DrWho Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I've been mixing for over 13 years now, parents are musicians too and I play piano and viola as well so I've been surrounded with LIVE music my entire life. My first official recording made it on the radio and I've been teaching some individuals how to mix for the last few years. I've heard my fair share of rather expensive systems and have mixed in and seen all sorts of expensive studios as well. Of course the number of crappy systems is far greater. I also don't believe my age has anything to do with anything, but whatever. My hearing is still good above 20kHz on a good day. If you read my full review of artto's system buried somewhere on these forums, you'll notice that I'm actually not his biggest fan. In fact, right now I wouldn't want his system because my favorite music sounds bad on it...why? because my favorite music is recorded poorly and listening with headphones or bringing it into the studio quickly reveals this. In other words, I prefer to have a more concealing system instead of a revealing one. Nevertheless, it doesn't negate the fact that he has a system totally capable of creating a new environment. If ever I had as large a collection of music as he does, then perhaps over time I would find myself slowly moving in his direction and getting pickier about what I'm listening to. I still stand by my khorn/cornwall analogy. When I visited colterphoto, there were some really good rocking it out sounds and the more we cranked it, the better we rocked it out. There was hardly any increase in distortion and they certainly didn't ever sound bad. If you were in a small room, I could see how the lack of directivity in the low end would quickly overload the room making it then sound bad. "I can't agree with that one. We are all shooting for realism, and the "best" sound we can get in the environment we are forced to deal with." Perhaps I shouldn't have brought this up now, but I've been noticing that there are two kinds of best sound: I divide it into revealing systems and concieling systems. It's kinda like the difference between stereo pair recordings and individually mic'ed instruments getting run through all sorts of processing. The stereo pair always sounds more realistic, but individually mic'ing things can get you different sounds that aren't intended to be realistic sounding. I believe the success of Bose shows this very well...yes they are crappy systems, but stupid people love them because even the worst of recordings are just as enjoyable as some of the best recordings out there. The system is a huge concieling device that overtime one becomes accustomed to (it's even easier to become accustomed psychologically when someone believes without a doubt that they're a good speaker too). For the record, I have no problem using EQ in a system and am even interested in the behringer myself. However, I know artto isn't off his rocker when he says it will destroy some of the nuances in the music. But if you already have issues to overcome (ie, bad acoustics and bad source material), then by all means use the EQ...at that point there is nothing left to be destroyed so there's no need to worry about it. Just curious, how many of you guys have listened to artto's system or even had a similar experience where you had a physical reaction due to the realism? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Nice post DrW. I have absolutely no opinion on this device - or on others like it - having never heard one in a high end system of any form - including my own. I might be way off base here - I might even have misunderstood the function here but it seems to me that the function of this device is to smooth out the ill-effects of speaker/room interaction. If you have, as appears to be the case with Artto, already fixed this issue then I cannot imagine the Behringer doing anything but harm. If you have not - and have issues with speaker/room interaction - then it probably would make quite a dramatic improvement if installed and setup correctly. I consider myself lucky in that my listening room has great sound without a single modification - merely our furnishing. There is, at it stands today, probably no place for any such device but if we were to move...who knows. Still on the fence on this one.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbley Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I got into the EQ thing because as I tried different equipment in my system, I started to get the impression that a lot of the differences I was hearing came down to frequency response. Now that I have the DEQ with it's RTA, I know that's true. I liked my LPs better because the high frequencies are more attenuated. Something with my soundcard was causing a treble roll off when I used 96kHz sampling rate in consumer mode. I liked it. Pro mode sounded too bright, but it turns out that it's actually perfectly flat, correct response. Now that I've got a better handle on what's happening, I'm not so convinced that there's any benifit of 96kHz over 44.1, or LP over CD. I guess that automatically disqualifies me as an audiophile. It's not that the records, SACD or DVD-A sound any worse now on my system. It's just that the good CDs sound so good with some EQ that it's hard for me to find any audible fault with the format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I'm not going to go too far into this debate, but there is one thing that that I can add, my $100 Teac Tripath amp sounds really good with my $1,000+ Peach Preamp. Certain "cheap" components can really perform. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Dean you have a PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 ---------------- On 5/19/2005 9:30:08 AM Guy Landau wrote: He's also a 21 year old and it makes me wonder how long he's been in this hobby and wether he's heard many (any?) real good systems in that ( short?) period. ---------------- There are many people who are much older and have auditioned countless systems who are less knowledgeable than him.... I don't see the relevance? Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfandbark Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 I have a hard time believing DeanG would give a piece of equipment positive reviews unless DeanG was truly impressed by its' performance. If you choose not to pay attention to the opinion, that's your decision. I for one listen to CDs' exclusively and think an EQ would correct some of the harshness and screechiness that my Cornwalls and poor recordings present to me, but that's my opinion. (No, I don't have one). I'm not baffling my walls or treating my ceilings or any of that. That's me. I'll buy an EQ first. Thank you for your report on the 2496, Dean G! Woof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 ---------------- On 5/18/2005 6:21:36 PM DeanG wrote: Wow, it's Artto's semi-annual "poop on you" posts. Thank God you came in here to educate and save us from this terrible sounding piece of gear -- I'll run upstairs and yank it out right away!! I don't know what you heard, but it's evident the rest of us are too deaf to hear it. ---------------- Dean, After yanking the EQ out, do you like your system better now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howismydriving Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 I have been using the EQ to feed my Miridian 508.20 signal into a Panny xr-10 and I think that it is great. I am using the mike that DeanG is using and I have pretty flat response from 35hz to 20000 hz. Well my system may not be as good as some of the systems people have here, it replaced a Adcom GFA-5500 and a VTL 2.5 I am driving a pair of Vandersteen 2ci that I have rebuilt the crossovers with high quality parts, (Jensen caps and inductors) or can switch to JBL 130/175 based horns. I do have a Harman Kardon Award 500 sitting in the closet gathering dust because with CD playback, this system cannot be beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts