Proper way to use an equalizer

not2quick

New Member
I bought a pioneer sa-9500 at a great price a couple years ago. Never had much interest to hook it up for some reason. I have an sx-828 with some HPM-100's.

Is there a guide that I can use or tips on how to go about dialing in with my eq? Any specific music I should use? Do I simply just start at level and one at a time just start moving the levers up and down until It sounds good to me?

I have the manual for the EQ, and it says to make sure my stereo is at neutral for my bass and treble. Also to have my loudness switch off.

Any tips are appreciated.

Justin
 
You can do it "by ear" until it sounds good, but that can actually be a very inaccurate way to do things (the human ear/brain connection are easily fooled).

To do it right, you need some test tones and a way to measure SPL levels produced by your system.
With a smartphone and a $30 investment, you can have a very accurate measuring setup (calibrated mic and all).
Google the Audio Tools app, and Dayton IMM6 microphone. They make a great combo and will help you if you want to do it right.

If you're interested, let me know and I can PM you a full set of instrux I posted on another forum.
Which EQ do you have?
 
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I bought a pioneer sa-9500 at a great price a couple years ago. Never had much interest to hook it up for some reason. I have an sx-828 with some HPM-100's.

Is there a guide that I can use or tips on how to go about dialing in with my eq? Any specific music I should use? Do I simply just start at level and one at a time just start moving the levers up and down until It sounds good to me?

I have the manual for the EQ, and it says to make sure my stereo is at neutral for my bass and treble. Also to have my loudness switch off.

Any tips are appreciated.

Justin
IMG_20180719_160600275.jpg
Note how I have just bumped up slightly at 30hz 62hz 1,000hz and 16,000hz ..
0 at noon ( Flat ) position...
 
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There is no proper way to use an equalizer. However, there are two different approaches. One is to use a calibrated microphone along with test tones and Pink and White noise to flatten your system's in room response. The second is to use it as a multiband tone control.

Most of the time when used as a tone control the sliders end up with the ubiquitous smiley face. I find this rather strange. People always claim they hear differently and their room is different. That may be true. However, why do so many equalizers end up with the same smiley face?
 
Most often l find it's better to remove than add when making adjustments.

But here's a test, set all of the controls to flat, listen to some favorite music with the EQ out of the signal path. Then with the controls still flat switch the signal through the EQ and listen again to see if the presentation is affected.
 
There is no proper way to use an equalizer. However, there are two different approaches. One is to use a calibrated microphone along with test tones and Pink and White noise to flatten your system's in room response. The second is to use it as a multiband tone control.

Most of the time when used as a tone control the sliders end up with the ubiquitous smiley face. I find this rather strange. People always claim they hear differently and their room is different. That may be true. However, why do so many equalizers end up with the same smiley face?
It's possible that they're not listening at 'reference' levels and the bass/treble bump up is sort of a loudness control. The other possibility is that their speakers can't properly the low bass and high treble.
 
The "smiley face" is another tired tale left over from 30 years ago. Just because people saw a tiny percentage of the total amount of EQs in the country with it means nothing. All of my friends from back in the day and now that use them never set them like that. I use a small boost around 4khz with the rest run flat. I have soft rooms and speakers with a lot of bass. Do what sounds good to you. Just use small adjustments then listen for a while to get used to the change.

Set it like you want your music to sound......and understand that the higher you push up a freq the more distortion you introduce. Sometimes a little bost or cut is all that is needed depending the room, the source and your ears.
 
People can leave these equalizers and all those bass/treble knobs as flat as they please while assuming they are listening to a flat system, but it proves nothing unless you've adjusted for your equipment, room, etc. If you haven't done so, you might as well adjust and turn them controls because what you're hearing is not flat.
 
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I would recommend getting the AudioControl 520b owner's manual from HFE and read it. The 520b is a 5-band eq, very low, low and kinda low, midrange and high frequencies. It talks about how to dial things in and since you have more control because I think you are talking about an SG-9500 EQ and not the mentioned SA-9500 integrated amp, you will be able to do what they recommend and have more controls to try out. I always liked the AC 520b eq as it did what most folks needed to the system. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/audio-control/model-520.shtml
 
The proper way to use an equalizer "...is to be seated immediately before the device, with both feet flat on the floor, knees together. Only in the most informal of settings may one cross his legs - at the knees, never the ankle/knee. Attire should be somewhat loose-fitting, but clean and pressed, with sharp creases in the trousers. Socks should be wool..."

- excerpt from Sweet's Comprehensive Guide For Proper High-Fidelity Etiquette, Vol VI.
 
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Set it like you want your music to sound......and understand that the higher you push up a freq the more distortion you introduce. Sometimes a little bost or cut is all that is needed depending the room, the source and your ears.

Yep! In other words, the proper way to set it up is any way you want it. The whole point of them is to allow you to tailor the sound to YOUR liking - not some perfect, flat response audiophile nonsense. If your source material, speakers or whatever "seem" to be deficient in some way to your ears, goose the EQ until it sounds good to you. Have some fun.
 
A common issue is with a typical room. Mainly there is what is called a "typical room bump" of around 400 hz. +- 50 hz. Our living room has it bad. I added an equalizer to decrease the bump and dry things slightly.
That helped with being able to understand dialog better. To me that is important. I dropped the 400 hz range around 5 db.
 
Also keep in mind how your own hearing has deteriorated.
While I don’t use an EQ if I did I’d try boosting the mids because that’s where my own ears are less sensitive.
 
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