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To Equalize or Not to Equalize

I like a good EQ.
Can be turned off or on as needed for various source qualities.
I use a Technics SH-8046 in the little system and a Yamaha GE-60 in the big one.
Both have a nice light show and adjustability and the Subsonic and Rumble filters on the Yamaha have proven invaluable for certain records on party nights.
Since I'm not an audio "purist", the unnoticeable 100db+ S/N ratios both offer don;t bother me none at all.
 
There are only two reasons for using any type of equalizer. One is to adjust the sound on a recording to recording basis to please one's ears. The second is to flatten in room response. The first is usually constantly tweaked and quite often ends up looking like the old "smiley face". For this a linear octave (10 band) type is the most popular. The second is almost always adjusted using test tones and a calibrated microphone. For this a 31 band linear or a 10/12 band parametric are the preferred types. Currently parametric DSP's are preferred by many including myself. Either approach is valid for the owner/user. It's only a question of what you want it for.

FWIW: I use a 10 band parametric/DSP with a calibrated microphone and REW. Last December I reset mine. This was only because I replaced my esl's with a pair of Magneplanars. Prior to that it hadn't been touched in several years.
 
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432HzBob said:
Can be turned off or on as needed for various source qualities.
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Exactly. I have been listening to Spotify more and more over the past few months....even more since using their premium service. The wide variety of music I listen to means there is a variety of signal levels. Spotify does a pretty good job of keeping things about the same but some equalization makes things sound better.
 
I would say, that you should do what makes you happy. If you like the way the equalizer sounds (perhaps you have special requirements in the listen area or with your speakers), you should, by all means, use an equalizer. ;)
 
jetstream said:
What do you think of this and the choice of frequencies?
http://www.bozak.com/product/pgm-eq/
100
400
1.2k
4k
12k
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Limited is the first word that comes to mind.

As I mentioned previously, the more bands the better when it comes to EQ, unless we're talking about parametric. I can't tell whether that one is parametric or not. Even if it is, that's a very limited parametric.
 
Nightwisher said:
As I mentioned previously, the more bands the better when it comes to EQ...
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Unless someone is trying to use it as a tone control - which it is not. As Joe pointed out, you frequently see a "smiley face" profile which appears linear in action, but is not.

Unfortunately, such an approach is anything but linear as each band acts in its own narrow range. The boost profile would look like a series of sine waves with peaks and valleys between each band.
 
jetstream said:
That's my intent actually - adding it to a system that has no tone controls, for a quick intervention when the music sounds wrong flat.
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Ideally then you would choose a five band EQ for more gradual profiles that act like tone controls. Smiley faces create horribly non-linear results.
 
Archguy said:
Just to be sure...we're talking about equalizers right?
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Well. It doesn't say gayromeo up there now does it? :)

For measument mic 32 band or para as stated. Or do it digital. No limits.

For "adjust to taste" I'd prefer 2 controls.

Hide the eq, you dont need to see it if its doing basic room correction.
 
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twiiii said:
If systems were perfect there would be no need. But that said you can only voice the direct signal from the loud speaker, what the room does after that when the signal bounces around is the issue. The more directional your speakers the better the EQ's work and the less you need them. But even the best directional speaker eventually allows the room to overly influence the sound. The easiest solution is to pick a directional speaker and sit with in the direct field of the speaker is at least equal to the ambient reflected field. Using absorbing panels to reduce the room reflections can help.

Now if your a musician with trained hearing you can use equalization to voice your system to the qualities you desire. But detailed careful voicing requires sophisticated test equipment, many hours of training and practice applying the knowledge you have been exposed to. A system such as Room Perfect takes multiple reads in a room analyzing the relation ship between the direct sound and reflected sound and attempts to give the best average for either a small focused area, or a broader general area. Odyssey tries to give a flat response mixing the reflected and direct sound together, which is all right if you have controlled the standing waves and reflections in the room. But either system are only the first steps in maximizing the sound quality in your space.

If you are just generally triying to shape the sound in broad brush strokes, equalization is a great tool. But if you are trying to correct narrow resonances, reflections, or room resonances, general EQing is not the answer. And heaven forbid you should have a resonating panel that is absorbing energy . Because no matter how much increase in energy you add with an EQ the issue will not be corrected. All you will do is add more distortion to the sound by stressing your electronics and over driving your loud speakers.

