Equalizer - quality makes a difference

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Urei was a very famous company in the broadcasting and professional sound markets for years. The value of their limiters and compressors is still climbing. They made great room eq's that only subtract, and Graphic EQs for sound processing. I like their parametric Eq's, too. Rane came along later with constant Q filters that were easier to use with 1`/6 and 1/3 octave analyzers. A lot of times Klarke-teckniq parametric did almost the same job using a lot fewer filters with a better sounding result. Crown made a Parametric EQ with additional variable tone controls that had superior signal to noise and very low distortion, which I still use to this day. I never saw a consumer EQ I liked, Even Mcintosh consumer models were very shy on signal to noise. I have always wanted to try one of Accuphases current digital consumer models, but they are pricey to say the least, and the commercial DSP's do just as good of job for a lot less money, though you have to own your own test equipment to set them up properly.

Hint: if you want to keep distortion down and maintain your signal to noise ratios never use a filter above unity gain to increase levels. Only use then to subtract unwanted overly emphasized frequencies. You start wanting to add gain to frequencies you greatly increase distortion and add noise. And remember all sounds we hear from nature do not have a flat frequency response.....
 
Urei

Hint: if you want to keep distortion down and maintain your signal to noise ratios never use a filter above unity gain to increase levels. Only use then to subtract unwanted overly emphasized frequencies. You start wanting to add gain to frequencies you greatly increase distortion and add noise. And remember all sounds we hear from nature do not have a flat frequency response.....
Urie...I have multiple compressor limiters and never heard of that company. Ever hear the WA 76?
Boss microseries( from the 1980's) makes a nice parametric.
And I agree that adding gain to low frequencies produce unwanted hum . You can hear the low end much better and it's clearer, too by removing the 500/600 midrange. No need to boost low end.
 
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Ok I have a Sansui
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It’s a 10 band receiver.

I also have a kenwood ke-205 7 band EQ.
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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!
This is a joke, right?
 
In truth allot of people don’t have the room for proper speaker placement, in fact most people don’t and that’s why so many EQ’s were sold. Most people are lucky to have a eight to ten feet between large speakers and a couple of feet from the wall. Most of us in the seventies were living in smaller apartments utilizing large tower speakers and high watt amps as many still do today and it is still the same reason people are using EQ’s. It’s great to talk about the benefits of placement and superior equipment, but these situations are not what most people are able to to benefit from. So many on this site enjoy the grand accomplishments of others on this site and wish it was so easy to do as others do....then the reality of their own situation kicks in. When a person has a room that is 12ft X 15ft and has stereo equipment against one wall with the speakers in the corners of that wall there isn’t much that can be done after furniture has been placed in the room. They are always going to have a reflection problem.....

I use a non directional reflective speaker (Bose 301 III) in the location in the room where the sound from large directional speakers reflect canceling the effect. Once I get everything adjusted, I don’t have to continually readjust except for the recordings that are inferior. The readjustment process from one recording to the next is not about the room or the equipment, it’s about being cheap and lazy not researching the best sounding recordings and just buying something quickly mass produced and sold online.
 
I have a Technics 10 bander in the closet that I somehow inherited. I have not used it yet. I did have one when I was a kid, a JVC SEA-10 (I think) during my JBL L100 years. Later, I also added a DBX expander to the processing chain. The poor JBLs. I think if they are used correctly they can bring untamed speakers or rooms (probably the combo of the two) into some kind of order, but to me, the friends that I had back then clearly abused them, thinking that they were more like volume controls then tone controls. But, to each his/her own. I think my setup(s) sound pretty good, so I have no real reason to place the EQ into a system.

There are some obvious pluses and minuses to using one. Obviously, they can give you more control of the spectral balance then just 2 or 3 tone controls. On the other hand, they can add some noise to the system. I also think (and confirmed by visuals) that most users (perhaps including myself) don't really know how to use them as they were intended.

I did have a Soundcraftsmen preamp at one time (DX-4100) that worked pretty well, and that model had gain compensation controls to minimize the effects of increasing (or decreasing) a particular frequency by balancing 2 LED lights.

IMO, without a spectrum analyzer, they are just a guess (but if you like the sound, what the heck).
 
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I have Rogue amps, no tone controls. Am toying with getting a Schiit Loki four band EQ, comes with bypass switch. To play with. Analog, RCA's in and out. Drawback is only one input, so only for one source without amp tape loop.
No association.

edit: Could combine with Schiit SYS, having two inputs, one output with volume knob, two use Loki with two sources.
Have no experience with these two devices.
 
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I have the tone controls switched out on my Onkyo and use my EQ as the tone control and this is how it is set. I have seen many smiley face EQ settings over the years and I think with experience listening you realize you just need to go easy with those sliders.
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I have the tone controls switched out on my Onkyo and use my EQ as the tone control and this is how it is set. I have seen many smiley face EQ settings over the years and I think with experience listening you realize you just need to go easy with those sliders.
View attachment 1235649

I use them for tone controls as well. Both our bedroom and living rooms are very soft and my spl damaged hearing needs a bit of boost to the higher end with most speakers, except my recapped Pioneer CS 88s which can be bright. This setting is for a pair of Rectilinear Mini 3s. I am still getting used to them so that may change.

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I have Rogue amps, no tone controls. Am toying with getting a Schiit Loki four band EQ, comes with bypass switch. To play with. Analog, RCA's in and out.
No association.
Checked out the Loki EQ and I am intrigued thanks for mentioning it.
 
Never needed an EQ until my old Sansui went up in smoke. Got a Kenwood receiver that sounded great in the store, flat in the living room. EQ brought it to the Sansui level. Sometimes you do what you gotta' do. (finally broke down and got the Sansui rebuilt, life is good now)
 
I have a 15 band stereo analogue EQ which sits in a tape loop and is normally switched out of circuit. I just use it now and again to provide a little lift or cut on some recordings.
 
He's probably thinking boobs, but same could be said about the smiley face I suppose.

(and now that I think on it, the left one IS bigger than the right one)
 
I use them for tone controls as well.
Understand, however, that they will never provide the same linear boost or cut that true tone controls do using a single "hinge" point. Even with the controls appearing to provide a gradual pattern, the amount of equalization will always deliver a jagged stair step pattern since the width of each control is narrow.

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Listening to my JVC R-S77 Receiver... It has a built in 5 Bander. Speakers = AR 18s

1K slider up 1 notch

5K slider up 1.5 notch

Seems to sound best there :rockon:
 
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