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Question regarding using Juicy Music Peach preamp with a Behringer 31 band graphic EQ


waverly

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Hi Guys,

I am setting up my 2 channel system and i pulled out the old Juicy Music Peach preamp that i had bought ages ago, i recently had it serviced about a year and a half ago by Mark Deneen. I has been sitting in the box since then and i thought what the heck, lets put it to good use. I ordered a Behringer 31 band graphic EQ from Amazon and a Emotiva UPA-200 2 channel amplifier for it.

My question is what is the best way to integrate the EQ into the system? Which outputs should i use on the Peach and what settings should the settings on the Peach be set to, such as LoZ, HiZ, etc.... to best integrate the preamp to the EQ. I am using B&W DM-1800 book shelf speakers. I am also going to run a Sony 10" subwoofer in the system as well, i want to use the summed subwoofer ouput on the Equalizer to hook it up to a Sony WA-2500 subwoofer, I ordered 1/4" TS to RCA adapters to connect the interconnects to the EQ's input and outputs and I ordered a RCA male to female XLR rca cable for the subwoofer.

Here is the link to the EQ that i purchased : http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/FBQ3102.aspx

Here is the Amplifier : http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/upa200

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Whats up Craig! long time no hear my friend, i remember the many amps that you have serviced for me in the past. The Dynaco Mark III's, the Scott mono amps, Scott 2 channel amps. I am glad that you are still in business and still doing your magic after all these years.

I have a room that is 11' x 12' x 9' ceiling and i analyzed the room with my RTA and FFT analyzer playing pink noise and there is a strong room mode at 50hz and a node at 70hz or so, i have played with placement and it doesnt seem to fix it. Plus, i want to play with an EQ and really tune the system to the room using the FFT analyzer, i want to "cut my teeth" as they would say and really shape the sound perfectly to the acoustics of the room.

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I have owned a Peach for many years and tried interfacing it a few times with some different Pro Audio components like what you are doing. Unfortunately, and this came directly from Mark Deneen..........the Peach was never designed to accomodate Pro Audio interfacing.

Bascially, I never got it to work right due to impedance and level mismatches. It always sounded like crap.

Then, I had to add an Art Cleanbox to align the mismatching and that added noise and further disatisfaction. I got into modifying the Cleanbox. I didn't give up easily. But eventually did because it just sounded degraded.

Unfortuntely, I don't have any good news about the Peach and Pro audio components. It's a great little preamp when used within its design parameters.

I predict you are going to run into the same issues. Sorry for the bad news.

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Basically, I tried using the Peach in front of a Behringer 2496DCX active crossover first. Then a couple of different Pro amps.

What I experienced was heavily degraded sound, lack of bass............in general "crap".

If you use the EQ on the tape monitor loop you may have acceptable results, you'll have to try it............but a pro audio device connected to the Peach outputs will be an issue.

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The EQ has servo balanced inputs and outputs that will also work unbalanced so RCA to either TRS or XLR adapter cables will be required. This unit may work with the preamp you want to use but it will be a trial and error process with no guarantee of success. I think the Peach has high and low impedance outputs. If so, connect the EQ between the preamp and power amp. Use the low impedance output of that preamp and set the gain controls on the EQ carefully so the input of the power amp does not overload. Set the sliders to flat at first and get the system sounding decent before cutting and boosting. Good luck.

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The EQ has servo balanced inputs and outputs that will also work unbalanced so RCA to either TRS or XLR adapter cables will be required. This unit may work with the preamp you want to use but it will be a trial and error process with no guarantee of success.

The one I looked at had a 40k input impedance, which may work fine for the higher output Z of the Peach. A lot of pro/semi-pro gear has a much lower input Z, and corrected to the Peach would cause thebass to get rooled of.

