2. misc-audio
  3. 1137452459

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

Just browsing around the systems on this site, i knoticed that very few have equalizers. I realize some claim they introduce unacceptable noise but i would hardly call my Furman Q-2312, at %>.01 20Hz-40kHz, unacceptable. This $200 piece of equiptment ($100 on sale at musiciansfriend.com) replaces several thousand dollars in assembling a perfectly linear system in perfectly linear room, and in my opinion, accomplishes the task better than any room design could no matter how well engineered. It brought my system (onkyo reciever, NHT SB-3 speakers and Sony CD changer) to a level i could not have dreamed. It extends the SB-3's frequency response by at least 10 Hz to a satisfying 30 Hz without any rolloff or sacrifice in clarity, but the greatest improvement was definately in the Mid-range, around the SB-3s crossover frequency of 2.6kHz. The clarity of vocals, strings, guitars, brass... anything in this range rivals that of uneq'd systems costing well into the thousands of dollars... my total cost; $800. One of the more supprising differences is a marked improvement in immaging, it think this might have to do with eliminating several resonances in the right channel caused by my back wall (the left back wall has a curtain over it). The second my dad heard the difference he got on my computer to buy one for himself, he couldnt even wait to get back to his own, he then kicked me outa the listening chair and wouldnt get up for the better part of an hour.
-Dan-
dk89
autoll
16 posts
 
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.
joeylawn36111
574 posts
 
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.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
drubin
3,274 posts
 
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."
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,220 posts
 
GML, Millennia, Manley, Drawmer and Z-Sys are just some of the EQs that would easily qualify as audiophile grade.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
I was told by TacT that one couldn't use their room correction software to specificaly target frequencies (such as bass). One would have to allow the entire frequency response to be corrected and then one could over correct back to the original uncorrected response above the desired corrected bass frequencies. Perhaps I'm just being a typical neurotic audiophile but to my way of thinking it would be similar to writting a verse on a clean sheet of paper, writting a new verse over that verse and then erasing it and rewritting the original verse over the erased segement. Of couse while this is going on one would have to be carefull not to effect surrounding verses. The results of which probably wouldn't be as pristine as the original verse written on the origianl clean sheet of paper. BTW, I would love to be wrong about this.
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