Try to understand what qualities you are hearing that are offensive, and what is the cause, The speaker, the room, speaker placement, etc etc. Correct as many things as you can first physically. Then consider voicing your system. But only works if you have a trained ear. Otherwise you need analyzers and the knowledge to use them.
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I think you are right that the less trained you are, the less effective an equalizer will be and, truth be told, you can do more harm than good. But I also think most people, with some rudimentary training via only reading articles, can benefit from an EQ. And I've never actually heard a completely flat speaker. To me, ALL speakers need some amount of EQ until you get into the equipment purchased only by the 1%.


Also, I don't know that a lot of people nowadays spend a lot of time with "sweet spot" listening. I do to some degree, but it is to watch movies. Frankly, my stuff has all been "good enough" for many years now. My wife has incentivized me to focus on things that bring more tangible results than fine tuning to the nth degree these days.

But there are people who do get into this sort of thing ore than me. They seem to fall into one of two camps: Either they are into the purest electronics possible without even tone controls, or they are into fine tuning with electronics. Both work, but the former is usually a far more expensive endeavor, by a couple orders of magnitude.

Ultimately, your budget should be your guide. Even 1/3 octave eq's are cheap and can be VERY effective after reading a couple articles (or watching a couple of videos) on how to use them.
 
Eric Lloyd said:
If you've ever swapped speakers because you didn't care for the voicing, you've engaged in equalization of your stereo's sound. If you ever said to yourself, "Wow, it sounds so much better with this large painting on the wall here", you've eq'd your room. What the heck. Get a nice equalizer and play around. Don't like it? Too many wires to untangle now? Sell it to somebody else. If you lose a few bucks on the deal look at it as a rental fee on the unit.

I honestly don't know why this has any controversy attached to it.

To the guys who go on about hearing things "as the artist intended" - the artist doesn't even get to hear that. First the producer tells him to change it so it's less "busy", then the engineer changes out the mics or runs different effects because they record better, then the mastering tech eq's it the way he thinks it should have been in the first place, then the marketing rep says it's too dynamic and won't sound good on the radio so it gets mastered again to be hotter, then it goes to the radio station where they compress the crap out of it, then it zaps up & down through a satellite to your computer (streaming device of some kind), then it works it's way through your preamp, amplifier to your speakers with their supposedly 'flat' response where you can complain about how the manufacturer of your unit should have left off the bass & treble controls because they might be coloring the sound while it's all bouncing around in your listening space. Then some cat comes over and says, "oh, I heard in an interview that they recorded that album specifically so it would sound good on crappy car speakers because that's where most people are likely to hear it", and you punch him in the mouth.
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Great post, It drives me crazy when people say the way its supposed to sound. If they get off their high horse and think for a minute and think about all that is listed above they "might' remember its how it sounds to "them" not to everybody.
You are the only one who matters, do what you want to make you happy not people on here with unrealistic thinking about "what something is supposed to sound like" An acoustic guitar from one manufacturer sounds different than one from other manufacturer; people buy the one that sounds good to them. Period.
 
Why so angry? It seems to me that the general feeling is that you should do what you think sounds best to you. This is pretty consistent even from those who don't use an equalizer or tone controls. FWIW, although I use a DSP my preamp has no tone controls. Frankly, I don't miss them.

IME tone controls are more effective for correcting perceived response problems in source material than an equalizer. Even better (IMO) is a tilt control found on some Quad preamps.
 
JoeESP9 said:
Why so angry? It seems to me that the general feeling is that you should do what you think sounds best to you. This is pretty consistent even from those who don't use an equalizer or tone controls. FWIW, although I use a DSP my preamp has no tone controls. Frankly, I don't miss them.

IME tone controls are more effective for correcting perceived response problems in source material than an equalizer. Even better (IMO) is a tilt control found on some Quad preamps.
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I brought home Pure Heroine on vinyl a few months ago and had to crank down my subwoofer quite a bit. This is the sort of thing I use tone controls (or my sub's volume control) for. Most of my pre-amps have a tone defeat switch. Back in the 70's I believed that if I used the tone controls I was ruining my sound and really avoided using them. But once I freed myself up to use the tools at my disposal, I found I really did enjoy my system(s) much more.

In my case, I just stopped being so "anal" about it. Heck, last week my wife complained she could hear a radio while we watched a movie. It was bleed from the FM circuitry in my very old Mitsubishi pre-amp with built in tuner. Back in the day it would have driven me nuts. Now I just tuned to a dead spot on the dial. Problem solved. :)
 
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