[josephjacobs]

My wife's car is a 2005 Prius with AM/FM/CD, no cassette. She desperately wants cassette tape because of our library of books on tape. From what I have gathered, there are three factory radios for the 2004,2005 Prius.

Radio-A is AM/FM/CD only;
Radio-B is AM/FM/CD/TAPE;
Radio-C is AM/FM/CD-CHANGER(JBL).

My question: Can I drop in a Radio-B or Radio-C in place of the current Radio-A? Is the wiring (connectors) the same? I know that the JBL system adds an amplifier under the passenger seat, but what if you don't have the amplifier? Would it (Radio-C) still power the non-JBL speaker setup?

ADDED:
I have a Radio-C on it's way from one of the salvage yards but believe it's only the radio itself and does not include the under-seat JBL amp. I bought it over the Internet last Thursday, not knowing at the time about the JBL amp being seperate. I'd like to know if the Radio-C itself is acting only as a pre-amp (line out levels) or are it's outputs capable of driving a speaker directly. Probably the only way to answer that question is to actually hook it up and try it. I've found a car wiring/schematic diagram on the web for the Radio-C configuration but haven't found one for the Radio-A configuration. I'm still looking.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to service information to look up the connectors/wiring myself so I am hoping for community help. Is there somebody out there that may have the schematic/wiring-diagram for the Radio-A configuration of the car? I already have a diagram for the Radio-C config and would like to compare them.

 

[DanMan32]

There was only radio A and C based on your table. Never was a radio B for the 2004/2005 Prius.

Radio C, the JBL system is a split system. Not only is the amp separate, but the preamp is part of the amp. So the head unit only sends fixed line level balanced analog audio (by balanced, it is a floating ground differential signal), and the JBL amp's preamp is controlled using digital commands over the AVC network.
So the HU and the amp are useless by themselves.
The wiring harness of the car would have to be altered, as the speaker wires should not go to the HU but rather the newly installed amp location. +/-R and +/-L would have to be routed from the HU to the amp, and the amp would have to be tied to the AVC network.

An additional problem would be the speaker arrangement. The JBL amp has separate outputs for the front tweeters and fullrange speakers, with active crossover. In other words, the amp sends high range audio to the tweeters, and low range audio to the fullrange speakers. You can forgo the center speaker, most of us hate it and disconnect it anyway to get better separation. Currently your car has a passive crossover in the tweeters, with full range audio passed down to the fullrange speakers.

If you are in or near the Tampa bay area, join us for the Prius meet on the 25th, and I can show you the wiring diagram. I plan to bring my inkjet printer with fresh ink.

 

[Tri Me]

??? I guess I don't have any of those.

AM/FM/CD Changer(JBL)/Tape in my 05

 

[DanMan32]

Ah, yes. C should be AM/FM/Changer/Tape. In 2006 they did away with the tape in exchange for MP3 CD capability and aux in.

Standard radio for 2004-2005 had no tape. However, the classic had tape but no CD.

 

[mrv]

My understanding for the radios has been:
2001-2003 AM/FM/Cassette
2004-2006 AM/FM/1CD
2004-2005 AM/FM/6CD/Cassette (JBL)
2006 AM/FM/1CD (MP3/WMA) with aux-in jack
2006 AM/FM/6CD (MP3/WMA) with aux-in jack (JBL)
(you can always add a 6CD changer to the slot in the dash on all of the above (though I'm not sure if that is true if you already have the 6CD in-dash), but that isn't part of the
factory radio...)