Equalizer - quality makes a difference

Status
Not open for further replies.

SmileyFaceEQ

Super Member
Ok I have a Sansui
C3F18CE4-83FB-4004-9FF1-330FBE461232.jpeg
It’s a 10 band receiver.

I also have a kenwood ke-205 7 band EQ.
A07121C3-CE0D-4C51-830B-25E5262CDEF1.png

I’m not big on brand names at all. Could care less than less. The kenwood, however, is utter garbage.
I only paid a few bones for it, but it makes my sansui amp sound worse.

My sansui EQ makes my Sanyo jcx sound incredible. I find every LP requires a tweak to make it sound right to my ear.

I put on Rush moving pictures and tried it Swaping out the eq with the same set-up. The sansui cleaned up the noise, the kenwood added to it.

Moral is: crappy eq is pointless, but a good eq is awesome and fun to play with. Don’t poo-poo the eq!
 
As long as it sounds good to you and the rest of the signal chain can handle the EQed signal, what is not to like.

Heck, I know (and even like) people that take perfectly good coffee and EQ it with cream, sugar, steamed milk, and various added flavors, how crazy is that?

I might add that there are places where you can walk in from the street and they will gladly to this to coffee.
 
I think one should match the EQ with the proper interconnects for optimal performance. :D

Kidding, Smiley. EQ and cable threads tend to end in flames around here, so I was just throwing a little gasoline around to enhance the process. I think you should enjoy your audio however you like it, and am more than wiling to take your word that the Sansui model sounds better to you than the Kenwood. (Same goes for cables.) Happy listening!
 
Last edited:
There are differences in eqs. Some have so much noise and distortion they are easily heard to be inferior. Some have lighted sliders and they are visually enjoyed more by those that like the lights in the system.

Whatever, just like the coffee comment, more than enough for everyone to have their own favorite whatever device that might be.
 
You are joking, right?
Why would he set it so he thinks it sounds like crap? Obviously he's set it the way it sounds best to him and that is the correct way to use it.

In my EQ journey, signal to noise ratio has been very important.
Yeah sure. :rolleyes:
 
I feel sorry for you if that's the case.

Perhaps the system and room setup is not right to need that much playing around to make it sound right for you.

A EQ is used to fix (Mask what's not right) in a system. The best move is to fix the problem instead of masking and filtering it.

Could be.
Or maybe, like me, his ears "change" from day to day. I have no other way to describe it.
I too use an EQ (ART HQ-231)and make minor tweaks almost every time I sit down for some serious listening.
I also use the mid/treble adjustments on my speakers (Infinity RS II) from time to time, again small minor changes.
Sometimes I get it where "HOLY COW THAT'S JUST RIGHT DON"T MESS WITH IT" only to find the sound lacking the next listening session.

Edit---if his EQ is really set as the picture shows, well...I always thought that was a joke. Does anyone really do that?
 
Ok I have a Sansui
View attachment 1234334
It’s a 10 band receiver.

I also have a kenwood ke-205 7 band EQ.
View attachment 1234338

I’m not big on brand names at all. Could care less than less. The kenwood, however, is utter garbage.
I only paid a few bones for it, but it makes my sansui amp sound worse.

My sansui EQ makes my Sanyo jcx sound incredible. I find every LP requires a tweak to make it sound right to my ear.

I put on Rush moving pictures and tried it Swaping out the eq with the same set-up. The sansui cleaned up the noise, the kenwood added to it.

Moral is: crappy eq is pointless, but a good eq is awesome and fun to play with. Don’t poo-poo the eq!
The "brand names" do make a difference in quality. That's why some brands are favored over others and develop a "name".

Personally, I've largely ditched analog EQs and gone to a digital MiniDSP - a lot more flexible and even less noise. But I still have some analog EQs I use in secondary setups - ADC brand mostly.
 
Last edited:
Apparently a lot of people are joking. 90+% of the equalizers I see have a smiley face display. Those few that use a microphone and measurements for setting an equalizer never have a smiley face on their Eq's.

I think I was 19 when I first acquired an equalizer. I had read about the Fletcher-Munson curves and understood that the sensitivity of human hearing drooped at the extremes, and peaked in the mids, so knowing just enough to be dangerous I set my sliders to correct for this, resulting in smiling sliders. However, I'd also read that the curve flattened somewhat (relatively) as volume went higher, so as I turned up the volume, which was often at age 19, I set the sliders toward flat, or just flat when really cranking it. I figured that was good for the speakers, too. Then I read that it is better to cut than boost, so I began using cut only, with the mid-position being my upper stop. However, I also was making less drastic cuts when I did use it - the smile became a demure one. In addition, most of the time I left it flat because I was 19 and cranking Bloodrock, or whatever.

By the time I turned twenty, I ran into an article about room modes. Nodes, antinodes, standing waves, etc. That was when I quit eqing - I realized I had no idea how to set the darn thing that made any sense to me, and I just started listening without any tone control at all - I'd stopped using loudness long before because I thought it screwed up the sound, which is why I'd acquired the eq in the first place - to set a subtler compensation. But I can understand why the smiley face ends up used so ubiquitously.

Our audio journeys aren't all the same, and what I think, believe or do isn't carved in stone anywhere. Certainly my hearing has changed in the forty-plus years since those days. The only eqing I really do anymore is set the level for my sub, then leave it alone. And speaker placement. Using that eq, though, was a learning experience. I found what 125hz sounded like, or 8 kHz, etc. That was valuable.

Fast forward to today... I understand very well that room eqing using the modern advantages of DSP eval and correction, rather than crude analog filtering devices, is the way to go, but I'm comfortable with my old ways and don't want to buy the stuff to do it, or have to learn how to use it. Would I have an eye-opening experience if I did? Maybe, IDK. What I do know is that I enjoy music with my gear daily and making software work out of it does not appeal to me any at all, whereas building a simple dipole antenna is fun. I like fun.
 
I think I was 19 when I first acquired an equalizer.
They had EQs way back then grampa?:p

By the time I turned twenty, I ran into an article about room modes. Nodes, antinodes, standing waves, etc. That was when I quit eqing - I realized I had no idea how to set the darn thing that made any sense to me, and I just started listening without any tone control at all - I'd stopped using loudness long before because I thought it screwed up the sound, which is why I'd acquired the eq in the first place - to set a subtler compensation. But I can understand why the smiley face ends up used so ubiquitously.

This^^
 
I thought an EQ would help. Unfortunately, it did not, and sits in the garage under a towel. The frequencies I was trying to tame, are caused by room reflections. Better speaker placement, a few adjustments to the high and mid attenuators on my speakers, and instead of "cranking" it, I listen at a level the room gives me. I will use the filtering on my amp(s) to tame some LP's, but not everyone I own. The only time my EQ made a spectacular impact was when I had a pair of Cerwin Vega 317r's. They had a rear firing 10" horn, 2 1" tweeters, and a 15" woofer. The EQ tamed the woofer, added an airiness to the horn. It didn't look like a "smiley face", more like a Jack-O-Lantern. My 2 cents.
 
I have a Yamaha EQ-550 in my system and it mostly stays off. I find it occasionally useful for low-volume, late-night listening when the kids are asleep since my receiver does not have a loudness feature.

It does have a mic jack, pink noise generator and other gizmos that I'm sure are awesome if you know how to use it all correctly. Mostly I just like to watch the spectrum analyzer go.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom