Suits_me...I bought this thing as a RTA only, and noone can fault it in this role at this price. I can still bypass it in favor of my analog parametric equalizers, but at least on first listening it sounds fine full range. Where is this "common scuttlebutt" to be found? Are you sure that we are talking about the same unit? The older model DSP8024(currently selling for $180) has the same functions, but runs at a sample rate of only 48KHz, and sports 31 bands for RTA and EQ instead of 61.
Review: Behringer DEQ2496 Equalizer
Category: Preamps
I mostly listen to classical music, but occasionally everything except rock pop and rap.
I am a sucker for spatial sense, and an effortless sound during loud passages. Note the elaborate subwoofer system and many watts of amplifier power.
Intermodulation distortion drives me nuts. Unfortunately this is often from mics used for vocalists, and can't be eliminated on playback.
I have just installed this unit, and it replaces nothing.
When set flat, or with its BYPASS mode engaged, I can detect no change in sonics. Its purpose is room equalization, and its effect will be whatever the benefits of room equalization are.
I did not go shopping for an equalizer: I have three channels of pure analog parametric equalization capability. What I wanted was a RTA, and this is one of few available other than Pro units costing several grand.
It costs only $340, and the associated mic and cable will set you back another $70 or so. It was my intention to bypass this unit once I determined the appropriate settings for the analog equalizers, but I now think that this is probably unnecessary, but it remains an option for digiphobics. This Behringer model uses 24bit 96KHz AD/DA converters, and I think some Floating Point processors for the DSP job. Very impressive. (An older model is being sold off cheap: it has less resolution). The unit has many capabilities beyond the EQ and RTA functions, but it would be worth the money for the RTA alone. You can download the owner's manual from the website. It looks complicated, but once you have the unit and play around with the controls is it all very easy. It is ruggedly built, (as prosound equipment must be) with well laid out controls, and, IMHO, an attractive addition to the equipment rack.
I auditioned the unit in the 2-channel bypass mode of the prepro.
This is a very nice toy, and cheap enough to gain easy spousal approval.
Associated gear
Denon 2900 with Underwood mod
Rotel 1066 PrePro
Ashley electronic crossover
3 CarverPro ZR1600 power amps biamped for front speakers
3 Magneplanar MG1.6
3 multidriver custom subwoofer systems
Similar products
N/A
I mostly listen to classical music, but occasionally everything except rock pop and rap.
I am a sucker for spatial sense, and an effortless sound during loud passages. Note the elaborate subwoofer system and many watts of amplifier power.
Intermodulation distortion drives me nuts. Unfortunately this is often from mics used for vocalists, and can't be eliminated on playback.
I have just installed this unit, and it replaces nothing.
When set flat, or with its BYPASS mode engaged, I can detect no change in sonics. Its purpose is room equalization, and its effect will be whatever the benefits of room equalization are.
I did not go shopping for an equalizer: I have three channels of pure analog parametric equalization capability. What I wanted was a RTA, and this is one of few available other than Pro units costing several grand.
It costs only $340, and the associated mic and cable will set you back another $70 or so. It was my intention to bypass this unit once I determined the appropriate settings for the analog equalizers, but I now think that this is probably unnecessary, but it remains an option for digiphobics. This Behringer model uses 24bit 96KHz AD/DA converters, and I think some Floating Point processors for the DSP job. Very impressive. (An older model is being sold off cheap: it has less resolution). The unit has many capabilities beyond the EQ and RTA functions, but it would be worth the money for the RTA alone. You can download the owner's manual from the website. It looks complicated, but once you have the unit and play around with the controls is it all very easy. It is ruggedly built, (as prosound equipment must be) with well laid out controls, and, IMHO, an attractive addition to the equipment rack.
I auditioned the unit in the 2-channel bypass mode of the prepro.
This is a very nice toy, and cheap enough to gain easy spousal approval.
Associated gear
Denon 2900 with Underwood mod
Rotel 1066 PrePro
Ashley electronic crossover
3 CarverPro ZR1600 power amps biamped for front speakers
3 Magneplanar MG1.6
3 multidriver custom subwoofer systems
Similar products
N/A
Showing 14 responses by eldartford
M297904...It appears that Behringer has replaced all their digital processors with 96KHz devices, instead of the 48KHz units used in earlier models. It was out of a slight concern for high frequency performance that I spent the extra $150 for the DEQ2496 over the DSP8024. 19.2KHz is as high as most folk can hear, and well beyond my hearing, and the 96KHz sampling rate is five times this frequency. And 24 bits equals the resolution of the best source material. Believe me I gave this some thought, and I do have pure analog parametric equalizers if I want to use them. The reasons I offered this review are (1) Excellent RTA and (2) Parametric equalizer, dispite being digital, sounds fine. I realize that I am not being PC :-) |
Snofun3...This thing is clean as clean can be. Too many specs to quote, but S/N is 113 dB, and THD is 0.007%. Go to www.behringer.com for all the details. Some room treatment is a good idea, but an active equalizer is much more effective for room resonance below 350 Hz or so. Also, the RTA will enable you to quickly and accurately evaluate changes you might make in passive room treatments. I just spent the day playing with it. WOW!!!! I never realized what room equalization can do. And the RTA (61 bands) is infinitely better than a test disc and a RS meter. And the automatic equalization process is fascinating to watch. You can do Left and Right channels separately, so they each have their own equalization. In my case this made a big difference. The LF equalizer that I was using before (Audio Control Richter Scale) had ganged controls. |
