Hi,
Do you mind describing the differences with and without DSP? TU
Sure. First, it's important to remember that the differences will really be dependent on the room and personal tastes.
For this showroom, the bass loading is different on the right side versus the left side, so measurements showed significantly different bass responses per channel on the bass towers. The DSP was effective in "curing" this from a measurement standpoint.
Noteworthy: It was less severe from an audible perspective because the bass towers are handling stuff really low (remember there are 4 woofers on the main speakers). The bass isn't really locate-able, so the channel imbalance wasn't as big as the measurements implied.
Somewhat surprisingly, we did some A/B testing in that showroom and found that most people DIDN'T prefer to have the DSP engaged.
I suspect this is due to a few reasons.
First, it's important to note that the DSP mainly REDUCED the bass in certain areas (which is exactly what you want DSP to do - not add anything). Most people will choose MORE bass versus less bass in relatively short A/B comparisons. It's like the Pepsi challenge. People like the sweeter Pepsi in a shot sized dose, but prefer Coke over a full can.
Frankly, many people prefer more bass over the long-term too. I've seen studies where people generally prefer 1db per octave MORE bass than the perfect flat response. Thus, the removal of bass by DSP may be technically more accurate, but not preferable to many people's tastes.
It also depends on the type of music. If playing a standing bass acoustic piece, too much bass may be less favorable. With rock/pop music, the extra bass just adds to the energy, which is what many people look for when playing that type of music versus perfect accuracy.
Second, Jeremy only had a short time to do the DSP on the bass. I don't have MBLs, but I use DSP, and it took me weeks to get the DSP fine tuned in my listening room. I suspect with more tweaking of the DSP, we'd find more people preferring to have the DSP engaged.
The great thing is that you have the OPTION, and it's very easy to turn on/off, so there's nothing to lose.