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Graphic equalizer7/14/2023 ![]() Most of the problems afflicting recordings are spectral aberrations, affecting a wide range of bass and/or treble frequencies, and ordinarily tone controls are best at compensating for these problems. In fact, for most audiophiles (except, of course, those reading this magazine), a pair of well-designed tone controlsbass and treblewill do a more than adequate job of program correction. Two hundred controls, or even 60, are just far too many to have to contend with every time you change records.įor program equalization, the resolution requirements are far less stringent. And this is precisely why a good system equalizer doesn't make a good program equalizer. The best ones (very rare) have 1/10-octave resolution, which means about 100 bands for each channel, while an excellent one will typically have 30 1/3-octave bands per channel. That is, it must have enough controllable bands, of sufficiently narrow width, to allow it to pull down a peak without unduly affecting the adjacent areas. Because real-world loudspeakers in real-world rooms tend to generate lots of narrow frequency-response peaks and dips, the first requirement for a system equalizer is that it have high resolution. There are two basic kinds of equalizers: system equalizers and program equalizers. With a good one, though, the signal degradation is small enough to be outweighed by the benefits it can bring, andif installed in the preamp's Tape Monitor loopit can always be switched out when it isn't needed (footnote 2). Improperly used, an equalizer can undo all of the potential for fidelity that your system has to offer, and even when not used at allwith all its controls set for Flatall of them cause a certain amount of veiling and loss of depth. Properly used, a suitable equalizer can often improve the listenability of mediocre recordings (footnote 1), and can offset some of the deficiencies of many loudspeakers. I discussed the pros and cons in my review of the Accuphase G-18 in Vol.11 No.4, but a brief recap here won't be amiss. ![]() ![]() Although most audio perfectionists look down with scorn on equalizers, there are times when the benefits of such devices can outweigh their disadvantages. ![]()
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