EQ's

[Mark P Lee]

>On Sun, 6 Dec 1998, Laj Waldner wrote:
>
>=> has pretty good dynamics, "Cult Classic" sounds GREAT! One thing I find
>=> that really helps an album with low dynamics, is a good Equalizer. I
>=> bought a ten band Yamaha Equalizer about a year ago, and I was really
>=> surprised how much it helps. You should definitely look into buying one,
>=> especially if you listen to a lot of LP's, or older albums on CD. What
>
>As one who keeps the "tone defeat" button on his amp pressed firmly in,
>I shudder at the notion of "graphic equalisers," but I'm mellower than I
>once was, and realise everything has a place, and each to his or her
>own. ;-)
>
>I'm also firmly of the "improve at the source" philosophy of hi-fi (as
>opposed to "start at the speakers and work back" prevalent counter
>philosophy).  So, when it comes to remastering, what is paramount, IMHO,
>is working from the best available masters.

Thought I'd shove my two penn'orth in here.

I run Marantz separates (wish I could afford to spend more) from the mid
range of the Marantz catalogue, I found that I can 'alter' the sound to suit
me with this far easier than tweaking bass and treble or using tone defeat
buttons, I generally drop the levels above 15k down slightly, as most of
you are aware the sounds produced from about 17k are virtually inaudible
by humans anyway, it gives me a mellower sound, I find that as I run my
speakers on the floor (which is wood and is an upstairs flat) I get pretty
mean bass response anyway so no sub for me. Most hi-fi purists would
say that 'any' circuit between the source and output will lower the sound
quality in some way, hence the approach some have of not even looking
at amps etc which have remote controls etc. I tend to beleive that if it
sounds good to me thats what I like, everybody has their own opinion.
I played around with the EQ in such a way that when I run CD in
'direct' mode (no EQ) the sound is damn near identical, but appeared
to lack a little depth on my reference disc. I tried it with a 'virgin vinyl'
and got the same result.  All i need now is about 100ukp per metre
for the interconnects to make a difference. (oops, slipped into
audiophile mode there).

Cheers, Mark.