Anyone have experience with JL Audio's Cleansweep?

[shocksyde]

I have one of those cars with a ridiculously complicated climate/radio control system. At the moment, there are no aftermarket radio options for my car. Even if there were, I'd probably decide against using an aftermarket head unit anyways.

So, I've decided to try out a product like JL Audio's Cleansweep. It apparently takes the signal from a speaker wire and gets rid of any equalization the factory stereo puts on the signal. It then outputs a clean, 8 volt signal.

Factory front components will be replaced and amped, factory subwoofer will be replaced and amped. Factory rear speakers will be removed, but not replaced (I like the sound to come from only in front of me, not behind).

Have any of you used one of these devices, or know someone that has? Does it work just as advertised?

Here's a review to show you what it does

 

[thomsbrain]

How does it work? Unless it has a special reference CD that you play for it to make adjustments, I don't know how it could determine what EQ is present on the signal.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
How does it work? Unless it has a special reference CD that you play for it to make adjustments, I don't know how it could determine what EQ is present on the signal.

It does come with a calibration cd.

 

[jtvang125]

JL makes quality products and althought I've never used one I'm confident it will work. One thing I noticed when I looked at pictures of it is that it only outputs front and rear but no sub. I may be wrong but if this is true you can always split the rear for the sub.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
JL makes quality products and althought I've never used one I'm confident it will work. One thing I noticed when I looked at pictures of it is that it only outputs front and rear but no sub. I may be wrong but if this is true you can always split the rear for the sub.

That won't be a problem for me. I will only have front components and a subwoofer.

 

[LS21]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
JL makes quality products and althought I've never used one I'm confident it will work.

JL makes overpriced products and althought I've never used one I'm confindent this one will not work.


I'm not being facetious here, but rather serious. perhaps its cheaper now but when it was released msrp was 400$?

aside from a non-flat response, there's a lot of other problems introduced by stock headunit - poor D/A, high SNR, etc. its just not physically/electronically/mathematically possible to reconstruct a good signal from the HU output. obviously, thats not necessarily the claim of the unit, and its a matter of definition re: how good is "good".... which kinda rolls into another slightly related topic:

it must be stereotyped that most "car audio" people are simply not that tech competent. they dont have the physics/engineering background to accurately and correctly assess a product. the criterion for a quality product is (1) it installed easily (2) it went real loud real good (3) it didnt "blow" after a week of use and (4) other people on the internet liked it. if you ask them about a "fourier transform" they'd likely say that they dont speak french.
(generally, high end home and headphone audiophiles are much more competent)



in summary:
- i havent actually used the product but
- im skeptical at how well it works and
- im skeptical about online reviews of a product re: car audio

just my opinion to balance out the others

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: LS21

Originally posted by: jtvang125
JL makes quality products and althought I've never used one I'm confident it will work.

JL makes overpriced products and althought I've never used one I'm confindent this one will not work.


I'm not being facetious here, but rather serious. perhaps its cheaper now but when it was released msrp was 400$?

aside from a non-flat response, there's a lot of other problems introduced by stock headunit - poor D/A, high SNR, etc. its just not physically/electronically/mathematically possible to reconstruct a good signal from the HU output. obviously, thats not necessarily the claim of the unit, and its a matter of definition re: how good is "good".... which kinda rolls into another slightly related topic:

it must be stereotyped that most "car audio" people are simply not that tech competent. they dont have the physics/engineering background to accurately and correctly assess a product. the criterion for a quality product is (1) it installed easily (2) it went real loud real good (3) it didnt "blow" after a week of use and (4) other people on the internet liked it. if you ask them about a "fourier transform" they'd likely say that they dont speak french.
(generally, high end home and headphone audiophiles are much more competent)



in summary:
- i havent actually used the product but
- im skeptical at how well it works and
- im skeptical about online reviews of a product re: car audio

just my opinion to balance out the others

I have a system decked out in JL and I find it glorious.

jl 500/1 + jl 300/2 -> jl 12w3 (that I've had since my first car 8 years ago) and JL comps.

Quite happy with it, built rock solid, hits hard as fuck. I'm pretty certain the sub is indestructible. The amps have been very reliable. Speaker is starting to rattle from LF though, not sure where that's coming from (rattle or speaker problem, too lazy to diagnose)

No comment regarding this product however.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: LS21
(generally, high end home and headphone audiophiles are much more competent)

What? Good luck proving that.

What is your recommendation for someone who wishes to keep the factory HU, but add their own speaker system?

 

[LS21]

Originally posted by: Ns1

I have a system decked out in JL and I find it glorious.

Quite happy with it, built rock solid, hits hard as fuck. I'm pretty certain the sub is indestructible. The amps have been very reliable. Speaker is starting to rattle from LF though, not sure where that's coming from (rattle or speaker problem, too lazy to diagnose)

No comment regarding this product however.

i dont question the quality of JL. pricing is an issue, however. specifically, for this product, which is yet another processing unit to add to the sound chain, i question its efficacy

Originally posted by: shocksyde
What? Good luck proving that.

What is your recommendation for someone who wishes to keep the factory HU, but add their own speaker system?

from my experience, atleast, sitting on some AV forums, that some of the other people can expound on a digital signal processing theory, whereas most car guys only know enough about v/i/r to match components together. but thats another discussion

just on a high end level ,my view is that if the stock HU introduces so much distortion, then the Cleansweep cant do much to save it. if the stock HU is decent, then i might as well send that signal directly to the amp (or use standard L.O.C. if required). thats what i would personally.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: LS21
just on a high end level ,my view is that if the stock HU introduces so much distortion, then the Cleansweep cant do much to save it. if the stock HU is decent, then i might as well send that signal directly to the amp (or use standard L.O.C. if required). thats what i would personally.

Stock HUs that have DSP tend (or, always) change levels on certain frequencies (mainly bass frequencies to protect the factory speakers) as you increase the volume. Without a device such as the Cleansweep, how are you supposed to prevent the HU from sending a less powerful signal to the sub amp?

The whole point of the Cleansweep is to flatten out the frequency response so that you can tweak it as you desire from a clean slate. The cleansweep knows what the calibration CD should sound like, and applies changes to the signal.

All I really want to know is, if someone has one, does it accomplish this satisfactorily?

 

[Muadib]

I was going to get one of these for my TL, but upgraded my home theater instead. And contrary to what LS21 thinks, it works, and it work well. There are quite a few people on the TL forum I visit who have had it installed, who love it.

You should also take a look at the Rockford Fosegate 3sixty.1 and 3sixty.2. If I were going to buy now, I'd get the 3sixty.2, because it has more controls for the crossover settings, and it has a 31 band equalizer. You need a bluetooth device to set it up too, if you plan on doing this yourself.

 

[SearchMaster]

I had read about them when I had my Mazda 6. Then interestingly someone posted a graph that showed the output for the front speakers anyway was surprisingly flat (rears were mangled). I ended up getting a hackjob aux input device that worked very well and upgraded the front speakers instead.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: SearchMaster
I had read about them when I had my Mazda 6. Then interestingly someone posted a graph that showed the output for the front speakers anyway was surprisingly flat (rears were mangled). I ended up getting a hackjob aux input device that worked very well and upgraded the front speakers instead.

I wish I could do that, but the Factory HU messes with the bass so much as you turn up the volume, I just know I'm going to need the Cleansweep or a similar product.