL GreenEdge vs. Gen 3 JBL

I don't know about the Gen 4 jbl unit but my 2015 prius w jbl sound sound very good ! I upgraded the speakers to frt forcal 6x9 and rear to premium jbl componets system they sound real good with all doors been sound deading! High are crisper bass is tighter.

 

That's interesting. My experience is the opposite. I find the sound better than my 2010 (although I mostly listen to .aac and .mp3 files on a USB stick, or the CD player, rather than bluetooth streaming from my phone). Much less road noise than my 2010, which helps too. I think the stereo in the PCP is an improvement over the Gen III JBL. YMMV.

 

I have no complaints about the sound system in my 2009 Gen II, but what I find most disappointing is the lousy quality of the programmes on just about all of the FM stations here in the North East. Badly produced garbage, far too many advertisements, even the NPR stations are constantly bleating about their "sponsors", and begging for money, their announcers are far too "blabby", and most of them (certainly the female ones) have grating "CroakeyVoice" or Vocal-Fry sounding voices, and the quality of the programming really leaves a lot to be desired, with the likes of "Wait wait! I'm Gonna Throw Up!", "Studio 360", "Radio Lab", all sounding like they've been made by teens let loose in a production suite!

 

I have the stock audio in my 2016 Four, and am not happy with it, compared to my Gen II audio. One reason might be that I upgraded the pillar mounted tweeters in the Gen II. That made a big difference in the audio sound quality and was very happy with the sound after the upgrade. The Gen IV of course has the tweeter mounted in the dash, so upgrading that looks like it will be a major task. I thought that maybe I should have gotten the JBL upgrade, but I probably wouldn't have been satisfied with that either. I think the problem is in the speakers, not the head unit. BTW, I'm a musician and audiophile, so I'm very critical with sound quality. I even hear a difference between using Bluetooth and a cable, so I now use only the aux cable input when streaming, or playing files from the phone.

 

Would be grateful if you could let me know how one knows a JBL premium system is installed on a 2016 Prius. Supposed to have 10 speakers but system links to me the same as the normal set up for a standard Prius. What is the difference say on the speakers situated immediately under the windscreen? Thanks.

 

The front in-dash corner speakers have an annoying orange JBL nameplate on them. Because the nameplates reflect into my windshield, I covered them with black tape.

 

I don't think so, just +/- 6 on the Bass, per Treble. We have 2010 with JBL.

 

Yes my 2010 gen 3 had JBL and is way better than my 2017 Gen 4 with JBL. Gen 4 has no bass what so ever. I had to install two 8" kicker subs in the trunk and turn down treble and mids. I'm pretty happy now. I cut out the Styrofoam and moved some items around in the wheel well.