Anyone using a Behringer EQ?

[DustyOldPile]

Behringer makes some great equipment that is a heck of a value for live sound reinforcement.

I was considering adding an EQ to my system, and rather than futz with an overpriced vintage one, thought perhaps in this case I'd go with new. Any qualms about using a Behringer in a home hi-fi setup?

 

[Gibsonian]

Only used their digital one so cannot comment on their analog graphic ones. Will be interesting to hear what folks think that have used them.

 

[dshoaf]

Stand back for knee-jerk reactions to Behringer gear. Although it is marketed for the pro-sumer market (get thee to a Guitar Center's home recording studio section for details), for the home hobbyist, their gear offers a lot of features.

As for digital gear like the DEQ2496, it is getting a bit old in the tooth from a technology standpoint. From a value standpoint, it is still pretty good. I picked one up the other month for $80 but there's a reason why - see below.

As for the sonic quality and reliability, that's where the knees will start coming up fast. The old PA and recording pros will diss any Behringer products as unreliable with far better alternatives. You'll find some folks who have modded the stuff for better performance. Noobies that are into experimenting with new toys, however, will get a good experience for low cost. Remember that Behringer is designed to a price point, is highly competitive price-wise and has a massive distribution network around the world - everyone carries it.

As for the EQ gear, I've dinked (a technical term!) with digital and analog and it is crazy-making. You dink and dink, fiddle, tweek, and never are happy. I ended up pulling it all out and not using it; instead preferring to minimize the devices in the signal chain. I just couldn't make the gear add enough value to keep it in line. BTW, the DEQ2496 I mentioned was low priced because some of the XLR connectors were intermittent due to poor solder joints.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

David

 

[Gibsonian]

My DEQ2496 is used only for RTA/mic use. Sounds better out of system than in, even with everything bypassed!

Their pro audio amp I bought and gave to my minister sounded very good.

 

[DustyOldPile]

PA and band work exposes gear to some of the most brutal environments ever, and even then I think the Behringer stuff is a good value, if you don't expect it to last more than a couple years. That's being slammed in and out of doorways, up and down stairs, banged about in bars and clubs, bouncing around in trucks, being exposed to -40 to +130 F temps, dust, cigarette smoke, booze, drunks, idiots and even bass players.

I would expect that sitting in my quiet little home, those perils would be minimized and life expectancy would be much greater. I'd also expect that unless a person wanted to spend about 10 times what a Behringer piece of gear costs, quality wouldn't be improved much with another costlier brand. I would also mention that it's not like one can go out to Hi Fi Heaven and buy a nice stereo EQ anymore, and most vintage EQs have issues.

 

[Poinzy]

Behringer makes some great equipment that is a heck of a value for live sound reinforcement.

I was considering adding an EQ to my system, and rather than futz with an overpriced vintage one, thought perhaps in this case I'd go with new. Any qualms about using a Behringer in a home hi-fi setup?

I use a dual-31-band Ultra Graph Pro with my KEF setup. Works fine.

 

[freQ(*)Oddio]

PA and band work exposes gear to some of the most brutal environments ever, and even then I think the Behringer stuff is a good value, if you don't expect it to last more than a couple years. That's being slammed in and out of doorways, up and down stairs, banged about in bars and clubs, bouncing around in trucks, being exposed to -40 to +130 F temps, dust, cigarette smoke, booze, drunks, idiots and even bass players.

I would expect that sitting in my quiet little home, those perils would be minimized and life expectancy would be much greater. I'd also expect that unless a person wanted to spend about 10 times what a Behringer piece of gear costs, quality wouldn't be improved much with another costlier brand. I would also mention that it's not like one can go out to Hi Fi Heaven and buy a nice stereo EQ anymore, and most vintage EQs have issues.

sounds like you are buying it. not sure of what your system is or what you need to adjust, Probably nobody is using one with a hifi on ak, there are more pages of why not, than why, I wont go into them, google pro audio input and output db/ voltage , vs consumer, read on that for a while if you really want to understand, or just enjoy it, it will work. the lights are pretty also , are you going to use the analyzer to adjust what you are hearing, with a visual reference to changes?

 

[DustyOldPile]

Well, I'm leaning toward it, I guess I'm looking for a good reason *not* to buy it.

I know my way around audio and pretty lights do not impress me. I've seen the spec sheet on the Behringer and it appears ok on paper. I'd sure appreciate it if you *would* go into the reasons not to use it because I might find that quite helpful. I could google it, true, but I trust the opinions of AK'ers far more than anyone else's when it comes to such things.

