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Equalization options..? what do you guys do

MrHeadfirst

MrHeadfirst

Active Member
looking at some of the higher end audio setups i see, i notice all the tube gear, preamp, power amp...to the speakers. but i never see any eq's...correct me if im wrong, but we are always talking about "flat" response. are these tube setups just ran directly from the source? if so, given room response and things like preamp and power amp coloration and so on, wouldnt you need an eq to accurately set the frequency levels to stay as flat as possible? or am i missing something?
if an eq is required, what kinds are you using?
 
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The base assumption isn't necessarily true. There are many people not particularly interested in flat response.

On a side note, the typical home GEQ is (generally) far too crude in coverage to be a good way of correcting room issues.
 
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That's typically been done in studios for decades with the installation of their monitor speakers. In fact, Mac used to have their dealers do this in home installations as part of the purchase price - or at least as an add-on service. The Mac Environmental Equalizers were used to get their speakers dead-on in all sorts of residential installations this way.

It has only been lately, with the advent of digital equalization techniques, that there has been a resurgence of interest in this. The DEQX and Behringer DEQ2496 devices started offering this sort of functionality and now we're seeing other vendors pick up on automated equalization as part of their 'integrated' self-powered speaker systems.

IMHO, these techniques have driven the complexity out of tuning out room variables in audio installations. Heck, here's a JBL blurb on how they're doing this for iPods: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/re...l-high-performance-loudspeaker-dock-for-ipod/

I'd expect to see more of this in the future. Of course, this isn't new. Bose's original 901 speaker used equalization back in 1969. They're not the first as JBL and Altec both used it for years in their PA systems.

Getting away from the newest software-driven approaches, parametric equalizers are fun to play with for a while then, IME, you'll tend to just leave them alone as there are too many knobs to turn. After a while, you just want to sit back and listen rather than 'dink' with the system.

Cheers,

David
 
i see what you are getting at dshoaf, makes perfect sense. ive got a pair of 901's with the eq, lol. i guess what i was getting to is this: if say im building an all tube hifi setup, do i just run straight from the source, and just not even worry about using an eq? just let the audio play as it was recorded? seems if you really wanted to be spot on, like you said, a spectrum analyzer would need to be used to read the room, and then adjust accordingly. given that i was indeed trying to stay as flat as possible. im pretty sure ill be using an eq of some kind in the end, as normally, when i hear a "flat" flat system, i feel it sounds too dark or muddy. then again, ive never really gotten the chance to hear a really nice hifi setup
 
The EQ that is part of a speaker system (e.g. 901s) isn't for fixing the room, it's for "fixing" the speakers.
 
right right, i understand that, i just made the 901 reference becausei have some....and no doubt, it was designed to "fix" the speakers. in which case, my eq for those went bad, and i havent fixed it. that is a particular purchase i wish i hadnt made. but lets not get going on the bose bashing....hahaha
 
I've heard Bose 901s and have nothing against them. In fact, partied often to them in the Air Force. The SPs threatened to confiscate them on more than one occasion.
 
my 2 cents

I love twiddling with all the knobs. I thought that's why we had all this stuff!

I tend towards using an EQ. I've had one in my system forever. I recently found parametric EQ interesting and am having a ball with that.

It is probably true that most home GEQs can't do a good job. I find that anything with less than 10 bands per channel is just about useless. But, I also find that any EQ is better than nothing. (Hook one up, twiddle with it until it seems OK, hit the bypass button, see how long it takes to turn it back on).

My original EQ is an Pioneer SG-9500. I haven't gotten anything better than that, but I have gotten a lot worse. Maybe I lucked out and started with something good. I now have two of them (SG-9500) along with a few OK ones I found dirt cheap. (I have a few systems wired together). Like I said, the 10 band seem better than anything less.
 
i dig the 901's where i have them now, in a large room. they sound ok for sure in that system, which i use to practice guitar with. but since my eq took a dump, i havent been able to use them. i need to get one. i was going to repair this one, but lost interest.
they are a nice pair, the "continental" version of the series 2's. anybody want them? lol
id part
 
Go with the EQ and see if you like it. Don't worry about the "other" guys who don't won't to "dink" with all those buttons. See what YOU like!! :thmbsp:
Me? I love them.
 
325bmw said:
Go with the EQ and see if you like it. Don't worry about the "other" guys who don't won't to "dink" with all those buttons. See what YOU like!! :thmbsp:
Me? I love them.
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Good advice. Try it with your own system. Remember, only you have to like the sound of your own system. Sometimes it's fun to tinker and experiment.
 
I use a TacT RCS2.0 room-correction equalizer. It's an automated, set-and-forget device.
 
in response (no pun intended) to the original idea of tube amps and eq, i would imagine that folks running purely tube rigs would want to keep them pure. anyone know where i can get a tube eq?
 
Don't think there is such a thing as a tube eq., anybody? Now a tube crossover is another thing of course.
 
Both of my sytems use a Pioneer Spectrum Anaylzer to adjust using a dual channel 10 band EQ to get the sound at the listening poistion as close to flat as the room and the gear will allow. It's not perfect but its a damn sight better then without it.

The main system (My "Shrine") uses a SG-50 (M) the Office system a SG-750 pretty much both the same machine with different faceplates on them.

I run HPM-100's Speakers some guys can't stop raggin on. Yet I have had guys who made raggin on HPM's a hobby in itself over for a listen and they sit on the couch in the sweet spot and with their mouths hangin open try to adjust their minds to what they are hearing and how it can be coming from my system. It was amazing the next day on one of the forums the next day the back pedaling being done.

I would assume that from listening to a bunch of other guys systems of all kinds as well as all the various systems at the AK FEST in 2008 that a LOT of people would be amazed how far from "correct" their systems in their rooms actually sound.

I'm not saying what they like is worng only that like some silly snake oil tweek don't knock it until you have tried it.

And the comments about how these types of simple Spectrum anaylzers can't do that good of job as they are to simple (compared to the newest and latest computerized setup) I would say that they might not be perfect but they are a DAMN SIGHT closer then nothing.

I EQ and I ain't afraid to admit it LOL
 
SpruceMoose said:
in response (no pun intended) to the original idea of tube amps and eq, i would imagine that folks running purely tube rigs would want to keep them pure. anyone know where i can get a tube eq?
Click to expand...

There are a lot of valve equalisers in the market. However, I hope your speakers will offer what a $2000 and up valve equaliser can offer.



Best Regards,
 
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