Using graphic EQ with modern receiver?

T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
It would work, but it is not necessary. Receivers have Eq. Really though there should be absolutely no need for Eq. Heavy handed use of Eq, is a really bad idea, and a good way to damage speakers, especially tweeters. Graphic equalizers, except to archive very old vintage material have had their day. In other aspects using those old graphic Eqs is bad practice.
Years ago (decades if I’m honest) I helped out in the sound booth at my church. They had a huge plexiglass cover with a padlock over the eq section of the mixing board. I still remember being sad when they stuffed the drummer in a sound booth and took all the guitar amps off the stage.
 
M

Merkules2001

Audioholic
All the guys here will tell you to use the built in eq in the new receiver. I however strongly disagree with the claim of some if the folks on here. Built in sounds flat, component external eq boosts the quality to my ears. I have listened to Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz, Harmon Karon, Onkyo, Kenwood, Denon, Jvc, Fisher. Avr, Amp separated, Bluetooth, Cd, Streaming, tape, live, phono, etc. 2 channel, vs x.1, x.x.x whatever... It all sounds better through a graphic equalizer. Get your rca splitter and keep the gear. 400 can get you a really bad ass receiver of you are willing to buy pre-owned. The Denon or Yamaha these guys bought 4 years ago will be possible. A 4 or 5 year old Ferrari is still a Ferrari. In fact one of these guys probably is dying to go buy a new one, get his x3400h and rock it.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
All the guys here will tell you to use the built in eq in the new receiver. I however strongly disagree with the claim of some if the folks on here. Built in sounds flat, component external eq boosts the quality to my ears. I have listened to Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz, Harmon Karon, Onkyo, Kenwood, Denon, Jvc, Fisher. Avr, Amp separated, Bluetooth, Cd, Streaming, tape, live, phono, etc. 2 channel, vs x.1, x.x.x whatever... It all sounds better through a graphic equalizer. Get your rca splitter and keep the gear. 400 can get you a really bad ass receiver of you are willing to buy pre-owned. The Denon or Yamaha these guys bought 4 years ago will be possible. A 4 or 5 year old Ferrari is still a Ferrari. In fact one of these guys probably is dying to go buy a new one, get his x3400h and rock it.
LOL. You have listened to brands, wow, that's impressive.
 
M

Merkules2001

Audioholic
LOL been doing it probably longer than you've been alive, but good luck with your sound by brand schtick :)
Arguing with you with be exactly what you are looking to do. So, have a nice day. Keep on telling people your wrong opinions.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
One of the guys here will tell you to go ahead and use that eq. I however strongly disagree with the claim of that one person on here. Those old graphic eq's sound flat, built in eq boosts the quality to my ears. I have listened to Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz, Harmon Karon, Onkyo, Kenwood, Denon, Jvc, Fisher. Avr, Amp separated, Bluetooth, Cd, Streaming, tape, live, phono, etc. 2 channel, vs x.1, x.x.x whatever... It all sounds better without a graphic equalizer. Dump your rca splitter and ditch that gear. 400 can get you a really bad ass receiver of you are willing to buy pre-owned, but may be lacking some necessary features so make sure it has what you need before buying.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Arguing with you with be exactly what you are looking to do. So, have a nice day. Keep on telling people your wrong opinions.
LOL how can opinions be wrong particularly.....they're f*cking opinions!

ps If anything, your opinion that brands have uniform "sound signatures" is an even worse opinion :) Good luck with your golden ears, tho
 
M

Merkules2001

Audioholic
LOL how can opinions be wrong particularly.....they're f*cking opinions!

ps If anything, your opinion that brands have uniform "sound signatures" is an even worse opinion :) Good luck with your golden ears, tho
The Dunning-Kruger effect. Take a look at the definition, and see if it applies to you. I don't know everything, but I know this applies to you.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
The Dunning-Kruger effect. Take a look at the definition, and see if it applies to you. I don't know everything, but I know this applies to you.
Am well aware of the DK effect. I suspect it's relevance is lost on your posting, tho. Your subjective opinion is yours, hard to share.
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
All the guys here will tell you to use the built in eq in the new receiver. I however strongly disagree with the claim of some if the folks on here. Built in sounds flat, component external eq boosts the quality to my ears. I have listened to Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz, Harmon Karon, Onkyo, Kenwood, Denon, Jvc, Fisher. Avr, Amp separated, Bluetooth, Cd, Streaming, tape, live, phono, etc. 2 channel, vs x.1, x.x.x whatever... It all sounds better through a graphic equalizer. Get your rca splitter and keep the gear. 400 can get you a really bad ass receiver of you are willing to buy pre-owned. The Denon or Yamaha these guys bought 4 years ago will be possible. A 4 or 5 year old Ferrari is still a Ferrari. In fact one of these guys probably is dying to go buy a new one, get his x3400h and rock it.
How were these built in EQs configured? The built in EQs are parametric equalizers which allows one to configure not only the volume but the Q of the signals. One has much more control over the signal compared to level only graphic equalizers. I bet that everyone you listened to was either misconfigured or not engaged at all.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Depends on the receiver....some have graphic eqs, some parametric....then to compare them without specific frequencies and shape of bandwidth (Q) on graphic eqs can be hard as they can be different from one another. Adjustable parametric eq would have much more user flexibility....

