Audyssey SEQ

[ned]

Any experience with this please share? Thanks.

 

[hclarkx]

Audyssey SEQ is the Sound Equalizer or "Sound EQ"

I presume Audyssey SEQ is a nick name for the free-standing 8 channel Sound Equalizer. I have had one for over a year. I thought I had a pretty good system until I tried it. It's amazing. If you are a casual listener and have a decent system, it's probably not worth the investment. But, if you want your sound to be impeccable ... and I mean flawless, you will enjoy it. The reviewers that say it's the best thing to come along in a long time (since the advent of stereo?) are right. I've been fooling with stereo and home theater and building my own speakers for 40 years and this thing blew me away. If you listen intently to your material, wanting to hear ever detail, having sounds come from where they should (in, say, an orchestra), then you will like the Sound EQ. I have Klipsch Reference 7 speakers and thought they were pretty good, but didn't realize what the room was doing to the sound until I got the Sound EQ. Last night watching U571 (testing a new subwoofer) I heard noises that weren't coming from any speaker. They came, for instance, from a point between the left main and the left surround. I'd read that the room correction this thing offers would do that and it sure does. Listening to 5 channel movies with well done 5 channel sound tracks is a whole new experience. Oh, and one other thing. I'd always had problems locating my subwoofer so that it would blend well with the mains rather than be identified as a separate sound source by my ears. Now I can put the subs most anywhere and they don't stand out as subs, the lows are just there where they belong. Oh,and one more thing. I no longer have to ask my wife "what did he say." Voices coming through the center channel are clearer (older ears .... mine are 66 .... don't distinguish between background sound and the voice nearly as well as younger ears and having a crystal clear voice from the center channel helps that a lot.

 

[pearsall001]

I've read very good things about the Audyssey products also. All the reviews pretty much say what your excellent post states. The only down side that I see is that you can't just buy the unit...you have to go thru a dealer network & have them come out & do all the set up. That looks like it would really jack up the cost. But it might well be worth it. I've been itching to give one a try myself. I'll have to look into it & maybe make the move.

 

[davidtwotrees]

Man, that's a pricey unit! Here is a link to a formum's classifieds. The Audessy SEQ with installers kit is $2300 US!

 

[AVRat]

Hey Ned, you've been around awhile, how about some pics of your setup in the members gallery.

 

[jcPanny]

Denon receivers

That Audyssey SEQ is pretty expensive. You might consider buying a new Denon or Onkyo receiver with similar Audyssey EQ functionality and spending $1-2k on room treatments.

 

[ned]

Hey Ned, you've been around awhile, how about some pics of your setup in the members gallery.

I've not really taken any decent photo of my HT. I'm in the process of converting into 2.35 cinemascope. As soon as I'm done, will take a couple. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[ned]

I presume Audyssey SEQ is a nick name for the free-standing 8 channel Sound Equalizer. I have had one for over a year. I thought I had a pretty good system until I tried it. It's amazing. If you are a casual listener and have a decent system, it's probably not worth the investment. But, if you want your sound to be impeccable ... and I mean flawless, you will enjoy it. The reviewers that say it's the best thing to come along in a long time (since the advent of stereo?) are right. I've been fooling with stereo and home theater and building my own speakers for 40 years and this thing blew me away. If you listen intently to your material, wanting to hear ever detail, having sounds come from where they should (in, say, an orchestra), then you will like the Sound EQ. I have Klipsch Reference 7 speakers and thought they were pretty good, but didn't realize what the room was doing to the sound until I got the Sound EQ. Last night watching U571 (testing a new subwoofer) I heard noises that weren't coming from any speaker. They came, for instance, from a point between the left main and the left surround. I'd read that the room correction this thing offers would do that and it sure does. Listening to 5 channel movies with well done 5 channel sound tracks is a whole new experience. Oh, and one other thing. I'd always had problems locating my subwoofer so that it would blend well with the mains rather than be identified as a separate sound source by my ears. Now I can put the subs most anywhere and they don't stand out as subs, the lows are just there where they belong. Oh,and one more thing. I no longer have to ask my wife "what did he say." Voices coming through the center channel are clearer (older ears .... mine are 66 .... don't distinguish between background sound and the voice nearly as well as younger ears and having a crystal clear voice from the center channel helps that a lot.

Who did you get it from? I would like to calibrate it myself since I'm changing setups all the time.

 

[ned]

That Audyssey SEQ is pretty expensive. You might consider buying a new Denon or Onkyo receiver with similar Audyssey EQ functionality and spending $1-2k on room treatments.

They are not the same, check their website for detail. I've been using room treatment since I've started building my HT. I'm simply moving on to the next level.

 

[hclarkx]

Not the same, but getting closer

They are not the same, check their website for detail. I've been using room treatment since I've started building my HT. I'm simply moving on to the next level.

The receivers indeed don't compete with the SEQ but they are getting closer and at lower prices than a year ago. For instance, a Denon 3808CI makes a pretty good poor-man's pre-pro and has some features that the SEQ does not. For instance, it has the ALFC that crams the full range EQ capability into the subwoofer range for ultra-high resolution sub EQ'ing and it has Dynamic EQ capability which lets you listen to movies at 85 db with the same psychoacoustic effects you get at the 105 db reference level. I've experienced that and it's amazing.

Unfortunately, in the Denon 3808CI and others with Dynamic EQ capability, you must pay a license fee and have an installer enable the Dynamic EQ and I think the ALFC also but the DynamicEQ is well worth the investment if you like movies and can't or don't want to crank the volume up to reference levels.

The SEQ could conceivably have ALFC someday because that's volume-independent, but DynamicEQ requires knowledge of the volume setting so doesn't work in a free-standing piece of equipment like the SEQ. The higher resolution of the SEQ is nice, but you'd have to have a good ear to tell the difference.

Harrison

 

[hclarkx]

Update & Correction on Denon 3808CI Audyssey Capability

Unfortunately, in the Denon 3808CI and others with Dynamic EQ capability, you must pay a license fee and have an installer enable the Dynamic EQ and I think the ALFC also but the DynamicEQ is well worth the investment if you like movies and can't or don't want to crank the volume up to reference levels.

The SEQ could conceivably have ALFC someday because that's volume-independent, but DynamicEQ requires knowledge of the volume setting so doesn't work in a free-standing piece of equipment like the SEQ. The higher resolution of the SEQ is nice, but you'd have to have a good ear to tell the difference.

Harrison

I've learned a little since the above post. The Denon 3808CI and 4308CI do have ALFC as delivered from the factory and so can perform high resolution sub EQ'ing. The extra cost professional install adds DynamicEQ and improved subwoofer-satellite blending. I was also wrong about the Sound EQ. It <u>does</u> have subwoofer ALFC as well as sub-satellite blending. ALFC is not mentioned in the Sound EQ write-up on the Audyssey web site but I've been assured that the Sound EQ does have it.

Harrison