The usefulness of the RTA continues to amaze me. 1...I have explored the effects of different SW crossover frequencies. 2...I discovered that one of my six subwoofer drivers got wired up backwards (recent wire rerouting). 3...I discovered that the rear speakers had a large LF (below 200 Hz) boom. (Ported...what should I expect). Like many rear speakers, mine are not optimally located: they are high up in a bookshelf alcove. The boom itself was not that noticable, because you are never sure what ought to be coming out of the rear speakers, but it seriously disrupted SPL matching between front and rear speakers. I fixed the boom using my old LF Richter Scale equalizer, readjusted the SPL balance, and the improvement was large. 4...The parametric equalizer that I am presently using for the center front speaker has five bands plus high and low shelving filters, but, dispite about an hour of work, it does not enable the flat response that the DEQ2494 achieves in about 90 seconds of completely automatic room equalization. I tell you guys, buy one, even if it is just to measure how your speaker placement and room treatment is doing. I expect that after you hear your system with the EQ in you won't want to bypass it. If this isn't enough, the price is down to $300, and even $250 for B stock. |
Suits_me..."Monatonic" is a term applied to digital A/D converters, meaning that an increase in analog input always results in an increased digital output (it never "falls back"). I think you must mean "continuous". You would need to hear it with your own ears, but this is not your father's digital gear. And the way it makes all your other gear sound better is the payoff. |
[email protected] did buy a second one for my rear channels. In addition to generally improving the sound by eliminating all the room resonances, I found that level matching of my multichannel system was much improved. Apparently the response humps were throwing off the SPL measurements. I find that the autoequalization works fine for the LF range right down to 20 Hz. |
Suits_me...In a digital system, quantization error (Plus or minus half a bit) is the same for small signal as for large, so if you express it as a percent of the signal it is maximized for small signals. Just to be "Fair and Balanced" hum and noise, and in the case of vinyl, surface noise, which afflict analog circuits more than digital, is also constant, and if expressed as a percentage of signal would also be maximized for small signals. I cannot hear any problem when my digital recordings go through quiet passages, but with vinyl, for most if not all people, quiet passages are a problem...well a minor annoyance. |
Suits_me...Whatever...But I must take note of your comment about digital volume controls. If you think that they work by "dropping bits" you have been sucked into a common falacy. A properly-designed digital volume control works like a stepped attenuator (which everyone knows is superior to a pot), except that the mechanical switch contacts are replaced by electronic switches. But there are pots that a good too. We waste too much time arguing, often in a dogmatic way, about details of little importance. Cinematic_syst...I saw a writeup on a miniaturized A/D that mounts with the phono pickup right on the arm. It does the RIAA equalization with a digital filter. The sampling rate was several hundred sps. Experimental at this point. But, why bother? |
Sogood51...The DCX2496 is obviously of the same family as the DEQ2496, and I would expect it to be a fine unit. I considered it, mostly because it can do three channels. However, it has many features that are not relevant to home audio, and it looks a bit complicated to set up. For a crossover, I believe in the good old L-R 24 dB design that is easily implemented in analog circuitry. I bought a 4-channel Ashley X/O, and am very happy with it. Marchand electronics also sells good basic crossovers, at reasonable cost. I have used their stuff. The DEQ2496 is functionally different. It is a more capable equalizer. It gives you a 61 band real time display as well as the equalization functions, graphic and parametric. It also has an automatic equalization feature (using a mic that is purchased separately). This is neat. It is only 2 channel. Go to the www.behringer.com website, where you can download the owner's manual, and decide what to do. |
Smeyers...Go to www.referenceaudiomods.com. The "basic" mod ($400) would be the usual analog things like Op amps, capacitors, diodes, etc. Superclock ($295) would affect the digital stuff. The basic power supply changes will also help digital, but they offer a further power supply upgrade ($225) targeted at the DACs. Finally, for the "ultimate" you get exotic Swiss-made audio transformers, connected directly to the DACs for the outputs, ($600). If you bought everything the damage would be $1520. Add the cost of the stock Behringer and microphone ($350) and you are up to $1870. But this is still a low cost item in the world of high end audio. Don't forget that the DEQ2496 sounds darned good in stock form. One consideration which is important for best results is to make sure that the signal level going through the DEQ2496 is high enough to benefit from the 24 bit digital converters. I suggest that users get this right before investing many bucks in modifications. The DEQ2496 has LEDs to indicate input signal level so it easy to tell how you are doing in this regard. The typical home audio power amplifier gain will need to be reduced using its level control, or if it has no level control, by fixed attenuators. |
In case anyone is reading this thread, here is how I answered Mingles by E-Mail. (He had contacted me directly because his posting seemed to have gotten lost). . First of all, you shouldn't assume that only the LF needs equalization. If you are truly biamping (using an electronic crossover) the equalizer would go between the crossover and the LF power amp. If you are just using two amps you can put the equalizer in between the preamp and the LF amp. Unless you run the whole frequency range through the Behringer the automatic equalization won't work. It would be trying to fix the awful HF roll off caused by the crossover. The autoeq is particularly good if you are biamping because it will clean up any gain mismatch and any anomalies of frequency response around the X/O frequency. One mic is all you need...use the Behringer one made to go with this unit. Don't forget you need to buy a mic cable also |
Mingles...Just because the thing is capable of so many different functions (it won't prepare your tax return) you don't need to do them all. Some which are valuable for a live performance setup have no application to home audio. My units (I have three for a multichannel system) were set up once (actually several times) and once set I never need to touch them. I agree that the instruction manual is complex, but that just reflects the unit itself. I have found that once I get the hang of it operation is quite straightforward. |