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BBE-462 Sonic Maximizer

bluesky

bluesky

Lunatic Member
I simply love the improvement of quality of sound of CDs using a BBE-462. So much so that I got 2 of them. The change in sound quality is jaw dropping, at least to me.

I know one thing for sure. If you think your speakers don't sound right, hook up a BBE and you'll find out right away if it's your speakers or not.

How do you guys feel about them? :scratch2:
 
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I would never ever use it for listening to recorded music.

"If you think your speakers don't sound right, hook up a BBE and you'll find out right away if it's your speakers or not." - how so?
 
I wouldnt use this either but if it sounds right to you then enjoy. I would rather use a EQ (I dont like them either) to curve the signal where I felt it mostly needed it.
 
JonL said:
What does it do?
Click to expand...

Find their website and open up any one of their manuals. There'll be a description of the philosophy and some specifications.

Basically the Lo Contour will boost or cut everything below a hinge of about 50hz. The Definition knob applies delay processing to and boosts the treble and mids.

Anyway, it's like a variable loudness box with a bit of processing and flashing lights.

I have one and use it in my kludged together ADS satellite / JBL sub setup. It really woke that system up. It kinda pollutes the main rig so I'm staying clean there, and enjoying that too.

I have a pro sound buddy who has one in his rack. If he's gigging and the sound is dull, he throws in a little contour and definition. Sounds great when judiciously applied. It's the last thing in the processing chain.
 
A friend of mine talked up the BBE 482i enough that I bought one for my home based two channel rig. IMHO it is not needed for most recorded music. On a select few recordings the LO CONTOUR helps bring the bass in line with what sounds good to my ear.

The delay PROCESS adjustment can liven up "flat" sounding vocals on a poorly made original recording. Dialing in too much PROCESS makes the recording sound worse. :butt1:

Most of the time my BBE remains turned off and out of the audio chain. On average I probably use it less than once a month.

Your mileage may vary from mine. :)
 
I bought one for under 40 on an auction site and liked it so much I bought two more for my other systems. I can use them on my 2 channel audio and also my guitar rigs.

To me the sound with the BBE switched "in" is clearer.

You can definitely make recorded music sound bad turning the knobs to 11, no surprise there. I don't think I could go back to leaving them out when listening to R2R music. I have a bunch of old prerecorded R2R tapes and a BBE brings them to where I think they were meant to sound.
 
I use them to make vocals or other soloists pop out in a live gig mix, but don't like it on home hi-fi. I also use them in my guitar & bass amp rigs sometimes.

je
 
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