Behringer Ultracurve Pro DEQ2496 2-channel Equalizer and Mastering Processor Reviews

Most bands plug in and play and don't thinking of EQing orunderstand how to EQ a room for sound. When your band finds a sound it likes you want that sound the same everywhere you play. But every live room sounds different and unless you have a degree in engineering or a sound man who knows your sound its never gonna sound as good or the same. The Behringer Ultracurve Pro is not a simple plug and play rack device, but when you read and learn how to use the DEQ2496 properly it will help your live sound tremendously and may become your most important peice of PA gear. We're an experienced band playing around and out of state. The DEQ2496 saves time and makes a difference in how our band sounds no matter where we play. Its not perfect, but using the Auto EQ alone helps us get the best sound out of the PA for the room we are playing in. The DEQ2496 Auto EQ generates white noise frequencies thru the PA speakers, a Measuring Mic (not a vocal mic) you'll need listens to the frequencies in the room and adjusts the EQ according to the rooms dynamics and gives you a good EQ setting of the room in 30 to 45 seconds. You can adjust from there if needed. Management says, people dont come to see lousy sounding bands! With a built-in compressor, limiter, feedback destroyer, stero enhancing, parametric EQ on top of the Auto graphic equalizer the DEQ2496 has everything you need to control your PA and sound more professional. We now have a clear and full sound everywhere we play. And don't worry about a sound guy.

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I have two applications for this sound processor and it works well for both. The first is for equalizing a stereo listening room after acoustic treatments were installed. I can attenuate some modal remnants in the room as well as flatten out the low end response curve from 20Hz to 100Hz between the main speakers and powered sub-woofer. I used REM software to measure the room response and provide the detailed filter settings for the unit. The second application is for a large screen television application where I wanted to compress the audio (when loud material such as from commercials) is present, to improve the room response, to widen the stereo imaging from the sound bar speakers, and to optionally apply filters to improve voice intelligibility which is appropriate to most material. The unit is very easy to use and it has more processing power than either of the applications require.

I currently own 3 of these. I bought my first one ~15 years ago when I was doing sound reinforcement for a couple of local bands and was encountering feedback in some venues. I got tired of twiddling equalizer knobs until I found the feedback frequency, only to have some more pop up on other frequencies. The Auto feature of the Feedback Destroyer handles this superbly, attacking each frequency as it appears.

The other feature that is nice for live performances is the Auto EQ, which can be used to set up good equalization in the venue before the performance. During the performance, the RTA lets you monitor the equalization and make changes as necessary.

In the studio, my main use is to EQ the monitors. Again, the Auto EQ comes in handy and the RTA lets me tweak it as necessary. Equalization of the monitors is essential to producing a good mix, and the Ultra-Curve Pro works nicely for this.

My third unit replaced my first unit, which died recently. Actually, I don't know what's wrong with it, but it powers on, but the display remains blank and the unit does not function (although it does pass the audio signal through, unmodified). I may get it repaired, to keep as a spare. This is my only complaint about the DEQ2496, and even there, if a unit lasts for 15 years, one would probably have to call it pretty robust.

I like this product and it fills a certain void very nicely. I'd recommend it.

I got this unit years ago, then it was discontinued and I see it brought back. I would have liked a more stepped PEQ option rather than just a 1/2 step. But it works well.

The only problem I had, back in 2009, was the power supply went in like 5 months, but I had a friend replace some of the parts on the PS with better parts and it has been going strong for almost 10 years now.

This goes in front of my Avocet, from my Apollo digitally. Slight room EQ for my room and then to the Avocet.
I leave it on the RTA which is a great feature to have.

The pink noise is accurate compared to some DAW plugins, so it is great to tuning with an RTA mic.

From time to time I required something to reduce and eliminate feedback for wedding ceremony events. The worst thing to have is feedback during the "I do" part of the ceremony. In tight confined indoor locations this product gave me the needed headroom for microphone gain before feedback. It also provided EQ analysis for room PA sound and music playback. The real time analyzer functions comes in handy as well as the choices for metering and bar graph displays of audio signals.

