Behringer DEQ2496 HELP

What are you setting the max, level and range on page one of the rta page?

also, are you in the auto eq mode or the rta mode? Do i need to hit the room correction or does this happen automatically when i hit auto eq?

You have to make sure that the max span you allow is about 5-6 db. Then I bring the boosted frequencies down so they're only 2-3 db up. Everything has to be right to get a good result. It's not as easy as just hitting the autoeq. Other settings must be right also.

RTA page 1 MAX and RANGE are just so you get a good display and will not have any effect on the EQ. You want to select MAX so that the display never hits the top, and you want to set the RANGE so that there will be something to see even during quiet parts of the music. Your settings will depend on the gain of the amps and sensitivity of the speakers, but on my rig MAX = -20, and RANGE = 60 works.
(MAX is negative, because it is dB down from the reference level. In other words, -10 is louder than -20).

If you want to roll off highs at 1 dB/oct hit the ROOM CORR button. Most people like this, but you have your choice.

If i run the auto eq and then double check it with my rat shack spl/Rives audio test cd, should it measure flat? I did this eq and it wasn't flat. Maybe i did something wrong.?

Streetdaddy...I have been down the RS meter/Rives CD, and with it I could never get the same results two times in a row. Perhaps it is a matter of exactly where you locate the mic or the meter. On the average, the RS meter results agreed with the DEQ2496, but were much more variable. Of course you should not expect agreement down to the last dB. The world is not that exact. I assume that you are using the tracks on the Rives CD which are supposedly corrected for the considerable errors of the RS meter. Also, I have heard that there have been several lots of RS meters, and all may not have the same errors.

I used the Rives CD (uncorrected) with the Behringer SPL meter function. The only downside is that I have to sit in front of the Behringer, which places me sort of in the way of things.

Ok, i think i did the auto eq correctly. I also hit the room correction button. When i toggle between the bypass and eq'd, the eq'd version sounds very muffled. Any suggestions?

It's the opposite for me. When I hit bypass it sounds muffled.

On initial comparison, whichever has less upper midrange/treble (bypass or eq)is likely to sound muffled. Let your ears adapt before you pass judgment. If after listening for a while, it still sounds muffled, try one (or both) of two things: (a) whatever cuts the auto-eq made above, say 2kHz, reduce those cuts by half (e.g., if it is -6 dB, manually adjust to -3 dB), or (b) use one of the parametric bands as a treble control by setting it to H 6dB with a frequency of 2 or 3 kHz; boost by a dB or two. Also, make sure that you're not being misled by an overall level difference - try turning up the volume on the setting that sounds muffled.

I've been very happy with my DEQ, but after having such outstanding results getting my Sony 900 modded by TRL, I wanted to see if they could mod my Behringer DEQ.

Long story short, I exchanged a few emails with Brian at TRL, he told me that they have tried, but are unable to get any significant improvements out of this machine. He said they worked on one for two full days and ended up sending it back to the guy, along with the his money.

I think that says a lot for the Behringer. They are getting huge improvements out of very expensive cd players, DACs, etc but can't squeeze anything more out of this $300 EQ/DAC.

Ecruz...Possible explanation ...

1.. The analog circuitry is just input and output unity gain buffers. These are easy to implement with near zero distortion.

2.. The D/A and A/D modules are about as good as they come.

3.. The heart of the unit is its digital processing which can't be tweeked by hardware mods.

My level meter on the left hand side hits the red clip mark even when playing at low levels. Did i have the settings too high when i did the auto eq?

Streetdaddy...The straightforward explanation is that the input level is too high. What signal are you puting into the DEQ2496?

I am running the airport express into the behringer with the digital cable.

Streetdaddy...Try analog.

What do you mean? I am going all digital from computer to airport express to behringer. I thought this was the best way, as to avoid going digital to analog a couple of times. Am i missing something?

Streetdaddy - did you EQ the channels separately? If so, the likely explanation for clipping on the left is that some bands are boosted enough to raise the digital level enough to clip. In the Utility menu, Page 1, there is an option to reduce EQ gain offset. You may also want to manually reduce the bands that have very high boost, which could be an artifact of mic position (e.g., a room-induced bass drop that is hard to fix with EQ).

Streetdaddy...FYI I had to Google "Airport Express" to find out what it is. Yes, extra A/D and D/A are theoretically best to avoid. But a digital chain such as you are using needs to be consistent with respect to the format of the digital data. I think that the airport express has an analog output. Try it and see what happens.

