Product: ART HQ-231 EQ
Price Paid: US $270
Submitted
05/14/2005
at
07:49pm
by
mark
Ease of Use
:
10
It's a piece of cake to use. It has hi and low pass filters to set the overall output frequency range. It also has a 10 segment LED output meter for each channel. This is a great feature because it helps you dial in your gain structure very precisely. Each channel has an output level control, bypass switch, 6/12 dB range switch, and the hi/low pass filters.
1/4 inch, XLR, and RCA inputs/outputs (which can be mixed for I/O. Ex: input 1/4" and output XLR).
The critical feature on this EQ is the feedback detection. Basically, each fader has an LED light on in. The more signal in a frequency band, the brighter the light. It works great and is super fast. It's very obvious what frequency bands are feeding back when you ring-out the system before a show. Hear feedback, see the LED, drop the slider. It's that simple. During a performance, it's not so obvious since there is a lot of other musical content going through the EQ, but the "hot" frequencies are still obvious and all you have to do is try a couple of the brighter faders.
By the way. I also have a Behringer EQ with this FBD feature and the ART is MUCH better. The Behringers LEDs are not a fast and they tend to light up several frequency bands on either side of the actual frequency. Also, the behringer is +/- 3dB frequency response while the ART is +/- 0.5dB. And I'm not sure if the Behringer is a constant Q EQ. The ART is. Constant Q basically means that what you see is what you get.
Sound Quality
:
10
Excellent. I was worried that it would add a hiss or color the sound, but it didn't. Quite as a mouse.
(Of course it is an EQ and you CAN use it to change the overall balance of the sound.)
Reliability
:
9
The only problem I've had with it is that one of the LEDs on one of the channels doesn't work (it's the lowest freq, so not a factor for me). Otherwise no problems. I've used it for about a year.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never contacted them.
Overall Rating
:
9
My band plays classic rock. I've been playing guitar for 15 years and messing with PA sound for about 8. This unit meet or exceeded all of my expectations (which doesn't happen that frequently). My only complaints are the price (I guess you get what you pay for) and the weight (it's around 10 pounds and every pound in a rack counts). This unit is more expensive then the Behringer gear, but it works better and sounds better. It's worth the extra $ for front of house. But if you just need something for monitors, maybe a cheaper solution would suffice.