I used to own a Pioneer SG-9800, which I liked but seemingly all of them have issues with tape monitor and bypass buttons and have gotten somewhat ridiculously priced due to collectors. I'm more interested in an EQ for the sonic flexibility / sound than as a collector piece.

Furthermore, apart from the SG-9800 and some earlier Pioneer, ADC and Soundcraftsmen models (and a couple others) the brunt of the EQ's sold (primarily in the 80's) during the EQ craze were kind of junky, IMO.

 

[mars_volta]

I prefer DBX but Behringer EQs aren't too bad. Don't forget you may need some adapters because the inputs and maybe outputs are balanced. Avoid units with limiters and feedback protection.

There are some pretty nice ADC or BSR EQs out there to be had cheap.

 

[DustyOldPile]

I use a dual-31-band Ultra Graph Pro with my KEF setup. Works fine.

Can you bypass the limiter and feedback killer on that unit?

 

[slimecity]

I'd think twice about this. Note that I had no preconceptions about this gear before I got one of their EQ's.

When I first got into having an OB setup, I got a Behringer Super X Pro active EQ. I read some mixed reviews on its reliability before I got it but thought "the price is right". Honestly after about 2 days of use in my system there was a marked drop in one channel. Nothing fixed it. It was a brand new component and they look great inside and out but beware - you get what you pay for. There are far better brands out there.

 

[Gibsonian]

Depends on the product. At my church we use one of their sound boards. Awesome sounding and performing, and we use their amps too, no issues.

I am definitely not afraid of it. If my budget is limited, I'd take a look at what they have.

 

[RichPA]

I used a DEQ2496 for several years. I thought it sounded quite good using digital I/O, not so much with analog connections. Weaknesses are the connectors and the power supply. For the price, it's amazing. I've since used EQs from z-Systems, TacT, and now DSpeaker. All were better than the Behringer, but all cost quite a bit more.

 

[slimecity]

I do wonder if I got a lemon - but on the other hand there were plenty of bad reviews for this EQ on the net. I should have listened to those. It did sound fine for the brief period that it worked.

 

[whoaru99]

sounds like you are buying it. not sure of what your system is or what you need to adjust, Probably nobody is using one with a hifi on ak, there are more pages of why not, than why, I wont go into them, google pro audio input and output db/ voltage , vs consumer, read on that for a while if you really want to understand, or just enjoy it, it will work. the lights are pretty also , are you going to use the analyzer to adjust what you are hearing, with a visual reference to changes?

Well, the voltages of consumer vs pro is largely a bunch of irrelevant misunderstanding, vs. understanding.

Why vs. why not is also often, well...I'll leave it at that. People have strong feelings about such things.

Personally, I've used a Behringer DCX2496 with higher end gear, Levinson, Audio Research, et al., and very revealing speakers like Thiel CS3.6. Haters will hate for many reasons (gawd I hate that saying "haters" lol), but outright dissmissal is a mistake, IMO.

 

[DustyOldPile]

Now looking at an ART 15 band stereo eq... mostly because it has RCA ins and outs, which is rare these days. That way I don't have to worry about balanced/unbalanced mismatches. ART's phono preamp is well-spoken-of in the Turntable forum...

 

[Goofyfoot201]

I remember having an equalizer on my stereo in the 70's, took it off as every song needed attention and it really didn't add anything. The vintage ones I've seen are cheap as dirt or am I wrong?

 

[DustyOldPile]

I remember having an equalizer on my stereo in the 70's, took it off as every song needed attention and it really didn't add anything. The vintage ones I've seen are cheap as dirt or am I wrong?

Well, there's vintage (80's) and vintage vintage (70's) when it comes to EQ's. My feeble old brain seems to recall that in about 1976, the only EQ's out there were primarily from Soundcraftsman, ADC and maybe Pioneer and Sansui, as high end units. They weren't common, only the really serious audiophile got into them, and they were very well built.

About the time that LEDs replaced the VU meter, they started incorporating a LED into each slider, and putting displays on them for output level, which initially was a very useful feature. However, it had the side-effect of making a bunch of pretty lights light up. Then they put a spectrum display on them as well. They were still very well built.

By the mid-80's, even complete junk stereos has some kind of controls at least resembling an equalizer if not actually an equalizer. Certainly every stereo sold as a 'system' had to have one, with lots of lights and action. It wasn't about anyone knowing how to use one -- in fact, about 80% of them were set up completely wrong and bonkers by end users -- it was all about the cool factor of all those knobs and lights. During that era, they were, for the most part, complete crap.