Proper audio chain sequence and why ?

Thread Starter

Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,202
Hi all.
My ancient home stereo audio chain includes
- Compressor/expander limiter
- Dual band spectral enhancer
- Adaptive enhancer processor
- Dual band subharmonic synthesizer
- Parametric equalizer (from the first invented)
- Compressor gate (off line)
- Monophonic to stereo synthesizer (off line)

-All analog-

What is in your opinion, the sequence/order these should be chained (into "tape monitor" } of the receiver ?
And why which should be before/after the next ?
 
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GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Hi all.
My ancient home stereo audio chain includes
- Compressor/expander limiter
- Dual band spectral enhancer
- Adaptive enhancer processor
- Dual band subharmonic synthesizer
- Parametric equalizer (from the first invented)
- Compressor gate (off line)
- Monophonic to stereo synthesizer (off line)

-All analog-

What is in your opinion, the sequence/order these should be chained (into "tape monitor" } of the receiver ?
And why which should be before/after the next ?

It seems like some of those make music/generate sound (dual band harmonic synthesizer). Why would you put those anywhere but the beginning?

The compressor should be early so, if the signal is too strong, you can use the compressor to crest some headroom across all frequencies so your equalizer can have some room to boost on your desired frequency ranges.

I'm not sure a Adaptive Enhancer Processor is "all analog"

What do you plan to do with this old pile of "stuff".
 

ebeowulf17

Joined Aug 12, 2014
3,307
It seems to me none of these belong to the category of "home stereo", so I would not use them. E
In a way I agree with this. None of the listed devices *should* be part of a home stereo signal chain. If any, or all, of these processors do things you like to the sound of your music, more power to you, but there's no generic, blanket statement of how this should be done. It all depends on what you want to achieve.

For example, sub harmonic synths and spectral enhancers create extra harmonic content that's related to your existing sound. You might want to eq (maybe quite heavily) in order to better control what the source material for this harmonic manipulation is, forcing the generation of harmonics based only on limited portions of the original material. On the other hand, you might want a good parametric eq after these harmonic manipulations so that you can fine tune the sound of the new frequencies that didn't exist in your original signal. I'd probably eq before and after such processors, and I'd probably run that mini-chain on a parallel bus so that I could blend to taste with the original, unaltered signal.

Likewise with the order of eq and compression. You could eq before compression in order to accentuate or tame certain frequencies while maintaining a semblance of smooth, steady levels, perhaps tricking your compressor into essentially ducking the highs and lows just a little whenever a vocal or horn part kicked in. (just as an example, not necessarily a good idea.) On the other hand, you might want certain frequencies to pop out beyond the compression effect when they're present at high enough levels, in which case you would boost them post-compression.

It all depends on what you want to achieve. All of these tools are potentially useful, but also quite powerful, to the point of being "dangerous." If you use them all at once, you'll likely do more harm than good, unless you're tweaking and fine tuning every setting differently for each song you play back. Not every song will benefit from the same processing chain.

I love playing with stuff like this in the studio, but I prefer to keep my home stereo as natural and clean as possible. To each his own, there's no right/wrong way. Whatever makes you happy is the right answer... but as far the sequence of connections, it will be totally different depending on what you're trying to achieve sonically.
 

Thread Starter

Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,202
:( Noooo! :( .... Sentimental value !... I built, tested, customer serviced, repaired, updated them working at the production factory many years. Not all of the effects are applied during listening of all material; but some source programs do benefit from one or the other, the rest in 'bypass' mode.
I cannot lose my babies...
 

ebeowulf17

Joined Aug 12, 2014
3,307
:( Noooo! :( .... Sentimental value !... I built, tested, customer serviced, repaired, updated them working at the production factory many years. Not all of the effects are applied during listening of all material; but some source programs do benefit from one or the other, the rest in 'bypass' mode.
I cannot lose my babies...
And the good news is that it makes relatively little difference what order they're in when you're only actually using one at a time.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
Ditto. Lose all of it.
I don't agree with the Parametric equalizer. Mine is not a old analog version (Behringer Feedback Destroyer DSP-1124P in manual mode parametric with adjustable Q) but it's priceless for cleaning up the bass response (dips) in my media room (old LP records sound mighty good in that room designed for movies) even with acoustic treatments (wall, bass traps, etc ...) to tame room modes or to create filters for HT effect devices.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/bfdguide/

Now, this requires actual sound measurement to adjust not some old guys 'golden ears'.

Channel one goes to sub-woofer subsystem.


Channel two goes to the tactile transducer subsystem.


The amplification system. :D
 
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