I've priced out a complete system of amps, speakers, subs and a box. I've also priced out a JL cleansweep unit to retain my factory HU. My question is, how is the musical quality with the factory head unit? how well does it perform with aftermarket amps and speakers? Someone has to have used their deck for a "sound quality" style system.

I want to keep the factory deck for "stock appearance" so it doesn't get stolen, the 6 disk changer, steering wheel controls, aux input, sirius, bla bla bla.

Any input is appreciated and anyone with the JL cleansweep with a factory deck would be awesome!
Thanks guys.

 

My 07 had the stock Pioneer stereo and two 10 inch kicker comp subs (not sure what brand of amp). It sounded great, they used some sort of conversion kit to wire it and I also had a bass **** so I could control the bass independently. It was a sweet set up

 

Skip the cleansweep and spend the money on power/components, you don't need to do any signal summing anyways.

Do you have the audiophile stock system?

I've got 6.75" components in the front doors with 100W RMS each, and 300W to a single 10 under the rear seat. Sub signal comes from the stock audiophile sub signal (low level) and a LOC on the stock door speaker signals feeding back to the amp. Could I do better with an aftermarket HU? Probably, but I had the same reasons for keeping the stock setup you mentioned and I'm happy with the results. Just make sure you set your gains with your HU set fairly low so you don't have to worry about as much distortion from the factory HU amp.

 

With a well above average working knowledge of digital audio. More specifically in home theatre. I'd be very sceptical of the clean sweeps ability to really, and truly improve audio after it has been processed by the DAC in the stock head unit. Unless you can bypass the stock HU's digital processor, once it's been processed it's cooked. Now that's not saying that the tweaks it will perform on the audio won't be to your liking... It just, on a technical level won't be any better.
In an acoustic environment like a vehicle, a basic DAC such is what is in the factory head unit should be just fine. Your best bet would be to add some decent components elsewhere.
Especially when your source material I am assuming will be mostly digital audio files like mp3's (a considerable downgrade in quality from the source material to begin with). The experienced audiophile ear has a hard enough time discerning certain quality differences in considerably better acoustic environments.
Decent amps, and good speakers would be your best bang for your buck in this situation IMO. And don't get over sold on expensive cabling. Just make sure you use the proper gauge for the power requirements, and your connections/grounds are all made proper.
Just my two cents, take the money you'd spend on the cleansweep and spend it on some more music!