| RUSS324 |
Rating:      |
2009-02-18 | |
| Exceptional audio processing! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased the EQ Plus along with the 8 band Equalizer. Both products are fantastic and allow the operator to taylor their audio to meet the individual requirements. Well made and really makes setting up your audio a lot of fun. Several friends could not believe the difference it made. Cedric on Maderia Island said my audio boomed over the pile-up. this was my setup for DXing and I have another setup for rag chewing. I am going to try a different audio setup for Net Control tomorrow. What fun. Russ K8QF |
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| TI2TL |
Rating:      |
2008-12-04 | |
| Very Very Good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I can't say I had the pleasure to test it against other eq equipment but I have to say that it works superbly. I like very much the Compressor and the effect processor. I have also the 8 band Eq but I consider this to be a far better choice if you had to chose between the two. I can get most of my modulation performance out of the EQplus and I just make the final touches with the 8 band EQ.
No RFI at all with more than 2KW. |
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| VK3HOT |
Rating:      |
2008-11-26 | |
| easy way to increase your presence on the band |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Having owned an 8 band for 12+ months,and purchasing another off ebay, I took the plunge and ordered the plus after a couple of emails to Julius asking about interfacing the plus with my Icom 718 and Kenwood TS 530S, just to be sure.
As usual the service was first rate, Julius even called me on my cell to make sure I was ok with what we had discussed via email, before he shipped the plus! Never have I experienced such personalised caring service. So after setting the plus up on my 718 initially, as expected, positive comments all round about my audio. On a recent dx contact under very trying band conditions on 20m with a station in India, his last comment after several attempts by both to battle the QRN, and make the contact, was about the quality of my audio. I cannot recommend Julius and his products highly enough. Outstanding!! |
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| W4LGH |
Rating:   |
2008-10-22 | |
| Poor design |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I found several things wrong, that have been inherant with all the W2IHY products. First they are way over priced! For the price of the EQ Plus box , one can buy a nice commercial quality microphone, and commercial EQ/Compressor, that is much cleaner in performance, better made, and a much more appealling looks. Everything on teh commercial equip. is industry standardand compatible with everything.
W2IHY products look like toys on the outside, and the construction on the inside is not up to par either. I persoanlly think the "Jones Brothers" cut way to many corners, for the price they charge. |
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| W8ZR |
Rating:     |
2008-10-22 | |
| Good but needs refinement |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
The EQ Plus does all that the previous reviewers have said. The circuitry works well and is carefully thought out, the performance is great, and -- though I've not needed service -- the seller's reputation sets a high standard for excellence.
So why am I not giving the EQ Plus top billing? Because, in my opinion, it still needs a few refinements, mostly in the "user interface" and "styling" departments. Here are my quibbles (and these really are just quibbles, offered in the spirit of constructive criticism.
First, the styling problem. The front panel layout is fine, but the print for "W2IHY EQ Plus" is too obtrusive, given the modest size of the enclosure. It's a much larger font than used for the writing on any other commercial gear I know of. Aside from the fact that hams don't want another station's call letters so prominently displayed in their shack, the effect gives the EQ Plus an undeserved homebrewed feel that belies the fact that it is really a piece of precision commercial electronics. At least one owner I know has made a cover plate to mask the writing, because he felt it dominated his station inappropriately. Also, I think the bright white lettering (on all the front panel labels) could be toned down a bit in the interests of esthetics. Look at the writing on, say, a Drake C-Line, for comparison. These changes could be easily implemented in the next production run.
Another front panel quibble is that the red Power On LED is too bright -- much brighter than the other LEDs in my station, and a distraction during evening hours. Again, an easy fix.
Third, in my opinion, the rear panel jacks need work. First, a DIN jack is used for the +12V DC power input, and this is really a no-no for equipment design practice. For instruments using wall-wart type power supplies, it has become standard practice to use a 2.5mm DC pwr jack. (See for example, Mouser Electronics p/n 806-KLDX-0202.) Such jacks are cheaper, MUCH easier to wire, and allow the user to use commercial power without modification. Switching to this standard design would also save W2IHY some time and money during assembly.
