I called Dr. EQ and Frank was kind enough to make a house call (thank you very much Frank).
Frank sat down and listened to my system and I knew he was hearing what my problem areas were (in relative terms - splashy highs, bass that wasn't as deep or impactful as it should be (no subs, just the 40's in 2 channel), and imaging that wasn't razor sharp).
We talked for a bit about what could be casuing this (speaker placement, room treatment, etc...) and then Frank put in his Behringer 8024 to do some RTA. Well, as I have stated in the past, the numbers weren't pretty. I had some big peaks and nulls. Frank started playing specific tones and the speakers started making some not so happy sounds. At first I thought something was broken, but Frank explained that the distortion we were hearing was most likely being caused by room placement. He asked if the speakers and/or the listening position could be moved around.
Frank moved the speakers back towards the front corners. I was very skeptical at first. I thought speakers didn't like to be near room boundaries like that...Frank asked that I keep an open mind and to give a listen. Well the 40's finally played deep bass with authority. After running through the RTA program, it was clear that the 40's were producing a strong signal down to 20Hz (hmmm, maybe I won't need the Larger subs for 2 channel after all)!
Now that the bass was good, it was time to tackle the midrange and highs. From taking more measurements, it was clear my sitting position was in a null for some midrange and high frequencies (at the new speaker position), so that got moved up. Better, but still not good enough. Next we tried changing some of the room treatments around. Some small improvements, but still not there. Finally, Frank decided to try mounting 3" foam strips on either side of the midrange/tweeter. This really made a big impact in terms of reducing the reflections and cleaning up the sound. A byproduct of that change, was that I now had to turn up the L-pads significantly to get things balanced (finally the tweaky nature of the 40's was paying off!). More RTA tests showed that I was getting "pretty close" to a flat response.
Well, when we listened to the system after this couple of hours of moving things around it, it was a whole new ballgame. For the first time I was truly getting great bass and good clarity (it was good before, but never this good). As good as this was, it was much better when the EQ was engaged. In order to engage the EQ for music, we ran the digital out of the transport into 8024. From the 8024 we ran the digital out to the digital in of my dac. This way all EQ functions were in the digital, not analog domain.
Before today I thought EQ's were something that people in high end audio didn't use. I also thought they could only mess up the sound, not make it better.
I COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG!!!
By inserting an under $200 piece of gear + some patch cords, I was able to greatly improve the sound of my system. EACH time we engaged the 8024, the sound was better!! It didn't become clinical or less musical. In fact, it was just the opposite. By cleaning things up, I can hear more details than ever. This allowed me to enjoy the music more than before.
This listening session with Frank was very humbling and enlightening. I encourage others to think a little outside the box and try some different placements of their speakers and listening chair. You also MUST TRY some form of room/speaker correction. If you spend time properly positioning things, the amount of EQ that will need to be done should be relatively small, but significant. This afternoon taught me that the EQ isn't a "cure all", instead it is yet another important tool to be used in getting the most from your system (like room treatments, power conditioning, etc...).
Other members here have been lucky enough to hear Frank's system and everybody who has heard it, says they were blown away. After seeing and hearing what Frank did in 3 hours at my place, I can't wait till I get to visit.
Thanks again Frank for helping out and teaching me some very important lessons.
George