Bruce

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So i would set the Peach to LoZ setting, then run the left and right main outs into the inputs of the EQ, then run from EQ out to the amplifier. I will set the input gain on each channel to 0 on the dial and flatten all frequencies and set the high pass and low pass filter for each channel, what do you guys recommend i set the the high pass and low pass filters to on each channel? I will be integrating a subwoofer into the mix from the summed subwoofer out.

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Here are the plusses and minuses of the two modes per Mark:

LoZ
+ drives very low impedance loads such as 5KO
+ drives cables up to 50 feet long with no ill effect
+ drives multiple amplifiers such as main and subwoofer
+ or — has a slightly more extended (really slight) top end.
+ often perceived as having tighter bass control, (although that's not my personal opinion.)

HiZ
+ Is the shortest possible signal path (passive components), and least active components between input and output
+ Has the lowest distortion
+ Has the lowest noise
+ Has (IMO) the most clarity
+ Has the least interaction with the PSU
— "Ideally" should be driving modest length cables (6ft) and into a load of about 47KO or more. Even better at 100kO
+ or — has a very slightly less extended top end.

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wow, that is very informative! The Behringer EQ has a input impedance of 40kW ohms, so i assume that i would need to set the peach to HiZ?

Please help me in choosing the correct high pass and low pass filters, the EQ has a high and low cut dial for each channel. If i want to say play only 70hz and above for my mains and then play everything lower to the sub, what should i set the low and high cut to?

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I was at another forum member's home that had the same issue as I did when he tried to connect the Peach to an EV dx-38 processor. Just wouldn't work right, Loz, Hiz.........didn't matter. Something else involved. Once we consulted Mark D. he acknowledged it wouldn't work right and that pro audio components simply were not within his design goals.

Good luck! Please report back your findings!

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Whats up Craig! long time no hear my friend, i remember the many amps that you have serviced for me in the past. The Dynaco Mark III's, the Scott mono amps, Scott 2 channel amps. I am glad that you are still in business and still doing your magic after all these years.

I have a room that is 11' x 12' x 9' ceiling and i analyzed the room with my RTA and FFT analyzer playing pink noise and there is a strong room mode at 50hz and a node at 70hz or so, i have played with placement and it doesnt seem to fix it. Plus, i want to play with an EQ and really tune the system to the room using the FFT analyzer, i want to "cut my teeth" as they would say and really shape the sound perfectly to the acoustics of the room.

Well I would fix the room not the equipment if I was you... You can make all the acoustic treatments you need on the cheap or buy them pre made of course at a higher cost. Problem solved without putting more crap in the signal path. The end result will be much better.

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I was at another forum member's home that had the same issue as I did when he tried to connect the Peach to an EV dx-38 processor. Just wouldn't work right, Loz, Hiz.........didn't matter. Something else involved. Once we consulted Mark D. he acknowledged it wouldn't work right and that pro audio components simply were not within his design goals.

Good luck! Please report back your findings!

Well Mark Deneen is smarter then I thought! Not that I ever thought he was not a smart guy. Why design a product to sound absolutely great then let folks hook a bunch of nasty crap to it to destroy the sound.... LMAO!!!!!!!

Sorry folks just couldn't help myself on this one!!

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Considering you have a Emotiva amplifier, why don't you go with a Emotiva pre/pro like a UMC-1 or the UMC-200? The UMC-200 has a bit of processing/EQ options.

The Behringer may have more options and be a more usefull tool with regard to what you are doing, but I'm not much of a fan of the sound of Behringer stuff...it's ok, and they do what they are meant to do, but they aren't really designed for High Fidelity like a tube Peach pre-amp. Which IMO, is a pre that is designed for folks that are really into vinyl, or a "less is more" approach about their HI-FI.My room is slightly larger than yours, and I have room modes at around 70-100Hz. Maybe buy a couple acoustic panels to start, and use the EQ to help locate the room's acoustic problems and correct as necessary.

Maybe after treating the room's acoustic issues, you may get away from using the EQ at all, and just use the Peach tube pre-amp with the Emotiva power amp.

Mike
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