How were these built in EQs configured? The built in EQs are parametric equalizers which allows one to configure not only the volume but the Q of the signals. One has much more control over the signal compared to level only graphic equalizers. I bet that everyone you listened to was either misconfigured or not engaged at all.
 
EthicalEar

EthicalEar

Junior Audioholic
Hi all. I want to replace my aging Harman Kardon HK 3370 with a new receiver. But l use an EQ and can't find a new receiver with the tape monitor loop. l think l figured how to use the EQ without it. First, get a preamp for my turntable so it doesn't need to be connected to a phono input with a ground. Then get a 6 or 8 input audio/video switch with RCA jacks to connect the outputs of my turntable, CD player, DVD recorder, CD recorder, and cassette deck. Go out from the switch to the receiver's Aux input. That should EQ all playback sources. l know l wouldn't be able to EQ AM and FM from the tuner, but that's ok. And to EQ recordings, connect the EQ line out to the CD recorder and cassette deck's input. Would that work? Can someone verify that? lf it works, l just need a receiver with subwoofer outputs because l have a subwoofer.
Isn't a Tape Monitor Loop only for Tape Out control jacks? Not sure. If your getting a new receiver You probably won't find any Tape Out jacks anymore. Sorry if I don't understand your need for that. I would also never use a Cassette deck ever again. Try recording digitally or streaming. Look at Bluesound Powernode 3 as an example. You can stream practically anything you've recorded off radio or CD or Vinyl at a much better quality than you have now and completely replaces your Receiver. You can plug your speakers right into it. However if you must do cassettes for some reason, such as where you are in the world, I suggest something like NAD C 316BEE V2 with Built-in Phono Stage and multiple device inputs. Price for that approaches $500.00 is one of the least expensive I could see, not knowing your budget but noting what receiver you have now. It does have Internal Equalization but nothing to actually play with (adjusting to your preferences). So you could integrate an external EQ to it. Regarding all the EQ rhetoric in this post, I added a Schiit Loki 4 band EQ to my Phono stage to play with. I'm sure it's nothing like what your EQ is but just saying I like EQ also. Why? #1) because I'm an Audioholic and can't stop doing something to adjust sound. #2) Because my older vinyl may need adjusting depending on the Band. Some is devoid of bass, some buries the guitar or keys behind the bass because the guy who helped mix it was the bassist and he wanted to hear himself more. I've been in recording studios and know that poor or bias production shouldn't have to be considered the final version that you must listen to because it was recorded that way. I find the external EQ is essential to the enjoyment of my vinyl. I don't want to EQ through my receiver equipment because it's set perfect for Movies, SACD's, CD's and and Digital streaming. So you may want to consider just EQ for phono. External EQ anything else with today's equipment doesn't make sense to me. #3) If my speakers or receiver sucked, which they don't in my opinion, an external EQ could make up for lack of bass or treble or other frequencies in your own equipment. So while arguing the need for or against EQ is indeed opinionated, the only opinion that matters is how your stuff sounds to you. #4 As my ears get older, tweaking some vocals help me hear the words clearer. The better my equipment, the more vocals I can hear without reading lyric sheets. Vocal Stacking and every layer of harmonies is now so clear, whereas before I never knew that much was there. Hope you get a good receiver and continue to utilize your EQ!
 
M

Merkules2001

Audioholic
How were these built in EQs configured? The built in EQs are parametric equalizers which allows one to configure not only the volume but the Q of the signals. One has much more control over the signal compared to level only graphic equalizers. I bet that everyone you listened to was either misconfigured or not engaged at all.
You would have lost your bet. They were set equal to make it fair. You can attack the method, but the test was given to others blind to see which was the best. We were there, saw it lived it. Have you tried your current receiver with one? Or are you just accepting what they give you, because new is better?
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
You would have lost your bet. They were set equal to make it fair. You can attack the method, but the test was given to others blind to see which was the best. We were there, saw it lived it. Have you tried your current receiver with one? Or are you just accepting what they give you, because new is better?
Not enough information in your post to make any sense of it. What was made equal? On what specific receivers did you test and what equalizers did you use?
 
M

Merkules2001

Audioholic
Not enough information in your post to make any sense of it. What was made equal? On what specific receivers did you test and what equalizers did you use?
Enough information is exactly given, that you and others would shoot down the idea. You and everyone else who chimed in, proved my point. You are just waiting to prove someone wrong. Tell me your reasoning that another opinion is incorrect. You mad at the world?
 

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