Is DSP room correction worth it with a high end analog system?

Room treatments and DSP are complementary but not everyone can take advantage of both.

If you can get room treatment, start there and add DSP. If you can’t, add DSP. If you can do neither, go get on a cable buying merry go round. :D

We always suggest to our customers to use passive room treatment as needed if they can. High quality DSP/RC is much more than just EQ. It’s a mistake to think they are the same. Also, high quality DSP/RC corrects issues that passive room treatment cannot. they are different tools.

 I understand people who have digitalphobia, I know that I did. I was the last person in my circle to buy a CD player.

I am a big fan of DSP, as my posts show, but being an audiophile I want to hear my DAC and I want to hear my integrated amplifier doing what they are here for.  I picked them for a reason.

For me to put an additional A/D and D/A component in the middle of that is not something I'd want to do.  I try to keep my DSP/EQ in the digital domain, except perhaps on the way to the sub.

Still, I have to say that if you make your speaker sound great at a show you are obviously doing something right indeed.

I understand. Most of us carefully choose our components. We buy them because we like the way they sound. As you said we pick them for a reason. I am respectful of everyone's opinion (well almost everyone's) and encourage people to use what they are comfortable with and what they like. I comment mostly to encourage people to be open-minded.

But that's part of my point. The DSP system in transparent. Along with providing all filters/crossover functions it's there to maximize speaker/room integration not to alter the sound. In my system I use small SET tube amps to drive the towers. I can change tubes, interconnects, speaker cables, DAC, preamp, cartridge or anything else and it's just as obvious as in an all analog no DSP system. Probably more noticeable. The front end is not being processed and is not in the RC loop. The amps are because the system must gain match everything. Think of it as speakers being custom built for a specific room.

Keep in mind that applied high quality DSP/RC works in both the amplitude and the time domains. Passive room treatment works primarily in the amplitude domain and is not linear. Don't get me wrong. I have always been a strong proponent of passive room treatment. My showroom is completely treated and I have been using passive room treatment at audio shows for about 20 years and will continue to do so.

At the recent CAF show many people were surprised (and a couple in disbelief) when I told them that at the hart of our all analog system was a DSP unit preforming all crossover functions and RC. Everyone I asked told me they couldn't tell.

BTW, The VPI JBL room with the JBL Everest speakers was using full on DSP/RC. The room needed help. RC made a huge improvement. Please read what people said about that room.

All I am really saying is that people should not make unfounded negative comments about high quality DSP/RC unless they have actually tried it. I'm not talking about free DSP software or cheat Parts Express DSP units. It's unfair to discourage open minded people from exploring other valid options.

Arion...any experience with the Anthem system?