MAC speaker equalizer question

[filament]

Hello all.
I have a pair of Mcintosh XR-7 speakers. I want to get one of the required equalizers for them but I'm not sure which one. I have heard diffrent opinions on the matter. I went to the Rodger Russell site and I am now more confused. On his speaker page it says that the XR-7's use a MQ-101 or a MQ-102. Then when you go to his equalizer page it says that the 101 and 102 are for the ML series speaker and the MQ 104 and MQ 107 are for the XR series speakers. Any suggestions are welcome
Thanks,
Herb.

 

[Velocityboat]

Use the MQ102. All you need is to adress bass that rolls off 16db below 150 Hz to make flat to 20 Hz. Set at 1 to 3. Depending if afainst a wall or by a door. 150 is a good price. Hit it with at least a 300 WPC amp. More is better. The long throw woofers will amaze you.

 

[c_dk]

The bass sections of the 101, 102, 104,107 are pretty much the same, some have click stops, some are fully variable.

While the XR series was being developed Mac also introduced the AA2 analyzer and Mq104 which gave us much more capibility to address additional bass issues. The XR series has the headroom to accept the stress a mq104/7 can add to the speaker load. Also remember at this time power guard was also developed to protect those fragile dome

Read the posted sticky in the mactech section.

If you can find a way to set them up correctly a MQ 104 or MQ 107 is a far far superior way to dial in any XR series speaker.....hands down. It was what the McIntosh brain trust expected us to do for our customers....it was near and dear to Gordon Gow's heart. We talked often about the complications I found out in the field, that is how speaker placement and room issues could destroy the sound of carefully engineered speaker systems.

 

[filament]

Thanks. I have had the speakers for about four years and have been happy with them. I was going to trade them but it fell through so now I want to get the EQ. I have a line on a MQ-102 for $100. I will get it tomorrow. I have been feeding them about 250 wpc of mac power and they do sound sweet. I am using two MC 2100 monoblocked. I believe that they dont have the power guard system.
Thanks,
Herb.

 

[c_dk]

Under most installations the bass boost in actual rooms was seldom over click stop 3, a few dB up at 60 hz.....little music has much energy at 20 hz.

Fixing a peak or dip in the upper bass or midrange gave a much bigger improvement. I would not waste the money on a 102..... Get a 104 or 107.

 

[filament]

I hear you about the 104/107. I have admit that I feel a bit overwhelmed with those units due to the capacitor kit and needing the analysers. while im not dense, I feel I might be in over my head with those units. But I may have to bite the bullitt if the 102 is not going to do what I need.

 

[Velocityboat]

What is your listening area and speaker placement like? Can you get at least one third diviision? sDo you have a bright room or speaker in a corner? I first paired my MQ102 to XR5s difference was astonishing. Now pair it with XR19 and XRT20 which still benefit. . The XR7 was designed and tested outside an acoustic chamber. I think I will end up with a MEN220 eventually. if you like good percussion or bass try 102. You can sell it for at least the 100 you put in it. Unless you have help and the tools you may never use the 104 or 107 to its potential.

 

[c_dk]

The method of utilizing the 104/107 changed over time.

Originally it was an engineering exercise.....take out the peaks and valleys, smooth out the curve, because as engineers we knew wave therory.

After Gordon chose our storefront to premier the XRT20s in the Midwest, which I of course had dialed in with a MQ104, he and I began a discourse on what was happening with speakers out in the real world.

On evening I went out to measure a pair of XR7s in a local music professionals home. After taking out the major anomalies I was left with a 1.5 dB dip in the LH speaker compared to the RH speaker. I could not hear it but it was driving him crazy. So the client taught me....he showed me how the operatic singer jumped to the right when singing that note.....her voice moved over about 7 or 8 inches.

So that night when I got home I called Gordon. After explaining that yes this client could hear 1.5 dB and I explained how he did Gordon stated " we need Sidney". Next morning there was a message waiting for me and I ended up in a four way conversation with Roger, Sidney, and Gordon. All were scheptical about this 1.5 dB acuity, but after the others got off the line, Sidney gave me the math equations to formulate new filters and make a special filter to solve this issue. The Mq107 came out within a year.

I began to do this equalization a week or so after the new owner took delivery. I encouraged the new owner to use the tools available in their Mac preamp to experiment, find what they found to be right. I would then measure after listening with them to get their input. Their input guided and influenced how I dialed in their speakers, it was no longer a cold engineering exercise.

So it is supposed to be fun. The caps just allow you to set where the controls work. I am sure new computer based measuring methods are coming out everyday.

Someday I will share about my TEF training at Crown's international service manager's church in Elkhart. Yes my AA2 was there.

 

[twiiii]

Well, if you have been to TEF school, you got a real eye awakening. We always had the debate about the fact you can only EQ the direct sound, and it depended on the acoustics of the room to get the reverberant field correct. While others wanted to tinker with the direct sound to get the over all balance correct. That's why I PREFER LINE ARRAY SPEAKERS, they take away some of the rooms ability to screw up imagery. Xr-7's have a very short Dc, the critical distance, and therefore if you try to voice the speakers at the listeners position the room is a big contributing factor, so sometimes you EQ room above 300 hz up close and below at the listening position and splice the two together based on the 300 Hz octave. Ohter wise you end up with the issue you had. The ear doesn't recognize the difference between early arrival times and later arrival times unless well trained. Another issue we learned from year previously with Don Davis and Syn-aud-con was you never add with filters only subtract. You can't correct for resonances in the room which will absorb energy, flexing walls etc, or ring with a specific freq. by adding energy. It either increases the electronic distortion by over driving a component, amp, EQ, or pre-amp, or it makes the ringing more irritating. Fix the room, or move the speakers, or listening position first was always the best solution first.

 

[c_dk]

What we discovered in the 80s and 90s deepened our knowledge and understanding of what we observed in the 70s.

While doing an EASE analysis one time I had an acoustian looking over my shoulder who designed the church system in the 60s.......he was in awe of the tools we had at that time and happy to see many of his earlier findings revealed.

Don had sold sydaudcon by the time I went thru the course at EAW's facilities in Boston.

Scott the TEF trainer was shocked that McIntosh had supplied their dealers with this powerful tool in the 70's. Come on it was a very unique toll that Mac dealers had at their disposal.

In the middle 90s I believe the Toshiba laptop we used with duplex line level in and out was over $3000.00 let alone the program cost and mic from TEFCRON. I think this can now be replicated for less than $500.00 complete.

 

[twiiii]

We went to the Crown factory for 4 days and met the gentlemen who wrote the programs for our 12+ Tef machine. 4 months later the TEF 20 Hit the market. We were a Mark IV dealer , EV, Altec, etc, plus JBL here and there, so we were involved with there design programs too. I didn't get the opportunity to go to EASE, school, but the two designers went, as I was tied up on two projects at the time. But I got a chance to work with it and use it later on. Then for the next few years I was involved in field testing and proof of performance tests and rescuing the guys installing Home Theatre Systems. I finally retired on June 17, 2004. Since then its been RVing 5 to 8 months a year, visiting Railroads, Taking photos, scanning 35,000 slides, going to rallys visiting friends, giving hifi salesman a hard time, and then coming home to rest listening to music, taking care of rent property, and maintaining our home. We just remodeled painted and carpeted everything, so updates to the 7.0 system were performed and cables run for future upgrades. How did we get this all done when we worked 50 hours a week?