The Power Amp is the bedrock of the system

[nicoff]

I'd go along with that but perhaps (particularly considering the readership of the forum), I'd suggest a $1000 amp with $10,000 speakers and vice versa. The difference between a carefully chosen $1K amp and a $10K one will turn out to be small compared with the $1K vs $10K speaker.


I'd omit Room as you are stuck with it, but the equipment choice is very dependent on the room's features, so:

Speaker TYPE - Speakers - Amplifier - Source, particularly if digital.

Get it right - with ideal speaker placement and setup, and consideration of furnishings, carpets, etc - and no DSP should be introduced.

I've promoted the amplifier, but perhaps those analogue fans may give greater empasis to their crazy-priced turntables over amplifier!

So… you are stuck with the room and yet insist on no DSP?
That’s the equivalent of fighting with one hand tied behind your back!

 

[Hear Here]

So… you are stuck with the room and yet insist on no DSP?
That’s the equivalent of fighting with one hand tied behind your back!

No, get the room fixed as far as possible with sensible furnishings, carpets, etc (and perhaps bespoke "treatment" if absolutely necessary) and choose speakers (type especially) that will sound good in the room that has now been significantly improved.

My own large room was dire when I bought this new-build flat, being approx semi-circular with low 7 ft 7 ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glazing on most of the curved wall and hard floors. It had very high reverberation and all-round poor sound. Some speakers were unlistenable to initially. With furnishings, etc and careful choice of speakers, I reckon the sound is pretty good now, and certainly better without applying DSP. I’ve used Dirac, Anthem, MARS and RoomPerfect and always the sound is improved with the filter disengaged.

When you think about it, DSP is a Signal Processor, meaning that the signal is processed such that your amplifier's nice accurate output is deliberately made inaccurate to pander to the poorly treated room, or the poorly chosen or poorly set up speakers. The precious signal should be spared as much processing as possible, so no tone controls, graphic equalisers or any other processor.

To illustrate that DSP damages the signal, try this. Find a piece of music with little bass but plenty of “tingle-factor” top end. Play it via high quality speakers capable of providing this tingle-factor and listen carefully to the top end, with a DSP filter engaged and then with no filter. Although the DSP may not be able to ADJUST these higher frequencies, the fact that the entire frequency range has to pass though the filter (if it’s feeding a full-range amp), the top end suffers and a little of the tingle factor is lost. I’ve tested this many times with other listeners who don’t know if the filter is engaged or not, and most agree that the sound is more life-like and exciting with no filter, even though the bass may be a little flatter if measured with REW. I’d be interested in your own conclusion by doing this simple experiment, if you have suitable speakers chosen carefully for a room that has been thoughtfully furnished.

 

[nicoff]

.....

When you think about it, DSP is a Signal Processor, meaning that the signal is processed such that your amplifier's nice accurate output is deliberately made inaccurate to pander to the poorly treated room, or the poorly chosen or poorly set up speakers. The precious signal should be spared as much processing as possible, so no tone controls, graphic equalisers or any other processor.

....

I prompted ChatGPT for a reply to your paragraph. ChatGPT replied as follows:

The premise sounds intuitive, but it ignores what actually reaches your ears.

The goal isn’t to preserve the electrical signal at the amplifier’s output—it’s to reproduce the original acoustic event as accurately as possible at the listening position. If the room or the speaker alters the frequency response by ±10 dB (which is common), then the “pure” amplifier signal is already producing a very inaccurate acoustic result.

DSP doesn’t make the sound less accurate; it can make the acoustic output more accurate by compensating for known errors in the speaker/room system. It’s no different in principle than correcting lens distortion in photography or calibrating a scientific instrument.

In fact, every loudspeaker designer “processes” the signal with crossover networks, driver equalization, baffle-step compensation, and other filters. DSP simply allows those corrections to be implemented more precisely and with greater flexibility.

The signal coming out of the amplifier isn’t the goal. The sound arriving at your ears is.

I agree with ChatGPT.