Parametric EQ suggestions

I would consider a few options.


Yamaha RX-V4600 or RX-V2600 receiver with 7 band eq on each channel except subwoofer. Quality DSP in digital domain eliminating extra A/D and D/A conversion.


Three Rane PE-17's for mains only.


Not sure what a "reasonable" price is, but these are options.

Video,


You might consider an AVR with Audissey MultEQ, as that povides useful correction with reduced adjustment complexity. It's a better solution than a graphic EQ can provide.


The Behringer Ultracurve is a 2-ch 10-band parametric, $300-$400 -ish. Seems to have a loyal following.

Roger,


I am not very impressed with what I have heard with the Audissey system in clients homes. The Meridian approach is the only automated one that I have liked so far.

Behringer Ultra worked well for me in subwoofer chain. Better than my Meridian's automated setup for this application.


It had a bit of a nasal stridency, sort of like a compressed mp3 hardness, when used in the front speaker chain. I had it modded by Reference Audio Mods and it's now more than acceptable as a front channel parametric tone control.


I've also used Rane's analog gear, which is better than the non modded Behringer gear but not high end audiophile transparent by any means.

UMR,


I wouldn't disagree about Meridian, except it probably fails to meet the definition of reasonably priced.


And I like analog EQ too (am using a modded SAE Mark VII graphic in L/R and Rane in Ls/Rs and sub), but these are not parametric, which would be preferred if one is taming room resonances/colorations.


Maybe it would be best to install the AV system, live with it, tweak the speaker locations and room treatment, and see if you can get away with no EQ at all.

I agree about parametric EQ. All of my original suggestions were parametric solutions. Those Yamaha recievers are great values with 7 bands of parametric EQ on each channel except for the LFE.


Most people never consider EQ and just live with whatever problems they have. I have not seen a single surround system in a home that would not benefit from EQ and I work on about 5 a week.

Go to Rane's website and look up their parametric equalizers. Their gear is stellar. PE 17 in particular would be well suited to EQing bass range of mains as it does not suffer processing time delays. Too bad their THX44 was discontinued. They have an RPM88 but I don't know much about it. You might want to check with Rane's excellent Tech support as to which of their products would best suit your needs.

It might be more cost effective to use a B&K Reference 50 processor. It offers 3 parametric notch filters for frequencies below 300 Hz, which should be more than enough. In the rare instance you need more PE filters, you could use an SMS-1 or Rane PE-17 for the subwoofer channel and devote the B&K's three filters to the mains.

Most importantly, I would avoid cheaper auto eq room correction receivers like the plague.


Tumara Baap

I had a similar question a while back - maybe this thread will help

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=560372


I ended up with the Symetrix 551E for the subs and I use a $100 CDN Behringer PEQ for the centre which works much better than the RANE PE15 which was noisy as heck.

I used a pair of Rane THX 44 parramterics..Nice EQs.


However, I upgraded to the far more flexible QSC DSP EQs (I use 4 DSP-4 EQs and 1 DSP-30 EQ).


They are fantastic parametric EQs and easy to use. All settings are done on the laptop.


They run $400 to $600 each (all are 2 channel)

RANE PE 17 offers excellent performance for the money, especially the used units sold on ebay. Very easy to setup as well