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What combination of gear and listening space mods finally let you remove EQ

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FOH Engineer said:
This is a new thread for describing your gear upgrade path and combinations, and listening room mods and changes you have made over the years to finally enjoy an EQ free system with tonal neutrality and no listening fatigue and a satisfying hobby. It was originated by a @CelticWolf post regarding listening without EQ

I cant post it all here at once ..but my first good rig consisted of a Pioneer SA 9500 Technics SL 1900/ AT 13 EA combo, Audio Control 520 B Parametric EQ and Sansui SP 5500 Speakers. At the time 1979 I used to skip work occasionally just to listen..This story will develop over numerous posts
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Please include pics of your past and present gear and listening spaces.
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Some recordings enjoy a EQ. I turn mine on when I need more of something and off whenever I can. Currently listening to a Cassette made many moons ago From Stevie Winwood among others. Nothing suffers, it captured everything the CD had to offer. The EQ adds too much. Notice the volume level is relatively low. Some recordings at this listening level need a boost on Low end at least. ELO is on it as well and it sounds fine but makes me want to touch the volume knob. It's 1 AM. Very still outside. New neighbor. But tomorrow:jump:
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For me it was an evolution of low dollar stuff. Changing equipment or using EQ wasn't going to fix anything in this repurposed bedroom.
Moving speakers around, big gaudy glass chandelier, grandmothers hand made quilt covering a 4 inch memory foam mattress on the back wall, a muffler (highly recommended) on the ceiling air vent, a tapestry directly across the room from the window drapes at the first reflections, thick throw rugs in front of speakers, a couple of large plastic trees. And a few other little things of that type.
I can play it to loud or whisper quite. The music is all in all the time. The rest of the family doesn't play it as loud as they did at the start two years ago. That was a big problem, all over the house. And they still couldn't hear the music in the room. Just noise.
I'm as is till a bigger than 14x16 room happens. The family uses it more than I do now. They've taken it over. That's a problem. I don't think anyone noticed all the stuff as it went in over time. They didn't say anything.
 
quiet said:
And they still couldn't hear the music in the room. Just noise.
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Very good point. A great indicator is how it sounds in other rooms. I like the tapestry idea. I still have one from 1969. Cheap designed cloth but it does the job as it did back then. Not sure about the plastic trees. Dust magnets.
 
For me it came down to acquiring gear that didn't have EQ (a piece of gear was available that was known to be desirable and built without EQ) and adjustments to speaker positioning and listening position. Part of this also comes from working in a recording studio, where you COULD fix just about anything with EQ, sometimes at the expense of the overall product. I have absolutely no objection to tone controls for whatever purpose the designer or end-user deems suitable. I just noticed that if I was using them frequently or applying too much leverage in that area, it meant something else wasn't quite right. Certainly easier to turn a knob than to install (and subsequently remove) wall treatments in a rental situation, though (for example).

By that path I have also adjusted my taste in music, albeit to a small degree. Certain records may have pleasing content but don't SOUND very good on a resolving system. I don't force those records on myself when I'm in a critical listening mode.
 
UncleBingo said:
By that path I have also adjusted my taste in music, albeit to a small degree. Certain records may have pleasing content but don't SOUND very good on a resolving system. I don't force those records on myself when I'm in a critical listening mode.
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I think we are alike in this. As my taste adjusted itself I found myself listening to more classical and jazz. Classical and Jazz recordings tend to be fairly well done. Even old mono recordings usually sound pretty good to my ears.
 
I've arrived at a point where I'm happy with my setup and the only EQ involved is tone controls on my preamp. I have the L pads on the speakers set neutral, tone controls defeated on the NAD T753 that's serving power amp duty until something better (AKA a dedicated power amp) comes along. Here's my setup at the moment -

Turntable - Garrard Zero 100 with rebuilt cartridge sled, better RCA cables, IEEE power connector, Technics EPC-270C cart / generic (for now) stylus.
Preamp - TEAC AS-100 integrated amp with power amp section removed due to a fault. Running as a dedicated pre instead.
Power amp - NAD T753 AVR with tone defeated, two channel stereo mode.
CD player - Arcam Alpha 5 with modified DAC board.
Tape - Technics RS-BX707 3 head, direct drive with rebuilt power supply section
Speakers - Sony SS-S31 3-way bass reflex on spiked stands. Surprisingly good for Sony speakers :-)
 
I've been upgrading for years and have a very dynamic and flat measuring system/room. Pink noise, mic and analyzer used over the course of all of these the improvements

There are still too many (mostly modern, eqed for a different group than hifier's I'm guessing) recordings that are so bassed up or some other anomaly and eq allows these to be listenable for me. Without it, I wouldn't play them.

