Sub equalization. Best noob piece?

EricH

Which equalizer for bass content should I go with, considering my limited test equipment, as well as experience?

Rat Shack SPL meter
Lasertrak 2500 test disc: 15hz-20k sweep and 10hz-20k tones.

I've heard BFD, Rane PE-17, Art 351 mentioned.


Thanks in advance, Eric.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I've got one of the BFDs on order...that was reccomended here and on other boards as well...

gatemplin

The BFD is the way to go. It's flexible and cheap. It's called the Behringer Feedback Destroyer 1124, you can find it at any music equipment store. Check out http://www.snapbug.ws/bfd.htm

It has test tones, a spreadsheet and other goodies. It is THE source for using the BFD as a sub EQ, the manual is not much help.

Hope this helps.

EricH

Thanks, I've seen that the BFD has the most positive feedback, but I also see lots of Frequency Response charts and so forth. I didn't know if it was easily set up with just an SPL meter and a test cd.

gatemplin

Originally posted by EricH
Thanks, I've seen that the BFD has the most positive feedback, but I also see lots of Frequency Response charts and so forth. I didn't know if it was easily set up with just an SPL meter and a test cd.

All you need is a test CD and SPL meter, I suggest downloading the tones from the Snapbug site. They have every frequency from 10 to 125 Hz. It makes plotting very easy. You can make your own spreadsheet or download the one from that site.

Here are my results Before and After

EricH

Originally posted by gatemplin
All you need is a test CD and SPL meter, I suggest downloading the tones from the Snapbug site. They have every frequency from 10 to 125 Hz. It makes plotting very easy. You can make your own spreadsheet or download the one from that site.

I can't download any files. Blocked at my end. My test cd has:

10 hz
20
25
31.5
40
50
63
80
100
125
160
200hz

Is this enough? Do I need a better test cd?

gatemplin

Not good enough in my opinion. It would be better than nothing but there could be problems in between those tones.This site also has test tones. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Do you have a firewall or something that is blocking the download?

EricH

Yes, and I no longer have the internet at home. Is there a superior test cd out there?

gatemplin

I haven't a clue, but there is no point getting a BFD without more accurate test tones.

EricH

O.K. one of the I.T. guys here is going to download the Snapbug tones for me!

kuntasensei

The ones you mentioned are all good. The ART-351 is naturally the easiest to work with, but it is not a parametric EQ. However, what you ought to do is use the test tones to chart your frequency response first. If you see that the peaks on your chart are centered at the frequencies that the ART-351 has sliders for and that they're not very wide (i.e. not covering a large range of frequencies), you can probably get a very good result with an ART-351 (as I have, since my only real room problem was 50Hz). If, however, your peaks lie in between those available frequencies or you have a few very specific narrow peaks, the BFD is likely the best choice.

EricH

Originally posted by kuntasensei
The ones you mentioned are all good. The ART-351 is naturally the easiest to work with, but it is not a parametric EQ. However, what you ought to do is use the test tones to chart your frequency response first. If you see that the peaks on your chart are centered at the frequencies that the ART-351 has sliders for and that they're not very wide (i.e. not covering a large range of frequencies), you can probably get a very good result with an ART-351 (as I have, since my only real room problem was 50Hz). If, however, your peaks lie in between those available frequencies or you have a few very specific narrow peaks, the BFD is likely the best choice.

Thanks! I've heard that the graphic EQ's aren't precise enough, but you're right, I may not need precision.