Is the Equalizer dead?

[franklinpross]

Can someone tell me if they STILL use an equalizer

to

enhance their listening enjoyment?

[BRANDONH]

Can someone tell me if they STILL use an equalizer

to

enhance their listening enjoyment?

I use the 204 Aural Exciter and Optical Big Bottom instead of an EQ and I am very pleased with the results over an EQ.
you can read about it here: http://www.aphex.com/204.htm
If your preamp has balanced outputs your good to go but in not you would need to get an rca to 1/4 TRS adapters.
Note that this is not an EQ.
The page has several downloads for the brochure, manual and reviews etc.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/src=00633/search/detail/base_pid/181820

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I use three stereo 1/3 octave eq's for my main channels, and a stereo parametric eq for my sub. These are to correct room acoustics, and are set and forget. I do not adjust them for bad recordings, or use them as tone controls.

[markw]

I use three stereo 1/3 octave eq's for my main channels, and a stereo parametric eq for my sub. These are to correct room acoustics, and are set and forget. I do not adjust them for bad recordings, or use them as tone controls.Those aren't yer basic run of the mill BSR 12 band eq's we had in the 70's that a hobbyist would use to set in the ubiquiotious tweeter burning smiley face pattern.

They are designed specificaly for room calibratiion and are more of a tool for your work.

IOW, they aren't equalizers in the sense commonly referred to by hobbiests so much as a tool for fine tuning your system to match your room. As such, they will never go out of style.

[Woochifer]

The traditional graphic equalizer is rapidly becoming extinct for home audio because of the transition to multichannel and digital. Simply put, a modern AV receiver has no place for a graphic EQ to plug into.

However, those graphic equalizers of old are getting replaced by a variety of more advanced EQ systems that serve a wide range of functions. More and more receivers have begun incorporating five band equalizers into individual channels to help with timbre matching.

More recently, receivers and processors have started adding parametric room calibration functions. These functions include parametric EQs that adapt to the room conditions. They also have both manual and preset functions that can EQ the sound for a particular tonal profile. IMO, the future of EQ is with the parametric varieties because of their added versatility (parametric EQs can vary the center frequency and the bandwidth, whereas graphic EQs were fixed). And their usage with automatic calibration functions is just starting.

The cutting edge speaker designs have begun incorporating active EQ systems with digital crossovers. All of this just extends the originally intended function of EQ systems to begin with -- to adjust the sound for the acoustical conditions.

On my system, I use an outboard parametric EQ with my subwoofer, and it is an absolutely crucial part of my system because of the improvement that it makes in the bass performance.

[enrique]

In the 70's and 80's i used to have an equalizer as well as a reverb but in this day and age with music and HT i see no point.

[thepogue]

1) Sansui EQ

2) DBX Expander

3) Bong

I no longer use 2.

That is all....


Peace, Pogue

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

1) Sansui EQ

2) DBX Expander

3) Bong

I no longer use 2.

That is all....


Peace, Pogue

I bet it is 1 and 2 LOLOLOL.......WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA............

[RADCOM]

I would still kill for an ADC sound shaper mkII.....By the way hi y'all. I'm a forum Newbie and this was the first interesting post I saw here :)

[Toga]

Check offerings from Rane pro line. Their variable Q filters and point to point setting vs./ transfer function for an accurate representation of settings is quite interesting and becoming a wave in the industry. I have yet to hear a set, but the functionality seems impressive. Biamp NEXIA style DSP engines do dozens of center frequency parametric for around $1000.

[toenail]

Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro- parametric subwoofer EQ. Outstanding at taming room issues for subs. Would never go back.

I have mixed emotions about typical Radio Shack etc EQ's. I've never plugged one into the chain and had it leave the image/soundstage intact regardless of having all frequencies set to zero or using the defeat function. That said, you can make a really cheap system sound "better" with one. All relative.

[Glen B]

Not for many years. In addition to equalizers, I also owned a Pioneer reverb and DBX range expander. As the quality of my system increased, it became more and more apparent that these sound processors were doing bad things to the music. Now, once in a while I come across the odd recording that could benefit from a little frequency boost here or there but believe the sonic tradeoff off using an equalizer to not be worth it.