Equalizer, yes or no?

[MexicoMiike]

Well...I would say that if you are happy with what you are hearing, THATS the only important part. I once EQd my listening position to be perfectly flat with my system at the time - verified by high dollar measuring equipment. It resulted in the WORST sound I had ever heard and totally unnatural. A bedside clock radio was more pleasant to listen to. But the freq plot graph looked PERFECT!

 

[Hyperion]

Makes me think that just a tweak of the tone controls, or throw the loudness switch would be enough for most people.

I think you may as well not have an EQ, UNLESS you have the measuring equipment to go with it and thus try to make sense of what you are seeing and hearing.

 

[bare]

Odd. In MY mind an EQ is some contraption from the late 7-'s earelky 80's Bose equal;iser comes to mind and Largely downhill from there on. Today one can buy a seriously capable DSP unit that compares as a Fighter plane to the Steam Age EQ contraptrion.
Easily capable of tailoring responses of gear and speakers to achieve a near ideal performance.
Yep.. iffy gear can be controlled to sound Far better than it should (at least within the physical limits of the hardware. Sows' ears /silk purse mostly applies.. still)
BUT one needs decent measuring evaluation tools or it's a complete and Endless fiddle fest.

 

[sax6]

... and not sure if I'm agreeing with you or not, but the goal is to adjust the spectrum without having your amp or eq work any harder than they have to. If you end up too loud or soft when switching the eq in and out, then adjust the entire range either up or down to compensate.

Better to boost your Marantz at ,009% THD than your ( whatever eq )
at, maybe, near 1% of THD.

All I say is, better to attenuate than accentuate, whatever the curve.

Better not to use an eq than use one... unless all the pro mic analysis.

 

[Beatnik]

I thought I was happy with what I was hearing, but a decent RTA testing system pointed out some glaring issues.

You didn't mention if all that made you happier than you already were ? Or if you still tweak afterwards ? If I'm happy with what I hear, that's all I need or want from my system. I don't think some computer program is going to know what I personally want to hear or how I desire the music to sound.

 

[robgmn]

You didn't mention if all that made you happier than you already were ? Or if you still tweak afterwards ? If I'm happy with what I hear, that's all I need or want from my system. I don't think some computer program is going to know what I personally want to hear or how I desire the music to sound.

Maybe that falls under the same deal as the listener who already LOVES his tube gear to death, then takes it is for a tune-up since it's "been a while" (where DID that fifteen years go?).

After some new tubes and adjustments that bring it all back to spec - "HOLY CRAP! This sounds incredible!"
We may be happy with what we hear, but may find out we're even happier when we make changes (and it's the hat trick if those changes also make the sound even a little more accurate...)

 

[Texas Audiot]

All this back and forth about why and why not...nobody mentioned that OLDER ears may need some compensation regardless of equipment, room or how it was intended to be heard....just sayin'

 

[ukfan4sure!]

If you prefer the sound quality that you achieve when using an equalizer, that is fine, it is your choice.

"Is the eq fooling us because the sound volume is boosted?"

Yes...

This question requires a two part answer.

If you use a control on an equalizer to boost a certain frequency or range of frequencies, you do in fact increase the power (power from the amplifier and the acoustic output of the speakers) for the frequency frequencies that you have selected.

This will cause those frequencies to be louder in absolute measurable terms and in relationship to the other frequencies in the music.

The second answer has to do with the basic function of the human auditory system. Our hearing is not equally sensitive to all frequencies when it is presented with frequencies having the same acoustic power. This is commonly called the Fletcher-Munson equal loudness hearing curve, although it has be revised and changed over the years.

The point is, the actual frequency response of the human auditory system changes with the intensity of the sounds (music), that we hear.

So, not only does boosting certain frequencies increase the actual measurable power in those frequencies (making the music sound different), one must also take into account the change in the frequency response of our ears as the loudness of the frequencies boosted in increased.

To be clear, equalizers do not shift frequencies, they change the amplitude of the frequencies selected and of course an EQ can be used to boost or attenuate the selected frequencies.

Of course each persons perception of changes in sound quality may be different and the contribution to these changes may be less for change in the frequency response of the ear due to changes in the absolute acoustic power at any given frequency than the actual increase in the absolute acoustic power at any given frequency. And as can be seen from the picture below, it is frequency dependent.

And BTW NJguy, this is a good and very perceptive question.

Yes you can use an equalizer when using a turntable, but it must still be used for line level signals, not phono cartridge level signals, that also require a specific type of EQ that is provided by the phono stage called the RIAA EQ curve.

Extremely brilliant explanation of what an EQ does. For an old coot like me who has worked my entire life around loud machines, an EQ is important. My hearing above 9K is slightly impaired. That ability to compensate the music at those frequencies keeps me enjoying the music!

 

[Raccoon1400]

The normal connecting points for EQs are in a tape monitor loop or in the pre out/main in loop or between the pre amp and power amp. All of these typical connection methods allow the EQ to be used with a turntable.

Put the EQ in the tape loop not between pre and power. Echowars had a post around here somewhere explaining why. It is because of the signal to noise ratio. The noise floor of the EQ is fixed, but the signal level is much higher if it is in the tape loop.
A guy messaged me a while back wanting his system serviced (amp, preamp, eq). He was getting a lot of noise. Right away I asked him where he had the EQ. It was between the amp and preamp. I told him to put it in the tape loop. He did that and the problem went away.

I don't use an EQ but if you feel you need the control go for it. I could use one in my cottage system. The paradigm 7s with dual 8" woofers are really boomy in a cottage that is resting on cinderblocks. I actually turn down the bass sometimes.