Choosing a vintage Graphic EQ

[painttoad]

Soundcraftsmen was the first to make equalizers. Just get one with the sliders cleaned or replaced.
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i kinda figured that audiocontrol made the first eqs but they weren't founded until 1977...i guess they just made the best

so i googled it.

crown made the first commercially available graphic eq in 1976

the first true graphic equalizer was by cinema engineering co. in 1950. it was tubes.

 

[Racingh11]

i kinda figured that audiocontrol made the first eqs but they weren't founded until 1977...i guess they just made the best

so i googled it.

crown made the first commercially available graphic eq in 1976

the first true graphic equalizer was by cinema engineering co. in 1950. it was tubes.

Audiocontrol copied Soundcraftsmen's EQ circuit like everyone else.

Quotes from radiomuseum.org, wikipedia, and the inventer Paul Rolfes' obituary.

"Yeomans and Gassett decided the first product was to be an equalizer, something not already on the market. They employed an electronics engineer, Paul Rolfes, in 1968 to design the equalizer. It was introduced by Gassett at the 1969 CES in New York."

"Soundcraftsmen was established in Santa Ana, California in 1961 by Ralph Yeomans.
At first the company made small tube amplifiers and receivers. In 1968 Paul Rolfes joined Yeomans. Their first joint project was an equalizer that was introduced in 1971."

"Paul was an amazing inventor, entrepreneur and was responsible for many patents, including patenting the first stereo equalizer."

 

[Racingh11]

From 1972

 

[painttoad]

odd....

this is also from wiki:



more from wiki:



i'm not believing anything else on the internet.

i've never worked on a soundcraftman eq so i don't know about any copying that was done.

 

[Racingh11]

OK, maybe it was the first stereo equalizer. Most of that wiki post is about parametric EQs, which are different. But regardless if there was some tube amp model before it, Soundcraftsmen designed and patented the circuit that modern hifi EQs use. And it certainly did it years before Crown.

The filters in my old Audiocontrol Octave EQ are basically identical to the Soundcraftsmen DC2214.

Find me a hifi model of EQ that someone would actually use with their system, that predates what is written in the wiki quote below. While the guys were designing the parametric EQ in your wiki post, this was being done at Soundcraftsmen on the graphic EQ. Soundcraftsmen was the first to mass produce an EQ for the consumer market, and were well known for this. The circuits that Soundcraftsmen used became the standard.
They also invented class H amps.

"The company was founded in 1961 by Ralph Yeomans, a concessionaire in Fedco (a discount membership store chain in southern California, until the chain closed in 1999). Early Soundcraftsmen components included tube-type receivers and amplifiers. Ralph Yeomans and Charles Gassett, a southern California audio equipment representative and international marketing entrepreneur selling Coastron Sherwood Electronic Laboratories receivers at the time, had an interest in expanding the brand nationwide. Yeomans and Gassett decided the first product was to be an equalizer, something not already on the market. They employed an electronics engineer, Paul Rolfes, in 1968 to design the equalizer. It was introduced by Gassett at the 1969 CES in New York. National distribution started in late 1970. In the mid-1970s they introduced their line of preamplifiers and power amplifiers, including the first preamplifier/equalizer combo. Soundcraftsmen equalizers and their compact "brick" style power amplifiers gained a sizable following among audiophiles during the 1970s and 1980s. All Soundcraftsmen equalizers and amplifiers were made at the company's Santa Ana, California facility. In the early 1970s they also sold a solid-state stereo receiver, but only through the Fedco stores. It was built by Electro-Voice but shipped with a Soundcraftsmen brand faceplate; no national distribution was sought for this product. "

 

[Racingh11]

I'm doing some research, but have other things to do for a bit, I will resume this when I return. Here is a product listing for the model RP20-12, in Popular Electronics, Feb 1971.


A product list of available EQs, Audio Magazine, Oct 1975. No Crown yet available.

 

[BMWCCA]

I'm pretty sure I purchased my first Soundcraftsmen around 1976. It was a PE-2217 combination pre-amp/EQ. I still have it and the many SC pieced I've purchased since then. Personally I recommend the Pro-EQ-44 which is one of their last before MTX purchased them. From my experience, the sliders on the Pro-EQ-44 are a huge improvement and have never required cleaning of any kind.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

I am kind of casually looking at / researching vintage (1970s / 80s) Graphic Equalizers . I think that at some point in the not too distant future I might want to purchase one to use with my Yamaha CR-2020 receiver and Klipsch Forte speakers.

I know that some people are not fans of using Equalizers and would recommend not adding one to a good stereo system because they can tend to possibly degrade the tone to some degree. And while I understand that idea and value anyone's experience and advice, I still would like to possibly purchase one because I use my sound system for a number of things. I use it to listen to music, from my computer / itunes, but also will be using a turntable, CD player and tape deck. And I listen to the audio from streaming movies and shows from my computer through it as well. So having an EQ unit could be a useful tool.

I would appreciate anyone's advice regarding good Graphic EQ units to consider. There is really not that much, in terms of extended reviews or indepth descriptions of user's experiences with EQ units online (even in this forum) that I have been able to find. So I created this thread to ask for any input that I could possible get from the many experienced audiophile individuals here !

I would like to find something that is relatively simple... meaning just analog sliders (stereo) as opposed to an electronic screen and buttons to program the various htz levels. I also would like to find something that was well built and intended to be used with a high quality audiophile home sound system.

Some of the stereo EQ units I have identified from that period that look interesting are units by Pioneer, Marantz, Yamaha, Soundscraftsmen, MXR, and others. But again there is not much info in terms of good reviews regarding the sound quality and component quality of these EQ units online.

So... any help with this would be great ! What EQ units do you like ?

Does your system sound fine as it is? If so, you don't need one. What do you like about your system? What don't you like about your system? Questions to ponder.

 

[Racingh11]

I'm not trying to get off topic here, but I found this site while I was doing some research. Looks like it has some interesting history I haven't seen elsewhere.
https://www.preservationsound.com/