Room correction in high-end system???


OK,lots of praise has been heaped on the Tact and Sigtech RCS systems, including in this months TAS. However, I believe my system is pretty high-end (at least by the "How much does your system retail for?" thread) and do not want to harm the already fine sonic charactersitics. I am generally of the mind that "less is more".

Things that concern me are:
- Putting an A/D and then D/A into my vinyl playback chain.
- Putting a lower quality D/A in place or in addition to my SF Processor 3.
- Replacing my beloved BAT VK-50SE pre with a one box DAC/ADC/RCS/PRE.

If my system were in the sub $40k retail range, I would be running to a room correction system, but am a little sceptical given my current investment. It might even be a little snobbishness. However, if I do like it better with RCS, I'd end up saving a bucket of dough.

Has anyone with a well set-up room and system tried one of these? I'd be expecially curious if Mr. Porter or some of the other vinyl fans have had one of these in their system.

Thanks,
Meta
metaphysics
Hi Metaphysics
I have a high end system - Spectral, Accuphase, and Avalon
and I have added a DSP - the Accuphase DG-28.
In answer to your first concern - I don't have a vinyl front end, but I don't think you want to convert an analog signal into digital.But as far as running a D to A you don't have to use the DSP as a D to A. It is just connected between your transport and your D to A. The Accuphase works this way and the Tact is available as a DSP only - digital in and digital out, so this way you keep your DAC and preamp in the system. It makes its adjustments entirely in the digital domain, with absolutely no detectable artifacts.The results can be incredible, depending upon how bad your room is. I am in a very small room, with a system that is probably too big for it, yet with the DSP, the boominess in the bass is gone leaving a tight solid bottom, that I could never get from smaller monitors. The midrange opened up, and all of the resolution reappeared.When I press the button on the remote to bypass the DSP, I am amazed at the difference, and find it hard to believe that I ever thought it sounded good without it.
Good Luck
Carl
Carl, thanks for the feedback. One more thing that I forgot to mention is that my Sonic Frontiers Transport 3 and Processor 3 work optimally when connected through the IS2E digital interface. I would have to give this up so would probably change to a Levinson digital front end or similar.

As for vinyl, I listen 50/50 vinyl/digital so half of my listening would be done without room correction. Unfortunately, I want it all and if RCS will do more harm than good to my analog front end, I'd prefer to spend the money on room treatments to improve the sound for both sources. The biggest question is:

Will RCS do more good than harm for a great vinyl front end?
Hey Metaphysics
The thing about a vinyl front end is that you have to run it through the units A to D, and that leaves you at the mercy of the quality of their A to D. It also seems sacreligious to convert a beautiful analog signal from a turntable.
I began this process with room treatments. I have ASC cube traps in the front corners, and ASC sound panels on the side and back walls. The cube traps helped but didn't come close to resolving the bass problems. They also put my wife over the edge, given their size.All of this helped a bit but in combination with the Accuphase, it really all came together.
Robert Greene has been writing about these units in Absolute Sound. The new issue compares the Tact, and the Sigtech, and if you go back a ways, the Accuphase is reviewed as well.
Carl
Metaphysics, I'm in pretty much the same boat as you. I'm hoping that at some point dCS will put the room correction capability into their Purcell (which I have) so I could see what it does to the digital side of my system without a large cash outlay and another box. However, I don't know how much I really want flat frequency response in my vinyl playback, or any playback, for that matter (I too would not like to bypass my beloved JP80). Green of TAS seems to think that the improvements of flat frequency response far outweigh the additional wire/circuits/digitalization of an analog signal; I'm not so sure. Plus, it could upset the balance of the system which could require new cables, etc., which I have chosen based on how they work in my system and room without the correction. I guess really the only way to find out for sure is to get a dealer to lend you a unit which would be compared on the digital side of the system, that way you could hear for yourself whether you really want the improvements. Given my listening biases, I probably won't want to do it, unless the logical side of my brain takes over.
SACD is also an issue here. You would have to either bypass the DSP or do A-D on the SACD, which I think would reduce its advantages over 16/44.