EQ: A Primer.

EQ guys are using on their cabs/systems. A good starting place if you don't have your own RTA.
Locked
Message
Author
User avatar
Bill Fitzmaurice
Site Admin
Posts: 28615
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 5:59 pm

EQ: A Primer.

#1 Post by Bill Fitzmaurice »

Once upon a time EQ is what you used to control feedback and tweak your system response to the room. No more. Today EQ is an integral part of the system, without which the system simply won't work properly. To see why, look at this SPL chart of one of the first high end speaker systems to incorporate EQ via Digital Signal Processing (DSP) into its basic design parameters, the EAW KF 850.

Image

As seen in the blue trace in the chart above the raw response of the KF850 is anything but flat. After applying correction with DSP EQ response is very flat. Using DSP EQ to correct response allows sensitivity and economy of cabinet size that can't be attained with a cabinet that's designed to achieve flat response without correction. When the KF850 was introduced digital signal processing was very expensive, and was only used in the $5k and higher price range with units dedicated to specific cabinets. Today DSPs like the Behringer DEQ2496 do exactly the same job with any speaker, and the price is now less than $300. These units include RTA (Real Time Analyzer), which measure the speaker response and apply the proper correction. This forum section shows settings that our members have come up with for their various speakers, so that you may use their results as a starting point to set a traditional EQ that doesn't have RTA capability.
Remember that a starting point is only that. System response will be different in every room, so to get good results you must use RTA/Auto EQ to correct system response in every room.

Locked