If my system only went down to 60 Hz or so, I suppose many of these would be listenable on their own, without eq.

I think those that have becomw totally eq free either have a higher tolerance for these types of recordings or they simply do not listen to them. My system plays what is in the recording, some of that is no Bueno.
 
Markoneswift said:
I've arrived at a point where I'm happy with my setup and the only EQ involved is tone controls on my preamp. I have the L pads on the speakers set neutral, tone controls defeated on the NAD T753 that's serving power amp duty until something better (AKA a dedicated power amp) comes along. Here's my setup at the moment -
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Oh, no! Are the L-pads on my Altec horns considered EQ? I must rid myself of this abomination! (Faux-panic.I am kidding)
 
All my systems have them and probably always will. Bass and Mid and Treble tone controls are a rather blunt instrument for my hearing. I need just a touch of boost at 4K with most systems that tone controls cant do. The only time I have not needed the 4k boost is with my Yamaha CR 1040 and KLH 6s. That receiver and speaker combo can cut glass. And I have to admit I like the EQs with some sort of display. I am a total sucker for anything lit up.

Like was said above room EQ for AVRs is used a lot of the time. I have my HT front mains in a very low position but the Marantz NR 1608 corrected for that and the HT sounds really nice.

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Up until about a year ago I had the bass/treble set at +4/+8 (digital control on AVR) out of a +10 max. And I had wondered why I blew a few tweeters in the years past?!? In the last year I have been running on pure direct and I think it sounds great (usually). However, I ordered a miniDSP 2x4HD to better integrate my two subwoofers and help tame the room.
 
ultumax said:
Are going for like what pure audio on onkyo does ? Turn off all processeing? My onkyo would need a power amp to get loud .
So you have a amplifier ? With no eq or you turn off audysee?
Impressive idea , I have tinnitus I cannot even listen to non instrumental singing without ear pain and ringing. I’m sure lots of audio or music lovers have this also .
Old stereo amps definitely had lotta equalizers.
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Outboard Parametric EQs are perfect for this as you can center on the offending frequencies, likely around 1 to 2 K, and just roll them down. without decimating the soundscape...Sincerely sorry to hear about your hearing issues
 
For me it was the act of attending a live music performance, recording it, and then, immediately listening to it critically to assess what I heard live vs. the recording.
The only place I ever EQ anything is in Sarges Pontaic Vibe, and that is bass reduction to keep the license plate frame from rattling; way too ghetto.
 
FOH Engineer said:
I'm more interested in the path every one has used over time to max out both the performance of their gear and the acoustic properties of their listening space..creating a satisfying experience if not their idea of sonic perfection that allows for a " No EQ Needed " combination of gear and listening space...
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No EQ here, it was a few things, the quality of equipment, options to select two or three amp/ speaker combinations in one system. And probably the biggest change was my mentality, nothing is perfect, having a EQ will not fix that.

Everybody always say they want their system to present the music as the artist, recording and mastering intended. A EQ is like ordering a nice meal in a restaurant and sending your plat back to the kitchen telling them to add salt and some more garlic. Well that's not how the chef intended to serve the dish however that's how you might like it, but not everyone has your taste.

Not all rooms are alike, not all speakers sound alike and not all speakers sound the same in different rooms. However we can build our systems and rooms to match what we like to hear. I have a choice in selecting amps and speakers to match the music better. The last thing I'm going to do is complain about a specific recording or mastering when in fact it really can be on my end that it sounds bad.

The MFSL of Marvin Gaye, WGO came out and many complaned that it was to bloated and bassy. I thought for my first listen I'd use my Martin Logan's and 100 watt VAC mono blocks and record it with my phone. This combination generally works pretty good in my room, as it fills the room good for recording. Well as I started the below recording I though it sounded bassy but I continued.


At about 1:20 minutes into the vid I tried to turn it up, but it was very blown out and even started to shake the tripod/camera so I turned it back down.

However I then switched to my VAC 100/100 amp and MA3 MkII speakers, problem solved.

 
During the 80s and 90s I owned a variety of gear, but always cheap stereo or AV receivers paired with inexpensive floorstanders. They always needed eq or tone controls to sound good. I bought an NAD 316bee integrated around 2010 and, for the first time, heard balanced sound with gutsy bass without fiddling with tone controls. A few upgrades and changes later, I've found bliss with a Marantz PM8500 integrated, SVS 12" sealed sub, and KEF LS50s. Never even consider reaching for the tone controls. I will admit that the subwoofer serves as a tone control of sorts, though.
 
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