EQ's... why doesnt everybody have one?

I don't have an EQ because I don't need one.

I'm a studio/live sound guy and have come across a number of Behringer products including EQs. Behrigner is the laughing stock of the pro audio world. Deplorable company ethics, crap support, cheap Chinese parts, poor QC, and downright lousy sound in my experience--which is what I have to go with.

Audiophile grade? lets hope not!

Autoll, You don't use 861's in two channel, but Meridian Digital was always better to all my clients ears than the Levinson (same store) infact most clients laughed at the difference, so I'm quite sure the 861 will cruise to a win. If you clip the wings of a perfectly good surround processor and ask it play music crippled? The playing field is a bit more level I would agree.

I just recently DJ'd a group get together in Chicago comparing A TAG AV192 which out distanced the Meitner pre/dac 6 votes to 4 in a two channel head to head battle and then clearly won when TMS was used with room correction 9 to 1. So the 861 is quite capable as are other surround processors at lowly two channel tasks like being a two channel DAC.

I have used EQ's to dramatically improve the sound of a Meitner/Warner/ Kharma midi Exquisite system..... If you buy an EQ that is commiserate with your system performance it will greatly improve the sound of a system especially when the room is not treated well or you have "audiophile grade" speakers that need some help.

So DK89's system should expect a jump up in performance from his eq. His EQ is comisserate with his system, and no one wants to recognize that fine point. He's getting more performance out of his system maximizing his investment which is as "high end" as it gets in my book...but maybe he should have bought a $200 power cord for his Onkyo or $100 speaker cables that would have been more audiophile!

Problems with EQ is it takes discipline, additional tools and real knowledge to understand and implement. It is not as easy as you think (or atleast as I thought when I was trained), If your first instinct is to auto calibrate anything you don't want to go into EQ and Room Correction alone. My experience is that the normal intuition of the amateur/hobbyist end user usually has them doing the opposite adjustment needed to improve the sound. Doesn't mean they don't learn after time but instant success with an EQ should not be expected. Which is why they are panned here.

I think its very telling that the only "EQ" brands that exist in the audiophile consciousness is the ones that are marketed as "audiophile Grade" or are from a discount 5&10 store. There are plenty of EQ's that are "audiophile grade" and many more that would be insulted by the label

Just FYI.

Kal said: "I have reviewed the Meridian 861 twice" I believe I have read every test done on this unit and only recall one inferrence to using it with a non-meridian source and that was not positive. And meridian tests never compare it directly with other 2 channel pre-amps. While i'm sure profesionals such as yourself strive for fair articles, we readers find that as the price and prestige of components rises, negatives seem be overlooked, so thats why we value thoughts in these forums so highly. I do enjoy your articles immensely. The speaker comment is very enlightening, that never occurred to me. Thanks, and will reread those articles.

I own and have owned several Behringer products and have had no problems with them and they don't 'degrade' the sound in my systems.

Cinematic says:

I think its very telling that the only "EQ" brands that exist in the audiophile consciousness is the ones that are marketed as "audiophile Grade" or are from a discount 5&10 store. There are plenty of EQ's that are "audiophile grade" and many more that would be insulted by the label

Care to name a few names?

By the way, the word you want is "commensurate."