Technically it takes a bit of time to learn how to use this product. I'm still learning so plan on playing and experimenting with the product before going live. Of course the live experiences are valuable learning sessions too but not the feedback.

I did notice that the LCD display seems to flicker at various contrast setting. I thought perhaps this was a problem with my unit but the replacement did the same. It would be great if Behringer resolves that issue someday.

All in all its amazing what this product does for the price point.

I have used the DEQ-2496 as the core processor for voice audio on ham-radio, I CAN "T find anything that can beat this little processor , the daisy chain equalizers produce any audio you wish. The down side is the poor electronic components quality, for the most part made in china. They are very likely fail rather soon.

Amazing equalizer so many options to get your projects taken care of. The owner manual lacks descriptions of all the functions you can do.Takes time to learn the functions. Great price and very good service sweetwater, Thank you

Well, I am one of the last to buy Behringer but I have seen over the past year a major improvement in the company (especially their mixers and control surfaces).

This device DEQ2496 is particularly interesting and quite enjoyable to work with. You have basic processing capabilities. Equalizers, compressor/limiter, expander, Stereo Imager, AES, Optical connectivity - which btw is pretty decent expander as compared to other noise gates and such, the stereo imager is one of my favorites just because lets say i have two tracks one panned to the left, other to the right. both are from two mic's recorded stereo or dual mono on an acoustic guitar. Well you tweak the stereo imager for the left then right channels then play them together the image is perfect. The graphic EQ is intuitive meaning you get it right away no learning curve. Basically its a mastering tool. The Feedback destroyer was one of the big reasons why I went for this however I have yet to examine it in its full capacity. So far I've only been using this processor for about 45 minutes via AES > Symphony I/O. Oh and last but not least IMHO, are the meters! Remember - meters never lie and they can be your guidemap as to what is really going on. In other words if you don't see the meter bridge lighting up you're doing something wrong. :) all in all a pretty neat processor that can be used in place of a lot of more expensive and complicated gear.

I have been using this processor for few years , and i found very usefull for unusual application , at first I notice it not easy to set up, you must understand the set up before you try anything , first used as a *master EQ voice enhancer* for amateur Radio station,then i found very interesting use of spectrum analyzer ,for studying drum notes , i used as voice monitor for chating remote amateur station ,and analyzer ,i have used it as feeback destroyer , and for may radio station i can set it up for noise gate or compressor , and with 64 memory i can setup many rigs and microphones and select them as best suit you voice or equipment , The DEQ 2496 does its jobs but electronic is poor quality, they fail very frequently, they are made in china , the german design is super,.not the cheap china parts , power filter is highly recomended. Mine is in used for 7 years .other friends were not that lucky..i recoment ,if you like to play using it for presition EQ , band graphic monitor ,feeback destroyer ,noise gate ,compressor o simply oudio analyzer you bet is
Very enjoyable. FM Easton PA.

I have been using this processor for few years , and i found very usefull for unusual application , at first I notice it not easy to set up, you must understand the set up before you try anything , first used as a *master EQ voice enhancer* for amateur Radio station,then i found very interesting use of spectrum analyzer ,for studying drum notes , i used as voice monitor for chating remote amateur station ,and analyzer ,i have used it as feeback destroyer , and for may radio station i can set it up for noise gate or compressor , and with 64 memory i can setup many rigs and microphones and select them as best suit you voice or equipment , The DEQ 2496 does its jobs but electronic is poor quality, they fail very frequently, they are made in china , the german design is super,.not the cheap china parts , power filter is highly recomended. Mine is in used for 7 years .other friends were not that lucky..i recoment ,if you like to play using it for presition EQ , band graphic monitor ,feeback destroyer ,noise gate ,compressor o simply oudio analyzer you bet is
Very enjoyable. FM Easton PA.