Good Analog EQ

11-09-08: Piedpiper: "It is never advisable to position speakers the same distance from both walls as it creates strong standing waves."

They do not create standing waves. It is that equal distances create interference between the direct and reflected radiation at the same frequency for both surfaces.

Kal

Kal, perhaps I'm using the wrong words. In any case, the same frequency will be supported by both walls creating a larger bump up at that frequency. The ideal is to distribute the supported room induced frequency anomalies so none get too far out of wack. Thanks for the correction.

Strange that the high end EQs used in the pro audio world aren't considered by audiophiles. For example, there are some very expensive Parametric EQs by Manley (who also makes the Steelhead phono pre) that are well regarded and probably used during mixing of much of the music we're listening to (i.e. they've already been in the signal path).

The pro audio community seems to think these are pretty transparent. They have balanced XLR inputs and outputs, so why aren't these embraced?

Besides mixing, these are probably used for analog mastering.

That's very true, but the pro audio community usually thinks nothing of putting all kinds of things in the signal path for the convenience of manipulability, and are often looking for pleasing colorations rather than maintaining ultimate transparency. IME, you can hear an additional solder joint, let alone a volume pot, active circuit, tube or transistor, coupling capacitors, resistors, etc.. Just because they have already been used in the signal path of the recording, mixing and mastering doesn't mean they wouldn't further degrade the sound. The question is whether what you gain from the device is worth the degradation to YOU. There's no question the Manley EQ is a good one. There's also no question that you could hear its presence in the signal path on a resolving system with its settings set to flat. Some may remember the EQ offered by Cello about 15 years ago, although I believe that was marketed primarily to make EQed recordings iistenable rather than to correct for the room.