Digital EQing

[Shannon Parks]

Had some fun with my full range Voight pipes and a cheap Teac EQ from the 80's. I think they'll be a great fit in my new listening room once that gets done, but the Teac EQ just isn't the best piece of gear. I bought it locally for $10 off eBay. I talked to a vendor who recommended this:
http://www.zzounds.com/productreview--BEHDEQ2496

Anyone have any experience with this one or a similar digital device?

[EWBrown]

I've never seen nor heard one of these, but Parts Express also has it available, and the specs, etc can be found here:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=248-661

I did a quick look at the specs PDF file, it appears that the signal inputs are "balanced" using the XLR connectors, this may be a serious "hurdle"...

Looks a lot better than the old slide-pot equalizers that I occasionally find at the local dump "swap table". Most of those, the pots are shot... Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_13

/ed B in NH

[TomMcNally]

You can always drive an active balanced input with an unbalanced
source, simply use the + side for "hot" and put the - side and ground
on ground.

On the output - use + as hot, and leave the - float, never ground it.

Works fine !

[ashok]

I have not used the DEQ2496, but I have read quite a bit about it being used as an equalizer in the digital domain. Feed it an S/PDIF signal, shape it as needed, get the shaped S/PDIF out, feed that to a DAC for analog output.

It contains a white noise generator too. You can then use a microphone connected to the unit, and it will auto-adjust according to your room.

The DEQ2496 has D/A convertors in it. So, you may not need an outboard DAC. Check out this review http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0705/behringerultracurve2496.htm


Ashok

[Shannon Parks]

Thanks for the link, Ashok!

[Shannon Parks]

Hmmm - just got a $50 Amazon gift certificate for an Agilent survey. One of the Amazon sellers sells the Ultracurves for $228, so $178 plus $10 shipping. 'Course I'd spring for the microphone, cables and adapters so there's another $80. Tempting, though.

[joeriz]

I've also been interested in the Behringer unit to help to tame some bass nodes in my room. However, I have seen folks criticize the EQ method for dealing with such things on the grounds that it only deals with the level of given frequencies but can do nothing about time (i.e. the fact that room nodes are really the room 'hanging onto' certain frequencies longer than should be the case). The result, so it is said, is that you have just created a 'hole' at a certain frequency and done nothing to treat the real cause of the problem. The apparent overhang of a note is reduced but the problem still remains.

Such people typically recommend (with good reason I suppose) that room treatments be used to deal with bass nodes. However, how many of us are able to use room treatments in our family/living rooms? Doemestic tranquility will surely suffer in many cases. Moreover, how many folks have rooms dedicated solely to listening?

Anyone here have thoughts and/or experience with this?

Thanks,
Joe

[Shannon Parks]

Hi Joe,

What tool would be better to help you tweak your room? You could do the autoflat EQ with the external mike, record the results, make some room changes, and then try it again, looking for changes. Of course for me, the main thing is frequency correction for the full range drivers. But room tweaking and speaker placement would be a huge benefit.