toddv@azure.UUCP (05/03/84)
> What do equalizers do?
Your system and speakers produce a frequency band of sound that isn't
necessarily flat. That is, different frequencies will be produced with
differing efficiency. The room that your speakers are in (where the
speakers are placed, what kind of furniture and how it is arranged, the shape
of the room, carpeting, drapes, etc) have perhaps the greatest effect in
determining what your system will sound like.
A graphic equalizer is designed to compensate for this.
The trick is knowing how to set the controls. Because I don't have any test
equipment easily available to me, I bought an equalizer that generated pink
noise (noise that is equally modulated at all frequencies) and contained
a graphic analyzer. When the equalizer generates the pink noise, it is
passed through the amp and heard over the speakers. A calibrated microphone
plugs into the graphic analyzer portion of the equalizer, and is placed in the
room at a desired listening location. Each channel is adjusted separately
to produce (as closely as possible) a flat response from 20hz to 16khz.
Note that the equalizer only works for one point in a room at a time
(although other points may also work out accidently, but I doubt it.)
I also use the pink noise to determine which tape works best on my system.
I record pink noise on a tape, and play it back while observing the display
of the graphic analyzer. Some tapes clip the high end much more than others.
Without a pink noise generator, and a graphic analyzer I don't think an
equalizer is anything more than a toy. However, some people use them to adjust
the sound to taste (irrespective of the response curve).
I *think* I have an Audiosource EQ-1. Nothing to brag about, but I leave that
to the tyros. I'm sure you can find a similarly cheap equalizer. On the
other hand, if you want to spend BIG bucks, someone is sure to accommodate you.
Todd Vierheller
PS. I'm not a REAL audiophile. (I buy and enjoy MHS records.) hobbit@bnl.UUCP (05/22/84)
Hmmm. I own a cheapo equalizer [BSR-?? [I forget], the one you get from Dak for $89 with all the LEDs in the slide pots], and generally use it to make the sound like *I* want it. [Thou with the ''golden ears'', prepare your barf bags] The result of this is usually a large smile across the band; plenty of gut-wrenching boom boom boom and lots of screaming shattery high end. This is usually for rock; I drop the ends of the smile a bit for classical, due to the generally low level of music found therein and more hiss. I love the thing; in my opinion it did more for my system than the 75 WPC it needs to support what I send it. Roast them TO-3 cans, _H*