Stereo Upgrade: AMP with or without DSP ($$ vs $$$$)

[LaurencetheAdventurer]

The next stop on my Stereo upgrade is deciding on an amp. Do we have any owners here that have upgraded to an amp with DSP (Digital Signal Processing) and able to really notice an improvement, had it professionally (or DIY) tuned to take advantage of multiple presets? As I understand it, it allows the system to have multiple "tunes" (think floating no noise, floating busy sandbar, ski tow (rear speaker focus), cruising at 20, 30, and WOT). You can then push a button to switch, each of these "tunes" will re-balance the power, equalizer, speaker settings and sub to perform optimally with that environment. IS IT REALLY THAT MAGICAL vs just turning up the volume and adjusting your fade / sub control? This feature come with an extra $2K price tag - so for that, I want to be sure the magic is real! JL Audio MV series specifically offers this, Kicker does not, RF has presets but does not reference DSP, I have only found a few other brands that offer DSP built into the amp (at least for the Marine version). Appreciate any input!!!

 

[LD50]

JL and Rockford, as well as others, have standalone DSPs that you could add to the system later if you choose. You can get them for significantly less than 2k. That way if you're happy with the performance without a DSP, you haven't wasted your money but you can still add it in later if you choose.

I can only comment on the DSP experience from my last boat, which was a Mastercraft. If these solutions were like theirs, I'd definitely take a pass. Mainly because theirs had DSP files that needed to updated by the dealership. The DSP was pre-tuned to the boat and not adjustable. It also wasn't that impressive, due a lot to the fact of the entire Klipsch system was underpowered. It was still a good system compared to what the Bennnington's come withs stock, but not great by any means.

A lot of the guys that cracked those systems bypassed the factory DSP and were much happier with the JL TWK88