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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
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.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,658 posts
 
The Rives is as close to transparent as a line stage except, of course, when you intentionally manipulate the frequency response. ;-)

BTW, I am, at present, running the analog SACD outputs into the A/D of a Meridian Ref861 with room correction and, as I have found before with the Denons using Dlink/Firewire, the value of the RC excedes any minor loss of ultimate transparency.

Kal
jafox
1,451 posts
 
Concerning the Rives, I have playing with one between an Aesthetix Callisto Signature and either CAT JL-3 or Wolcott P220 amps. IC's to/from the Rives are Purist Dominus. With simply using the Bypass switch on the Rives, there is a significant improvement with the unit in the loop. The reduction of the bass peaks brings on a huge clarity especially in the mids. However, when I remove the Rives and the one Purist Dominus IC from the system, there is a substantial increase in dynamic contrasts. I can only imagine the far greater losses with other less resolving ICs. Speakers here are SoundLab A1s.

In the context of a top-notch music based system, the Rives is a tough sell in the final analysis unless you have no other options to resolve the bass peaks with room improvements. In the context of a home-theatre based system, the Rives would be very welcome as it cleans up so much of the mids and the final last bit of loss in dynamics would not be an issue for me. Highly recommended but very system dependent.

John
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,658 posts
 
Jafox wrote: "With simply using the Bypass switch on the Rives, there is a significant improvement with the unit in the loop. The reduction of the bass peaks brings on a huge clarity especially in the mids. However, when I remove the Rives and the one Purist Dominus IC from the system, there is a substantial increase in dynamic contrasts."
Could there be a correlation between the "reduction of the bass peaks" and the implied loss of dynamic contrast? Just wondering........

Kal
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drubin
3,267 posts
 
Presumably he's comparing the Rives in Bypass mode with the Rives out of the system altogether. Or maybe not.
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