I really like the 8-pin mic jack on the rear panel, with a selector switch for the common wiring configurations. A nice idea. However, I'd recommend NOT using DIN jacks for the output ports. DIN plugs are flimsy, cheaply made, and very hard to wire reliably. Hams hate them. Furthermore, as presently configured, having three output jacks isn't really very helpful, since the selector switch is on the rear panel, which is inconvenient. Better to have two or three (buffered) outputs in parallel, always hot, so that the switch could be eliminated.
Otherwise the EQ Plus is a fine unit that works flawlessly, and performance-wise I can recommend it without reservation.
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| M0MRR |
Rating:      |
2008-09-30 | |
| It works |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
The EQplus by W2IHY has been a wonderful addition to my shack and I use it in combination with the W2IHY 8 band audio equalizer. My personal experience has been that the product is easy to set-up (I made up my own cables) with my Heil PR781 microphone and SDR radio. The downward expander works exceptionally well, and the compression certainly adds some 'punch'. I use a minuscule amount of effects processing to 'lift' the audio. A couple of questions I had were promptly answered by Julius – very good customer service.
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| KY5U |
Rating:      |
2008-06-17 | |
| Good Product |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Well, my feelings are hurt now. I thought Julius was just giving ME great service and now I find out he does it for EVERYONE? Now I can't look at my EQplus and not think of him with all those OTHER customers. How could he do this to me? ROFL!!!
Bought an EQplus and a 8 band equalizer at Hamcomm in Plano. Enjoyed the the conversation with Julius where he answered all my questions and we played with the gear. Brought mine home and it took about 30-40 minutes to install and get tweaked just remembering what W2IHY had told me.
The only problem I had was that while we were talking some photog from the Dallas Morning News snapped our picture and ran it in an article the next day on Hamcomm. Needless to say that ruined my exscuse with the XYL that a band of roving hooligans tied me up and MADE me buy more ham gear.
Seriously, great gear at a fair price with good service. You can't complain about that!! |
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| K2KOQ |
Rating:      |
2008-05-27 | |
| The only processor you need |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have the FT-2000-D MD 200 combo.
The EQ+ really does the job.
The Speech processor in the 2000-D did not
sound good to me at all. Adding the EQ+
gave exactly the audio sound I wanted.
I don’t have to ask “How is my audio?”
People tell me how good it sounds with having to be asked!
Thanks to custom cables,installation was a breeze.
…highly recommend
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| K5VY |
Rating:      |
2008-05-26 | |
| Great Tx Audio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| This EQ Plus is in combo with my third 8-band EQ and is switched between my Yaesu FT-2000 and my Yaesu FTdx-9000MP. Julius is an audio wizard! The comments on my Tx audio have really been great! I'm using the Heil PR-40 mic for local ragchewing on SSB switched to the Goldline for DX, all working great! I have a lot of bass in my voice, and the combo (8-band & EQ plus)allows me to deliver the kind of punch needed in DX pileups, and armchair copy for SSB ragchew. I set the internal "Parametric EQ's" on the Yaesu's to "OFF" and let the W2IHY boxes do their work. Very satisfiying. Best 73, de K5VY |
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| W3NRL |
Rating:      |
2008-05-25 | |
| Still |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Ive been running the EQ 8 BANER WITH THE eq Plus for many years now and on all my rigs using a switch to run on my ts -570, Icom 756 pro, ten tec Jupiter, ts- 2000, and i still get the Great audio reports. Yes STILL get the great reports and thank to JULIUS !!!
de
w3nrl
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Earlier 5-star review posted by W3NRL on 2005-01-17
I bought the EQ Plus with the W2IHY 8 Bander EQ and wow what a combo, this set up has giving me one audio that i didn't think i could have, i have been getting great comments about how my audio sounds on fm and ssb. I love the idea that i can taylor my audio without keying the radio. Now i use one mic (heil goldline gm-5 ) for all my radios.
Julius Great product, keep up the wonderful work
Julius i have one comment can you put the radio and mic ( I,Y,K- 1,2,3 )controls on the front panel, This would make changing the radio and mic much more accessible
thnx
73 de
w3nrl
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