What are your opinions of DSP's for speakers

@mapman said perfectly

It would seem that your failure to execute would be yours alone, not a universal fact.

Took 10 years to get it right, but, I have a DSP multichannel rig that will beat the daylights out of any of these 2 ch rigs on audiogon (including mine)...... pretty sure I know what you all have going there for those 2 apparently pure non-dsp channels, what the limitations are...

Have yet to hear DSP work well for 2ch. It usually make the soundstage smaller, and makes everything sound compressed. I’m sure it’s smoother, cleaner, optimized, but it takes all the emotion out of it, feeling sterile. 

Yes, DSP for my 9.4.2, (13 speakers @ 150wpc) absolutely! It’s almost impossible to time align all them speakers to a listening spot. Soundstage isn’t affected with 4 speakers providing it. But music (unless encoded for atmos) sounds lifeless, and dull, but movies are incredible. 

Willywonka

It's true there are compromises for a "relative" budget product like the Dutch & Dutch 8C, but I did leave this year thinking I liked them more than the last few times I've heard them......and this year are adding the Baach filters. If someone wanted a simple all in one with really good sound, they are a good option. For someone downsizing for any of many reasons (age, weight, room size, simplicity), it's worth a listen......as are the Grimm LS1Cs (or any other LS1 version), which I thought were more "HiFi" than the 8Cs, but double the price. I never expected a Grimm MU1 and a pair of all in one speakers to create that sound

DSP, signal cancellation, Baach, Synergistic Research, Bybee, QSA, Acoustic Revive, Puron et. al, are offering very interesting solutions. I am going to continue to spend a lot of time learning more in 2025, as I also think these technologies have promise. I choose to have an open mind, and will only judge (positive or negative) when I have personally had a chance to hear them myself.

At Axpona this year I sat through several demos over 2 days in the Synergistic Research/Scott Walker room with Ted Denny (yes I know), and it's the first time some their tech has really gotten my attention. I've noticed slight but noticeable improvements in past experiences, but this time parts of his system made large improvements.

Ted started with everything he brought being active (12 or so components), and slowly turned them off one at a time so we could notice their effect. For me his PowerCell SX, Active Ground Block SX, SX level power cables, and a couple of acoustic tweaks were impressive. Scott Walker had what I though was an excellent deal on a PowerCell bundle (PowerCell 8 SX, Euphoria power cable, UEF Purple power receptacle, Purple Fuse, and carbon fiber receptacle cover). My music room is still several months away, so none of it will get installed and tested until this fall I suspect.

I have much to learn, but am looking forward to the ride

I use DSP, external to my speakers, and through my Anthem STR Stereo Preamp. It has onboard Anthem Room Correction (ARC), and customizable bass manager for mono or stereo sub outs. Anthem Room Correction is all the treatment my room will get and it benefits from it, especially integration of my two subwoofers and  stand mount speakers.

I can switch to direct and not use ARC but I lose bass management. I prefer the results with ARC and bass management to pure direct mode.

@mapman where do you live? Always down to hear someone else system.

@deep_333 Never stated any facts, just my opinion. My 2ch is all vintage analog. 

I'm sure in the near future, we will have little black boxes that work their magic to get the perfect sound in any room. Not sure we are there yet. Even my TOTL HT receiver DSP is on the "basic" side of things. Still need a few room treatments to get it "perfect"