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  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
ecruz
402 posts
 
I would have to agree with Eldartford and Nuguy. You really have to hear this thing. I bought one just to play around with. I was planning to either return it or sell it. Well, it isn't going anywhere. I can't believe the difference it made in my system.

As far as it having cheap parts and degrading the signal. After having my Sony 900 transformed by Paul at Tube Research Labs, I contacted him about about upgrading my Behringer. I was told, "after working on the Behringer for 2 days, we ended up sending the unit back & the guy's money back, because we just couldn't make it sound any better". I think that says a lot.

Put aside your biases, about the cost or an eq in general, and just give this thing a shot. Unless your room AND your system is perfect, I think you'll be surprised.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Nuguy...It's not the system being corrected...it's the room (mostly).
henryhk
648 posts
 
Kal or anyone: Rives parametric eq...transparent?
henryhk
648 posts
 
Cinematic/Kal/All - but for digital eq....this is not currently possible with DSD right? any digital eq would require dsd to converted into pcm, no?

Cinematic: earlier u said u eq'd a system with meitner/kharma...can you tell us what u did?
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Henryhk...Digital Sound Processing (DSP) which includes EQ is almost universally done using a 32bit floating point processor called SHARC from Analog Devices. Google it. It, and everyone else but Sony, works with PCM.

SACD does not output digital, so you would need to run the analog through a A/D to get PCM digital that you can work with. And (just to give the knife an extra twist) PCM mixing is said to improve the sound of DSD material, in a way that a magnetic tape step is said to improve the sound of digitally recorded masters.
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