Which Receiver Will EQ Zone 2?
You are a self-described “power” user. You try to eek every last drop of performance out of your purchases. You use your products until they fall apart. You aren’t getting rid of anything until you know you got all the value out of your hard-earned money! You are ready to buy a new receiver, but you want to get all of the performance out of it. One way to do that is to take advantage of all of those different zones of audio. But you aren’t paying for room correction for just one room, you want it in ALL of you rooms. How can you do that? Which AV receiver will EQ all of your different zones including Zone 2? Let’s discuss!
The Bad News
As of this writing, there are no AV receivers on the market that will EQ a Zone 2 (much less any other zones). Yes, even those AV receivers that will power speakers in a different zone won’t EQ those zones.
Workarounds
Since your AV receiver won’t directly EQ your Zone 2, is there a way to EQ those other zones? Of course! But they’ll require some additional purchases.
Zone 2 to Second AV Receiver
If you have an AV receiver with a Zone 2 HDMI or stereo pre-out output, you can send that to a second AV receiver to EQ. This seems like an expensive solution but might not be if you are upgrading your fairly current AV receiver. Many AV receiver upgrades happen because someone is looking for a unit with more features or supports more speakers. If your old AV receiver has room correction (or a built-in manual EQ), you can use that receiver to EQ your Zone 2. You simply treat the Zone 2 output as a source for your second AV receiver and run your room correction or adjust your EQ manually.
Zone 2 Pre-Outs to MiniDSP or Manual EQ
The AV receiver solution above is convenient because it incorporates the EQ and amplifiers in one box. If you don’t have a second receiver handy, you’ll need to add a device plus and AMP in order to EQ your Zone 2. The most powerful solution would be to buy a MiniDSP along with an amp to both power and EQ your Zone 2 speakers. You’ll also need a microphone and at least a passing familiarity with REW in order to get everything to work. Together, you can EQ your Zone 2 speakers without needing a second receiver.
If you are looking for an old-school solution, you can grab a manual EQ and a couple of amplifier channels to EQ your speakers. Sure, this won’t be as scientific but it also doesn’t require as much stuff. So that’s a plus.
Zone 2 Pre-Outs to Powered Speakers with Integrated EQ
The last, and perhaps the least expensive, way to EQ your Zone 2 speakers is to get speakers with integrated amps and EQ functions. These are…hard to come by. Most of the speakers that we found that might be useful in a home theater format have very basic EQ controls. Simply “treble” and “bass” adjustments. If this is all you need, then you will need to run an RCA cable from your Zone 2 pre-outs to your new, powered speakers. Simple.
Are you EQ’ing your Zone 2? What was your solution? Let us know in the comments below!
