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One more question about graphic equalisers.
Do those people in cars with those enormous bass producing speakers in their trunk, or wherever, use graphic equalisers ?
Speaking about *bass* sound.
We have a three year old grandson who seems to be interested in music more that the rest of the grand kids, simply because he is always *tingle-tangling* on our piano.
When he listens to music on our *music system*, (he knows how to turn it on, and we let him), he always turns up the individual knob on the woofer, to all the way up for mare bass sound.
When we turn it back down, he comes right over and turns it back up ...
I hope he does not grow up like those people in the cars I mentioned above ...
A lot of times, people with those types of systems are only about bass - no treble or mids, so just a low-pass filter is needed. Go to youtube and see db drag racing. It is all about moving air, sound pressure levels and dB. In fact, oftime, no one is even allowed inside these vehicles while the competition is occurring, and in some vehicles there isn't even a seat anymore. So you can end up people wanting to emulate the "sport." For them, it has nothing to do with music, as music played on these systems are completely indistiguishable as to what you're listening and sounds horrible. However, I have a small 10" sub in my trunk but it is well integrated with the stock stereo system that it puts a nice bottom end on anything I play, from classical, jazz, movie soundtracks, such as Appllo 13 or Gladiator.
Autosound "bass heads" use any number of techniques to generate big, overpowering bass in their vehicles. But I think the typicall amateur effort simply has a very big subwoofer with a powerful amplifier, and the bass control turned up. You don't need an EQ for big bass.
I use parametric EQ in my vehicle. I calibrate it using a microphone and test tones. But the car environment is prone to very strong acoustic effects due to standing waves and reflections. So EQ, properly used, can be very effective in a car.
Re: child's preference for bass. My kids didn't show that behavior when they were young. But I think younger people, especially boys, just like bass because they can feel it. I liked Led Zeppelin from a jukebox when I was a teen because it was boomy and thick sounding. I don't like it so much now that way.
Not so much a "computer" question but there's no general Electronics forum and this was the closest I could find.
So anyway, what happened to graphic equalizers on stereo receivers? I miss being able to fine-tune the sound output. With everything now back to a "treble" knob and "bass" knob I feel like we've gone back to the 1970s.
I'm an audiophile - good equipment doesn't need fine tuning as it's made to sound right from the start! The best audio gear doesn't have tone controls it should sound FLAT (my £900 musical fidelity amplifier only has volume, source switching and a power button for instance). What use graphic equalisers are outside of the studio or pro audio environment I don't know. Tone controls have their uses when fine tuning bright/bass heavy recordings, but then again on high end gear those recordings are usually unlistenable anyway.
Last edited by archineer; 01-17-2012 at 06:36 PM..
I have seen a few stereo related threads in the hobbies and recreation forum.
Those cheesy 5 or 7 band graphic equilizers integrated into the receivers on those big box 'rack' systems that I saw sold in the 80s, were as others have stated, more bells and whistles than anything else, even though they were functional. When GEs were sold with speakers, as in the Blose 901 speakers, they were needed because the speakers alone sounded horrible, revealing the huge shortcomings of the speakers. I have an ADCOM system from the mid 80s, that while there are tone controls, there is the option of bypassing that entire circuit. In fact, if your speakers are good enough, and you don't have any radical room effects to worry about, GEs are completely superfluous, as you want to run your system flat (FR) because your speakers are so good and don't need it. GEs have their place in PRO-Audio setups used in clubs, concert halls, and other large venues. I suppose that the desire for a home audio system to be thought of as better than my neighbors' is that it looks so pro with a GE, so it's got to be better. Pro is better than amateur, right?
Perhaps lost in this whole "why, if you had superior equipment you wouldn't need a hokey graphic equalizer" snobbery is the fact that some people have experienced hearing loss at certain frequencies. I'm among them. A couple years of factory work was all it took.
I have a pair of Canton Fonum 501s. I'd still like to be able to fine-tune the tone of the signal.
Perhaps lost in this whole "why, if you had superior equipment you wouldn't need a hokey graphic equalizer" snobbery is the fact that some people have experienced hearing loss at certain frequencies. I'm among them. A couple years of factory work was all it took.
I have a pair of Canton Fonum 501s. I'd still like to be able to fine-tune the tone of the signal.
Don't take it as snobbery so much as understanding the marketing of lower end audio equipment. Did you ever wonder why Blose is only sold by their own dealers or that if sold by other retailers, they must demo them in their own room so as not to be able to do direct comparisons to other systems? There's a reason. For $200 you could build your own pair from a kit that would sound better than what you can get at those big box stores. However if you have hearing loss and need to amplify cetain frequencies to get a flat response to your brain, then yeah, GEs would be very beneficial.
Don't take it as snobbery so much as understanding the marketing of lower end audio equipment . . .
While I made it appear I was singling out your comment in particular, that wasn't my intention. But considering the condescension dripping from some responses, I don't think it's too far out of bounds to take some of it as snobbery.
While I made it appear I was singling out your comment in particular, that wasn't my intention. But considering the condescension verily dripping from some responses, I don't think it's too far out of bounds to take some of it as snobbery.
Just purchased a home theatre and not sure if it's the norm but like the home theatre I see a lot of systems that let you pick preselected choices based on what you're using it for. Bass, natural, voice, gaming etc.
Having said that buried in the on screen menu was option for equalizer.
What if you just like to tweak and fiddle with the EQ? When I was a teenager I had an old Amplifier/EQ/tuner setup with some old speakers that I got all at a pawn shop or scavenged in peoples basements/shops/ etc and bartered for. I always liked tweaking and fiddling with the EQ to get it to where it sounded best to me. I'm also pretty musically diverse, I'll listen to most anything that isn't country or rap.
That being said while you might turn up the bass a touch for some heavy metal, (Kicking it up just a touch for Anasthesia makes that opening bass solo sound kinda cool) you might also want to turn it down for some more synthesized music that tends to be a little heavy on the bass. Then again, you might want to push that bass up to the fine line between as loud as possible and distorting because you don't have $2,000 speakers to send a message to the neighbors who are having a shouting match next door.
As a side note if you run an all in one electric guitar amp/eq for hobby playing and want a crunchy metal-ey sound, treble up bass up midrange down low and max distortion gets you close.
I too read a lot of snobbery into the responses here, apparently classifying anything that could possibly be enjoyed by someone else but isn't to their taste as "noise" and anything that has an EQ and doesn't cost a million bucks as a cheap gimmicky system.
To answer the original question as to WHY they don't have Equalizers anymore, I would opine that it's because everything is trending towards simpler and or automated these days. Because clearly a machine can tell you how music sounds best FAR more accurately than your own ears. The same way it seems to be getting harder to get a car with a manual transmission these days. I want to turn it on and go, I don't want to learn anything extra, adjust anything, or be FORCED to choose things.
What if you just like to tweak and fiddle with the EQ?
My cousin is audiophile or as I like to refer to him the audio snob. $20K sound system and the eq was flat. His take on it and I beleive it's the same for most of these people is you're supposed to listen to it as the artist/engineer intended.
Having said that I enjoy turning up the bass myself.
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That being said while you might turn up the bass a touch for some heavy metal, (Kicking it up just a touch for Anasthesia makes that opening bass solo sound kinda cool)
It's not a solo but I love the bass throughout Children of the Grave from the Reunion disc.
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$20K sound system and the eq was flat. His take on it and I beleive it's the same for most of these people is you're supposed to listen to it as the artist/engineer intended.
