Once these processes are finalized [300dB vs 48dB/octave graphs above], you have the choice of using 3 profiles or the bypass. You can use a particular correction/EQ setting on Profile 1 for say orchestral music and a different calibration for Rock on Profile 2 and so on. Further, there are 100 available presets ready to be saved to the PDC's memory for tailoring of individual CDs, DVDs etc. Bypass is a non-corrected straight-thru pre-out function. But I am jumping ahead of myself. There is more to be discovered yet. How about we measure the room? Now it's getting very interesting. As we all know, the system you have tweaked, sweated and slaved over for years can only sound as good as your room allows. Well sports fans, those "I curse this room" days are gone. With the DEQX PDC-2.6P, we can take a measurement of the environment and how it effects your speakers' frequency response. No more ugly acoustic foam pads on the walls; inconveniently positioned room tunes; bulky bass traps; and soft, cushiony, uncomfortable furniture.


Ah, not a pretty picture at all. Instead, dips and troughs and tips and peaks. And I would confidently bet my bottom peso that the bass response of your multi-$1,000 Mahogany babies is all over the shop. Typically and in contradiction to those impressive-sounding paper specifications you based your purchasing decision on, the curve is likely to show far less treble extension than promised, as well as premature rolloff in the lower bass. Also very likely and rising like a camel's hump, there'll be a nasty peak somewhere in the 80-150Hz region: Boom boom. I'd also bet that especially in a large room, you'll find a trough between 1 to 3.5kHz robbing your music of presence and perceived detail to create that way-in-the-distance row Z effect.


Now for the good news. All this mayhem may be manipulated in real time. The underlined is a very important ingredient. Bring out your worst-sounding, fattest-bottomed CDs and manipulate the results to your little heart's content while the music is actually playing. Drag that graph line and smooth it gently from 40-18Hz. Your speakers will now roll off naturally at the lowest frequency they were designed to reproduce to bring you bass you never thought you had plus oodles of previously masked recording ambience. Bring out the largest of organs, too. Bring it on. What of that 10dB boomy rise you hear when Ray Brown is at his nimblest? Click the mouse and drag that 80-120Hz nasty hump down to flat. Or -- if you prefer a little more bloom -- drag it down to just 1 or 2dB above flat for tight, detailed and visceral double bass.