DEQ2496, RTA, and me....

[Tim A]

So I finally had the chance to get everything set up and working. I'm sitting there having a blast, learning all the sub menus and what not. The reference mic is doing it's thing, the pink noise is going, and when I put music through it all the little bars are dancing around.

All was well. Then a fatal error window appeared and the DEQ needed to be restarted. A half hour later, it simply shut itself off and restarted.

Okay, obviously this refurb wasn't and it'll have to go back, but that's not the point of this thread.

The point is just how good the system sounds with no EQ. The new DR200's with melded arrays and a pair of 14" T-39's simply kick ass. I guess I wasn't even listening since I was so engrossed in the bells and whistles. The end result is, I realized I don't need it. So it's going back and getting replaced with a standard 31 band EQ, and my ears will be my guide.

[AntonZ]

That's impressive. Would you be able to set your system up with no EQ at all, run pink noise and take a snapshot of the RTA screen of the DEQ before you return it? With source = measurement mic? That would be interesting.

[Tim A]

No, sorry. I took it out of the rack and reboxed it right away.

[WB]

I've spent a fair bit of time trying different things with the DEQ RTA and one of the things I've noticed, in pretty much every case, the sound does not get better if you try to AEQ below about 250 to 300 Hz or so, it got worse in fact. Seems to lose it's punch, or quickness, don't know how else to describe it. The magic seems to happen in the midrange, for me anyways, so far. Will be doing more this summer with the O15 sub and OT12 when they're done.

The only reason I mention it, is because you have to manually change what frequency range to AEQ before you start, the default is 80 or 100 Hz, can't remember. Also the room correction option should be engaged. Between those two things I'm very impressed with the results of AEQ'ing.

As far as its quality control, I've got two units, in case I need a quick backup. So far I've been lucky.

[gdougherty]

The only reason I mention it, is because you have to manually change what frequency range to AEQ before you start, the default is 80 or 100 Hz, can't remember. Also the room correction option should be engaged. Between those two things I'm very impressed with the results of AEQ'ing.

Default is full-range, you have to manually turn-off any bands you want to ignore. It does seem to keep the last selection you made though. I think memory recall has some interaction with it because every once in a while I go to do the AEQ and I have to turn off the bottom again.

[jeffbabcock]

That's the chance you take with buying refurb stuff... my guess is that it was crashing on a function that whoever checked it when it was returned never bothered to test. They probably just flipped it on and passed audio through it and when that worked they resold it. Happens too often, and not just in pro audio.

Bummer.

[Tim A]

Ah well, I learned a valuable lesson in my own abilities and saved some $ in the process. Talk about pushing the envelope though, today is day 42 of the 45 day return policy! I've been so busy building cabinets I hadn't had time to hook it up. But the return label is already here, so no problems.

[wallywally]

Same thing happened to me last week. DEQ2496 refurb after 15 minutes of use it started rebooting. Hopefully the next one will work.

[wallywally]

Just an update. I received my 2nd refurbed DEQ2496. This one works great! 6 hours of use, 85+ degrees F, mounted between 2 XTi2000's being driven hard. Not even a hiccup.

[Alan Star]

I've spent a fair bit of time trying different things with the DEQ RTA and one of the things I've noticed, in pretty much every case, the sound does not get better if you try to AEQ below about 250 to 300 Hz or so, it got worse in fact. Seems to lose it's punch, or quickness, don't know how else to describe it. The magic seems to happen in the midrange, for me anyways, so far. Will be doing more this summer with the O15 sub and OT12 when they're done.

The only reason I mention it, is because you have to manually change what frequency range to AEQ before you start, the default is 80 or 100 Hz, can't remember. Also the room correction option should be engaged. Between those two things I'm very impressed with the results of AEQ'ing.

Ok, thanks for that. I tried to auto eq with my unit and was so confused by the results that I ended up manually dialling in the eq in to the deq unit using software spectrum analyser to see what was going on. Now that you mention it, it was in the real lower regions that all the strange stuff was going on. Will try again just using the mid and high end selected. Thanks again.

[WB]

Will try again just using the mid and high end selected. Thanks again.

As well, one other thing I like to do, is to maintain a smaller distance between the speaker and the mic, than the distance between the speaker and the ground. For example, I'll put the speaker on a 5' or 6' ladder when doing a one meter reading. That's to reduce possible ground reflections. That might be harder to maintain though with a line array, being as the mic has to be further from the array than a point source.