I am still evaluating AV Receivers and have a question. Most everything that I am looking at will come with mic for room EQ.

In general, how good is the built in equalization routine for current receivers nowadays? Looking at JVC/Denon/Yamaha/NAD/Pioneer.

Should I get an external EQ like the Behringer DEQ2496 involved to setup the room and then set the receiver up accordingly?

Thanks in advance everyone :)

Why spend money until you are sure? Some of the room EQ systems work fine and you can decide, before investing in a Behringer or other stand-alone EQ, whether it suits you.

Why spend money until you are sure? Some of the room EQ systems work fine and you can decide, before investing in a Behringer or other stand-alone EQ, whether it suits you.

Just curious to see what people noticed between built in setup routine on the receiver and then setting up with an EQ.

I am assuming that the built in routines are pretty darn good...

As ever, it depends on the specifics.

Most room EQ's on receivers do not EQ the sub (definatley true for my Denon model). In general, the outboard EQ is used for the sub and the onboard EQ is for the other 7 channels.

It's just not practical trying to EQ all 7 channels with outboard gear as most AVR's don't give you a loop to insert the EQ in - you'd need insert the EQ between the preouts and an external amp which means buying an external amp and 8 two channel EQ's. Not to mention since your dealing with about 16,000 frequecies above the crossover you can't cover much ground with any EQ. In my opinion for getting flat response in the surrounds its better to treat the room (if possible) than try to EQ.

My Denon's onboard EQ is OK but not outstanding. It has a parametric EQ that can only be set by running the auto setup routine and it can not be modified later. You can choose to go to manual mode but the manual EQ is graphic and it only gives I think 8 channels at +/- 6db to play with.