Equalizer Connection to Modern Home Theater Receivers

[John Coles]

I am looking to connect a Behringer DEQ2496 or DBX 1231 equalizer to my 8-year-old Yamaha home theater receiver. But mine and all others that I have looked at recently have no monitor circuit (e.g. tape monitor on classic receivers) to connect an equalizer. Any ideas on how to connect one or, alternately, are there any newer receivers that have such a feature?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Manufacturers discontinued tape monitor loops more than 30 years ago. They worked fine with analog stereo signals, but cannot be implemented with 5.1 digital program sources.

The only way to connect equalizers now is between the pre-amp and amplifier. Yamaha was one of the few to provide pre-out and amp-in jacks on their AVRs, and probably the last to do it. Such an AVR would accommodate an outboard equalizer. However, Yamaha discontinued these connections 15 years ago.

With that option gone, the only way left to connect equalizers is between the AVR and outboard amplifiers.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[JStewart]

I am looking to connect a Behringer DEQ2496 or DBX 1231 equalizer to my 8-year-old Yamaha home theater receiver. But mine and all others that I have looked at recently have no monitor circuit (e.g. tape monitor on classic receivers) to connect an equalizer. Any ideas on how to connect one or, alternately, are there any newer receivers that have such a feature?

Most newer receivers have a form of eq built-in and call it room correction. There are many flavors.
Are you currently looking to apply eq to a single or multiple sources? If you let us know we may be able to suggest alternatives.

 

[John Coles]

Most newer receivers have a form of eq built-in and call it room correction. There are many flavors.
Are you currently looking to apply eq to a single or multiple sources? If you let us know we may be able to suggest alternatives.

I was going to use it for all sources. I'm thinking my solution now will be to run the pre-out of the Yamaha into the Behringer and then out to Marantz MA500 monoblock amps that I have to drive the individual speakers. Comments are welcome.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

As I noted, that’s the only way it can be done. Enjoy!

Regards,
Wayne

 

[John Coles]

As I noted, that’s the only way it can be done. Enjoy!

Regards,
Wayne

Wayne, thank you for the guidance!

 

[Nordo]

I have a Behringer equalizer in my system, but I only use it for my sub, therefore it connects to the sub pre-out on the receiver.
It does the heavy lifting for the sub, then I run the receiver's built in EQ (Audyssey in my case).
However, keep in mind that there is a school of thought that recommends not using any EQ above your schroeder frequency (for normal domestic rooms this is around 250 - 300Hz).
Another rule is don't use any equalizer to boost a dip in your SPL

The best approach is first try to do as much EQing using room treatment and speaker/sub placement.
Obviously this is where REW is your go-to tool.

 

[John Coles]

I have a Behringer equalizer in my system, but I only use it for my sub, therefore it connects to the sub pre-out on the receiver.
It does the heavy lifting for the sub, then I run the receiver's built in EQ (Audyssey in my case).
However, keep in mind that there is a school of thought that recommends not using any EQ above your schroeder frequency (for normal domestic rooms this is around 250 - 300Hz).
Another rule is don't use any equalizer to boost a dip in your SPL

The best approach is first try to do as much EQing using room treatment and speaker/sub placement.
Obviously this is where REW is your go-to tool.

Does your Behringer have the auto-EQ feature? And, if so, did you use it for your application?

 

[Nordo]

My Behringer is DSP-1124P (Feedback Destroyer). Very manual, but it does the job.
REW can actually recommend settings for most popular equalizers once you've run REW.

I have a DEQ2496 (and a DCX2496) in a transportable sound system I built for my daughter's band.
But they started playing at better venues with good house systems, so the sound system I built for them (complete with two large Eminence driven bins) has never been used.