Do graphic equilizers still exist? Are they used in modern theater/music systems?

Looking at my theater/music system today I thought - What happened to graphic equilizers? I had to ask.

I imagine they got abused a lot and were removed from the market to protect us

Seriously, they're still around but the trend is more towards buying accuracy than buying equalizers. There is still a place for EQs in the studio and for dealing with certain types of room problems (but not all).

Some receivers have automatic EQ built in as part of the auto-calibration. That's probably the most common way to get EQ to the market these days.

Not a dumb question at all.... and I know because I asked it myself a few months ago. Oh, wait... that doesn't help your cause, does it?

Well, I'll just say: "What John (Bridgeman) said" and, "welcome!"

Welcome Jet.

Yes, both graphic and parametric equalizers are still around. But, as John pointed out, they've kinda fallen out of favor in the home audio market, due to the fact that inexperienced users would tend to overdo the EQ. When it comes to equalization, the less used, the better.

I think we're going to see a change in that soon, particularly for use with subwoofers.

Velodyne is already shipping subwoofers with a built-in spectrum analyzer and eight-band digital equalizer, which allow the sub's performance to be optimized for its owner's listening room.

Velodyne Digital Drive DD-18 powered subwoofer

And, av123 (Onix/Rocket) is soon to release it's Rocket Digital Equalization System, which is a similar, stand alone, product.

RDES

The buzz seems to be that this is a growing trend, and we''ll soon see more of these digital EQ systems for subwoofers on the market. I suspect it won't be long before we see EQ systems like this for your entire sound system as well.

Thank you to all of you for the feedback.

I remember the equalizer days, those evil machines... I used to setup all knobs nice and flat, but mysteriously that machine I’ll set itself to the 'evil grin' V shape. Don’t know how it happens, but seems all equalizer are fix in that shape.

~Jaime

i was an evil grin guy also.. but i would hold back on the right hand side just a little.. i never liked for the highs to be too bold.

i used to love it on 'risky business', when joel just cranked them all up to the top.. i did the same when i was home alone, and just blared it.!

bigjohn

I wish I had one of these (in blue LED's) just for show. I've always liked it in Winamp, it'd be cool to have it bouncing around to music.

- D