Hello all,

I just joined greehybrid and will be picking up my Seaside Pearl 05 Prius with package 6 later this week or early next week. I've been reading over some of the discussions and it seems like a great group.

Rich

 

Welcome to GH!

I'm jealous, the Prius is a fantastic car. With the new Civic being CVT only, my next hybrid will most likely be HSD.

 

Thanks for the welcome. I'm looking forward to picking it up. Just sold my other car today, and will trade off my Range Rover on the Prius.

First thing I need to do is get one of the VAIS iPod interfaces. Haven't even picked it up yet, and I'm already thinking about Mods. Next will probably be a small Class D amp (don't want to draw too much current from the battery system) and a subwoofer, but I'll wait on that until I get a chance to listen to the factory JBL system for a while.

Rich

 

The JBL system is okay, but really lacks in real bass. You'll probably want to disconnect the center speaker, most people find that it helps with the imaging and gives it a bit more clarity. It's very easy to do, just pull up on the speaker grille (it just lifts out) and un-plug it.

For hooking up an amp you'll want to use the rear speakers as the source because the front speakers are digitally equalized, so the tweeters and woofers are running as separate channels without full range audio. The rear speakers have passive crossover components and get full-range audio, so running it through an amp works well.

I helped my friend install equipment in his Prius, you can check out some of the picture in the Share section, we aren't done yet -- it's a work in progress.




We replaced the front tweeters (stock ones are a bit muddy sounding) and had put replacement woofers in, but they has some strange harmonic distortion and lacked bass so we put the stock woofers back in which sound fine but could be better. The problem was likely the stock plastic spacer, so we'll try again using proper MDF spacers when we do the next round of modding and upgrading.

Amps are really easy to wire for power because the battery is right next to the storage compartment (on the right in the Prius II and on the left in the Prius I) and the Prius has a 100 amp power converter (electronic equivalent to an alternator) so there's actually quite a bit of 12v juice to play with.

 

Thanks for the tips on the audio system. I haven't had a chance to listen, but in general, I am not a fan of center channel systems, and would expect I may disconnect it as well. We do a lot of development on mobile audio system interfaces and components, and our tech that does most of our research says the Prius JBL system is a little bass shy. I'll have to play with it for a while before I decide what I'm going to do. I saw the pictures last night in the share area. Looks like a nice system. I'm going to see if I can get one of my contacts at Q logic to do a box specifically for the Prius. I would like to have it "out of the way". Just depends on whether I can get .75 CF out of the rear side area without compromising the trunk space. I have a tendancy to do a big trip in the summer, and will need the space. Whatever I end up with, I will post for everyone to see.

Rich

 

Hi Rich; Welcome to (GreenHybrid).

Terry

 

I saw somewhere on another site someone made a custom fiberglass box for an 8" sub that fits in the space above the 12v battery on the right. That seems ideal if you're into maximizing the space available.

 

Hi, 8" is exactly what I will probably put in, and right above the battery was where I was planning on putting it. I'll have to do a google to see what is available. I have done hundreds of them and I can certainly make my own, I just don't like playing with fiberglass much anymore.

By the way, I picked her up on Saturday (it is a she and her name is Scooter - Seaside Pearl with package 6), and have already put 150 miles on her and I'm sitting at 50.1. I didn't think that was too bad for a first-time hybrid driver.

Rich

 

Hey, I was wrong about it being on another site that I heard of the custom 8" sub install, it was here after all!

But it was another site where the user posted the photos, so that's what I was thinking of since they aren't posted here...

http://community.webshots.com/album/131088271MKmWlf

and the original thread was here: https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ucks.3351.html