Behringer DEQ2496 Review
Behringer Ultracurve PRO DEQ2496; Ultra High-Precision Mastering Processor
Behringer, as we all know, is a out in the market to battle with mega-buck music products by providing a cheap, feature-rich alternative. While professional equalizers are tricky, Behringer’s quest to “break the scene” started with the Behringer 8024. It was received warmly even by the most discerning audiophiles.
To be able to use its built-in RTA, you need at least a decent omni-directional microphone to perform simple measurement and alignment tasks in your room. The DEQ2496 does not come with a mic, and for your best interest, let’s leave that in the mercy of professional music guys.
The DEQ2496 has a graphic eq, a parametric eq, dynamic eq, a virtual paragraphic eq and an expander. The virtual paragraphic eq allows parametric control of the graphic eq. Then there’s the FFT analyzer…
The FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analyzer allows for computing of frequencies with an automatic EQ to match your loudspeaker and room, flattening your overall frequency response to as much as 20,000 Hz.
The DEQ2496 has balanced, gold-plated inputs and outputs—XLR, AES/EBU, S/PDIF and optical. This means you have to adapt the XLR connection to RCA if you want to pair it with your home system. You can get RCA-to-XLR adapters for this. You can connect the unit as a tape loop of typical receivers, which treats the DEQ2496 an an outboard processor. Hit its bypass function and it’s out of the loop.
Laymen
The DEQ2496 is a lot to digest because of all its features and functions. Its 50 plus-pages on its manual doesn’t do much either. You need to have a deep understading of your equipment and your room, as well as the ins and outs of audio frequencies to be able to put this beast to good use. Once you do, youll be able to completely analyze the limitations of your system and room.
A good EQ should be able to address real weaknesses of your system, the DEQ2496 filled the lower end of the frequency spectrum best. The mids were leveled with some limitations as were the bumps in the highs.
Optimizing a room should always come first. If there are cases where (for example a movie room) vision is compromised, bring in an EQ as powerful as this and for sure you’ll find a decent workaround.
For all this, we consider the Behringer DEQ2496 as a very powerful tone controller. It can provide you with a lot of tweaking options to shape your system’s overall response, or shape individual recordings flat. Either way, this unit will give a listener the control—all the controls.
Behringer DEQ2496
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