Eldartford,
The airport express has an output that senses what is plugged in {ie mini jack vs optical} and outputs digital or analog depending on what type of cable is used. The beauty of this is i am using my wireless laptop with itunes to feed the airport express which outputs a digital signal to the behringer and then i use the analog outputs into my Rowland Concerto. I don't know why my first attempt with the behringer sounded muffled. I ran it again and it sounded much better. I now need to run it one speaker at a time, because my room is assymetrical.

Ok, finally making some headway. For some reason when i did an auto eq it was boosting 20 hz{lowest freq} +15db and this was screwing everything up. I have an asymetrical room, and they highs are cut on the open ended side. Does this make sense? The speaker closer to the wall was pretty flat.

Streetdaddy...Glad to hear that you are making progress. My room is also very asymetrical and every speaker of the multichannel system is different. If +15 dB caused clipping your signal level must be on the high side.

What is the 20Hz EQ for the other speaker? I would try swapping the speakers...perhaps the problem (need for +15dB) is in the speaker - not the speaker location.

Make sure your speakers can go to 20 Hz. My speakers only go to about 26Hz, the first time I ran auto eq, 25Hz was boosted a few db and 20Hz was boosted a LOT. If your speakers can't go that low, it could put strain on your amp and/or speakers.

And to add to Ecruz's observation, if your speaker can't do 20 Hz (and few can) set that frequency to -15 dB so as not to waste amplifier power and to avoid futile effort by the speaker.

Hi all, I have been following this thread in anticipation of getting my UltraCurve. Now that I have it though, :( :( :(

Why? Here is the message I posted to the Asylum this morning. If an expert here would like to pick this up, either here or via email, I would be indebted. Clearly this thing has immense potential, which makes non-success with it all the more frustrating.
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/426890.html

I had the same problem when I first got mine and managed to solve it, but now I can't remember how. I will try to figure it out, but I think it has to do, as someone on AA suggested, with the overall gain settings you establish. Ambient noise does tend to be greater than you'd expect, at least has been when use the unit in my system. You may have overall gain set too high.

I think there would be a small but enthusiastic market for "DEQ2496 for Dummies." I'd pre-order and pay a premium, LOL.

Thanks Drubin. I wish to emphasize that the sound out of the speakers is loud when it says Ambient. This is most weird and certainly not desired behavior. Then, a few seconds later, when it states it is measuring Pink, it seems to me that it is adding a layer of a slightly different pitch on top of that sound. How loud is the original sound? Loud enough to be heard from two rooms away. Definitely NOT an oversensitive mic, as the sound itself is the issue.

Hope you and/or others can help me get this solved. I have sent an email to Behringer as well.

Kck...When measuring ambient noise (in the home environment) it should be dead quiet. I think that the ambient noise measurement may be important for pro sound applications where things may be going on while the sound guy is trying to get set up.

You might try using the analog output of the DEQ2496 into your amp. The D/A in the Behringer is probably as good as the one in the CDP, and one less item in the chain might help to isolate your problem.

Eldartford is right - there should be no sound out of the speakers when measuring ambient noise. Check your I/O menu and make sure you're not sending the mike signal to the outputs.

Thank you to the posters so far. Late last night, I had to try it one last time before going to bed; it was really bothering me. I experimented with the inputs...DUH! (hand slaps head).

I needed to put I/O on page 1 (input) to Pink Noise, not one of the others (I had optical). After this, it worked well enough for me to know that it will do the job, but I was beat and had to go.

I did let it run for a bit though, and it (the pink noise) seemed to go on for a pretty long time; I would guess at least 5 minutes. Is this expected/normal? The curve looked fairly different after but as I said, I had to go.

Thanks again! I look forward to playing some more tonight. I would also like to know if anyone has used analog in and/or out to the DEQ. I have seen many threads stating that digital IN is its strength, and I realize that, but curious if anyone has tried the analog with satisfaction. Reason I ask is I will be getting an integrated with a tape loop so that I can get all my sources on this machine, but with the easy ability to bypass it with a switch. (I think the bypass on the DEQ software is pretty easy too though).

Kck-
The pink noise runs until you hit "done". I was letting it go for about 5 minutes, but someone clued me in, now I let it go for about a minute in "fast" then another minute in "slow". That seems to be plenty.

