rayjay@ihuxr.UUCP (john wray) (05/04/84)
I don't think that I could really recommend an equalizer to anyone who
had anything better than a "mid-fi" system. As your electronics, spkrs,
and cartridges become more sophisticated the inevitable "trade-off"
becomes noticable enough to negate the use of an equalizer.
I'm saying that even with the equalizer set to zero effect, it can be heard
in the system. Cleaner electronics and more neutral speakers will fix MOST
system problems. I just can't hack the extra noise & distortion they add!
Rayjay -wjm@whuxj.UUCP (MITCHELL) (05/04/84)
There is one good reason why I must disagree with Rayjay's opinion about not using an EQ in anything better than a "mid-fi" system and that is the inter- action between any speaker and the room in which it is placed. Even the best speakers (such as the $30K Infinity Reference System) are going to be influenced by standing waves and reflections in the room in which they are placed. Since these influences will probably cause more abberations in frequency response than the additional noise and distortion the EQ would introduce to correct them, EQ will provide a net improvement. This might not be the case if the listening room were custom designed to minimize such effects, but few people can afford to do this. Bill Mitchell Bell Communications Research, Inc. Whippany, NJ (whuxj!wjm)
charles@sunybcs.UUCP (Charles E. Pearson) (05/08/84)
Give me a break! (will a ^Y do?) Even the $30K's will generate a standing wave.... Few people could afford the special equipment to min. this effect. Compared to $30K the cost of accoustic foam is cheep cheep (did somebody hear a birdy?9 If this keeps up I'll have to post the flames from IAR about Equalizers. To whit.. None ever made did not color the sound... I.e. no setting was possible to flatten it. Most every one of them does more than just unflatten the response. Anything better than MG I's (the original black editions) will show that an equalizer is in the system (and degrading it). Proof. Take your (in your case Diskwasher Goldens) patch cords and route arround the bloody thing. Physically out of the system. And you will notice a marked difference (even with OHM H speakers). The people who like EQs are the same people who like CD's and the same people who will not look at a Grado GTE+1 because it only costs $15.00. ~~|-< flame off, your Fisher probabily needs the EQ.
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/09/84)
COUNTER FLAME.
1. 30 K worth of acoustic foam will not help your room any. Not
too many of us can afford to have a room large enough for
ideal listening. (Although 30K is probably a good down payment
on a new house).
2. If you can hear equalizers all the time, then I don't suppose you
like listening to recorded music, because nearly every recording
board I've ever seen has at least a three band parametric equalizer
sitting on each channel that the engineers love to tweek, so they
are very often not flat.
3. Most people set their equalizers to what they want the material to
sound like which is not necessarily flat. Just a matter of taste.
If you like yours vanilla than go ahead and save the money on the eq.
Due to the need for some acoustavoicing (all though this is a poor substitute
for having flat components and an accoustically nice room) and to adjust for
peoples taste in eq, equalizers are probably here to stay. I bought mine
because my AMP and PREAMP don't have any tone controls. Most of the time
it does stay switched out (mechanically) but I had a slight boost around
5k for a while due to a odd shaped room I had. I also use it for squelching
the high end of things that are either scratchy (sorry no SAE 500's or Carvers
yet) or have not quite ultrasonic components in them.
-Ron