Finally got my BFD, response pics. (1 Viewer)

[Dustin B]

I decided to get a BFD around new years and today I finally got a chance to set it up. Was on order for over 3 weeks, and the day I got it my receiver died. Finally got my receiver back yesterday and today was the first chance I had to try and set it up.

A big thank you goes out to Anthony Gomez. Without his BFD Excel program I don't know if I ever would have gotten this thing setup. It gave a great starting point and let me see better what the changes I was making where doing. However, it's predictions weren't entirely accurate (maybe I was just using it wrong).

Anyways here's a pic of a graph that shows my testing to decide what phase setting was best before I started to EQ (decided on 112). By the way, does anyone know how to get a log scale on the X-axis in Excel?

http://dustin.bunnyhug.net/pics/forum/phase.JPG

And here is the before and after the BFD responses.

http://dustin.bunnyhug.net/pics/forum/bfd.JPG

That response took about 4 hours of playing. I wasn't going to use Anthony's program, but after an hour of frustration, it was a life saver in getting a starting point from which to start fine tuning. Oh, and pay really close attention to the little Khz and hz light up labels. I had a chunk of frustration that came as a result of having the filter set way too high :b

For those interested or who can make some suggestions to get me some better results, here are my current filter settings. I got tired of playing tonight, I don't think these are the best settings, but they are a lot better than no EQ.

Frequency, Fine, Bandwidth, Gain
40, -2, 6, -7
32, 6, 10, -10
25, 0, 10, -4
20, 4, 6, -5
63, -3, 8, -6

And here are is the unEQed response in a CSV file format:

http://dustin.bunnyhug.net/pics/forum/noEQ.csv


I haven't listened to a lot yet, I'm gonna watch Fifth Element tonight and I'll listen to some more music tomorrow before I say any more about the difference. But there was a none to subtle difference in sound quality on my little bit of music listening done so far (Kodo Tataku and Diana Krall).

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

glad it was some help to you!

part fo the problem is that the program assumes that the room responds ideally, but the room does not respond linearly when you lower peaks and bring up nulls that are room induced.

Something that I like to do and have had good results with is:
1) measure the sub responce full range in a nearfield possition (couple inches away).
2) use the 2-3 filters required to get a nearfield responce flat up to about 200-300hz.
3) then equalize the sub at the sitting possition.


I end up with better results this way then trying to equalize solely at the sitting possition



even better recommendation:
before you equalize for the seating position, use the RRC at the FRD consortium to try and get the sub in a more "friendly" position.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

You demolished that peak alright Dustin. I'll bet that sounds good.

Hey, there are probably some ppl that may have trouble understanding a BFD cause it's not the DIY forum.

I don't have one so correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it is basically a multi-band parametric equalizer. It is a separate component that targets a specific frequency of the bass, and reduces the volume. The reason for doing so is because rooms have an effect on the bass that subwoofers play, thus creating loud and soft volume areas in the room.

The ultimate goal of the BFD is to create a balanced volume output among all the frequencies (aka smooth response). The ultimate purpose is to removes Peaks in the response, not so much boost dips.

They are about $100-$150 and a BFD is a brand name, not an actual type of component.

I want one now.

 

[Dustin B]

Heh, you're right Chris, I forgot a number of people in this forum wouldn't know what a BFD was. Which was part of the reason for posting in this forum. I should have prefaced with an explanation of what it is. But, you've done that for me now.

I'll just add this though. BFD is our acronym for Behringer Feedback Destroy. The current model is the 1124P. It's intended purpose is to well, destroy feedback with microphones used on stage. To do this it uses digital parametric EQ bands. The nice thing is it has two modes. An autopilot mode to search and destroy feedback (I don't care about this). And a mode where you can define specific parametric EQ bands. The second is what I care about and what I'm using it for. So bottom line is it's the cheapest decent parametric EQ out there.

 

[Shawn Solar]

I actually did two seperate curves with mine. I set up one for music and one for HT. The one for music is slightly boosted at 50hz(I just eq'd less than I was suppossed to) and below and I also boosted one dip at 80hz and another at 35-45hz. the result was flat bass response at lower listening volumes. The second was made flat using correction values and the dips are ignored. Perfect for the long bass sweeps in HT that fully excite the room modes.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Does anyone know if the MIDI software is still available for the BFD? I've got a laptop now and have never setup my BFD. I'd like to try the MIDI software for ease of setup, but can't find it on the Behringer site.

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

Brian, if you look under DISCONTINUED (top menu after clicking on products) there is the older model of the BFD:
http://www.behringer.com/02_products...1100P&lang=eng

if you go here, you will find the program you are looking for. I am not sure if it will work on the 1124 like it does on the 1100.

good luck!

 

[Brian Bunge]

Tony,

I found it earlier. Thanks though. I'll see if it works or not. Now to find the MIDI cables...