The DEQ-230 Equalizer puts an incredible amount of control in your hands. Correctly adjusted, it can solve many of the problems you will encounter along your road to perfect sound. Incorrectly adjusted, it can cause just as many problems. By following these guidelines, you will avoid common pitfalls in system tuning and get your sound quickly dialed in. We recommend that you use a Real Time Analyzer (RTA) to speed things up, but it is possible to tune your system without it.
1)With the system turned OFF, remove the control panel from the chassis of the
NOTE: If you are using a Real Time Analyzer (RTA), go to step 2. If not, go to step 8.
2)The first step is to locate a suitable source of “pink noise.” A good choice would be the current IASCA competition reference disc. Also, some RTAs have a
3)Next, place the microphone from the RTA in the driver's seat at approximately head level. Initially, set the analyzer to read at 3dB per step, and set the speed of the RTA’s readout to "medium." Turn on your system and start the pink noise.Raise or lower the volume until you can see all (or most) of your frequency response on the RTA scale (a little above or below is OK). Make sure all of the equalizer's frequency controls are at zero and look at the RTA screen.
4)You are trying to achieve a target frequency response, or "curve" that reflects your preference. You might think that a perfectly straight line would be best, but it really doesn't sound very good. Instead, shoot for a curve that starts about 9dB up at the low frequencies (25Hz to about 100Hz) dropping gently to 0dB
in the midrange (250Hz to 3KHZ), then dropping gently to
5)If electronic crossovers are used, any large frequency sections corresponding to your crossover points that are low or high should be brought in line using crossover level controls or amp gain adjustments, not with the equalizer.
6)Beginning at either the lowest or the highest frequency, adjust the control on the
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