Hi all this is my first post so bear w/ me . I have questions in configuring EQ's. Not being all that knowledgeable in the audio field, i'm really interested in how one knows exactly what settings to implement and why a certain adjustment needs to be made. I've read a few articles from different forums but I find myself still asking "why?" I did a search here and didn't find a post that would answer my exact questions (although my search skills aren't the greatest). Right now i'm interested in adjusting the settings on my Karma but I would also like to know how to adjust settings on different digital devices. Once I install my empeg in my car i'm going to follow SE sport driver's guide (good job btw). I understand the settings are specific to an individuals ear so I'm not expecting perfection from the configuration...more a "point me in the right direction so I have a better understanding." I've heard others mention that boosting the bands into the positive dB range in a digital EQ is not a good idea due to possible clipping...what is clipping? Also if I make adjustments by placing the bands in the negative dB range won't I have to turn the volume up much more while listening? Thanks and forgive my noob nature

The purpose of an EQ is...

a. To compensate for quirks in your listening environment or your playback equiment. For instance, if your particular speakers have too much treble, then you adjust the high bands downward.

b. To make the music sound more pleasing to your personal tastes. For instance, to turn up the bass if you like bass, or to remove the midrange.

EQ is best set "by ear", for instance, twiddling the bands and listening to the result and seeing if you like it. I recommend that you simply play with the EQ settings and see what sounds good to you. If there's nothing that sounds good or bad to you (i.e., you haven't developed a personal taste for a given EQ curve) then you should leave the EQ flat until such time as it does sound either good or bad to you.

Clipping happens when a sound sample is played back so loud that the playback DAC can't handle it, and the output wave gets clipped. It is a type of distortion. It would sound like a crackling noise through the speakers on the loud parts of the music.

A digital music file represents an "exact" copy of the music as it was originally recorded. If you could pipe that straight into your brain, you'd be fine. But you can't do that. You have to use speakers. Speakers are imperfect, some moreso than others. One of the ways that they're imperfect is that they can emphasize or de-emphasize certain frequencies. If you played a track that was perfect simple sound waves that increased in frequency to make a sweep of the audible range and recorded that actual volume that was produced at every instant along the way, you'd see that if you graphed those results, you'd get some sort of wiggly line. Ideally, you'd want that line to be straight, but the speakers don't produce every pitch as well as they produce every other pitch. The point of equalization is to tweak the output of the playback device before it gets to the speakers so that if the speakers produce one frequency less well than the rest, you have the playback device boost that frequency so that the speakers will end up playing it as loud as it's supposed to be. Or the other way for frequencies that the speakers overemphasize.

The end result is supposed to be that you get a reasonably stable output from the speakers, but that's not the end of the story. Some people like more bass, some more treble, etc. So you use it again to modify the output to your personal tastes. But it's much easier to do that if you start off with something that's fairly regular in the first place, thus the initial equalization process.

Oh, also note that it's not just the speakers that modify the output. It's the preamp in the playback device, the power amplifier, the speaker cabinets, the environment, etc. So it's not as if speaker manufacturers could just tell you how well their speakers respond and have you fix up your playback device to that spec. There are a lot more variables involved.

EQ is best set "by ear", for instance, twiddling the bands and listening to the result and seeing if you like it.

Well, actually, it is best set using an RTA (Real Time Analyzer) but since a really good one of those will set you back about $1200 and will likely only be found at a higher-end stereo shop, I can't really argue with you!

However, there is one caveat to setting "by ear": you can only do that for a surprisingly limited time (about 20 minutes, in my experience) before every change you make starts making the system sound much better than it was. Better, that is, until the next morning when you hear your tweaked system with "fresh" ears, and can't believe how badly you have messed it up!

My recommendation is to listen to it for a few days, a week, whatever, until you can decide in your mind that, for instance, there is too much bass, not enough treble, but the midrange sounds about right. At that point, without audio playing, go to your EQ settings and bring some of the bass bands down, bring some of the treble bands up, then listen to it for another few days until you decide to do something else. Over time, you'll reach a sound that pleases you.

This is what works for me. Others may have better results doing it differently.

tanstaafl.

Thanks for all the info guys. I made some adjustments and to me things sound better. I'll see if I still feel the same way after a few days of listening.