Also, I use the anolog in/out. I have it between my pre-amp & amp, no problems at all. I couldn't be happier with this product.

Analog in and out is very high quality. The advantage of the digital interface is theoretical...maybe real but I can't hear it. I also have the DEQ2496 between my preamp and the electronic crossover going to the power amp. In general it would be better to put it in the TAPE loop (I don't have one) because the signal level would not be affected by the volume control. I avoid low signal level through the DEQ2496 by turning down the gain of the electronic crossover so that the preamp output signal is higher.

That's good news; I will try it in my new amp when it comes in. in the meantime, may I stretch my welcome with another question? (actually, that would make it two...)

From reading various threads I gather that you don't want to EQ below 100 (some say 80) hZ. I see the AEQ (or is it RTA) screen has zero dots below the 100 mark, and I see how to add them. The question is, after adding them, can I then tweak them (my choice is upwards). My rig includes speakers that are good to about 40-45 hz, but am also using a REL subwoofer that will go to 20. The REL is being run off the Neutrik connectors using the amps speaker terminals. There is no load to the amp as the amp's power is not used to drive these low freqs. Further, I read comments that say that EQ-ing below 80/100 hZ will also put a strain on the amp and speakers. How will the speakers get 'strained'... I mean, what they can do is all they can do, right? I understand if I am asking a driver that bottoms at 40 hZ to increase SPL in that range beyond the other freqs (assuming flat for this argument, which of course it rarely is). But if I ask that speaker to do 20 hZ flat, well it just doesn't care, right? OTOH, the amp should be able to pass that signal to the subwoofer, correct?

Kck...Below 100 Hz is probably a range where EQ is badly needed. The DEQ2496 suggests that the automatic equalization may not work well below 80 Hz, but for me it works fine.

Here are a couple of suggestions.
1...If you want more bass, turn up the subwoofer volume so that the DEQ2496 is cutting it down where needed instead of boosting.
2...Similarly, when you set up the "target" response curve, instead of boosting the low end try cutting the highs. The "ROOM CORR" function will do some of this for you.

Thanks guys! The Behringer is awesome but not nearly as much so as this group.

I ran AEQ (or was it Room Corr? question follows). The resulting curve, after I boosted <100 a little, was like a crooked smile. I described it to my friend on the phone as a 'Dick Cheney smile', no offense meant but that's what it looks like. The sound - wonderful. Now I understand what people mean by more clarity, etc. It truly is more effective than upgrading an amp or source. Details are evident (without making themselves aggressive, ick to that), high end is extended (ditto), just better balance all around. Soundstage seems to have deepened, the fabric of the music seems to be more integrated. Excellent. And I am not done playing with this thing.

So... what is the diff between AEQ and Room Corr? I see the buttons of course, but when to use what and how? And are you guys using the other functions... PEQ, etc?

From my understanding, AEQ will set the frequncies to whatever your target curve is. AEQ with Room Correction will slightly roll of the highs & boost the lows.

No doubt someone will correct me if I'm mistaken.

I'd also like to know what all of the other function do. They may be more for professional use.

You will have to choose your input path. I believe you will output analog and digital simultaneously no matter which input you choose. By the way what do you think of the DACs?

Both inputs can be hooked up. You select which to use via the I/O screen.

Tvad...You don't need to select the noise as input. Doing the EQ thing automatically turns it on. The input for EQ is the mic (obviously).

There is a noise gain on the smaller dials. There is also a RTA mic input level in the utilities menu, mine is set to +15 volts. Be sure to place your mic as closely as possible to where your ears would be when you are in your listening seat.
I can't wait to hear what you think of the room correction.

Tvad...I do each of my five channels separately (I have three DEQ2496). The EQ curves for the five speakers are quite different, although they are identical models.

Funny you say that Tvad, the first time I AEQ'd I thought it sounded like crap too. I really don't know what I did, but the last time I tried it, it sounded MUCH better. Anyway, I also ended up tweaking.

If you use auto eq be sure to input your own curve. Here's an excellent article regarding how to adjust eq written for the DEQ 2496:

http://www.prijsindex.net/tmp/room%20acoustics%20and%20eq.html

The one Behringer gives as a default is not very good imo. Also you have to learn how to adjust the bass. The bass is critical and will affect the entire presentation.

Most important though is to learn what affects what. It takes some time to do this well. Fortunately you have plenty of latitude on adjustments.