Audiophile purists scoff at equalisers and shun even something as simple – and sometimes useful – as tone controls. Anything that gets in the way of the purest music signal is a no-go. But sometimes a good equaliser can actually be a great tool that can solve some problems related to how the sound behaves in the room.
That’s why most McIntosh amplifiers have a simple equaliser on the front. It can be switched on with a button when needed, and in our experience, it doesn’t get in the way of the sound experience in any way.
The McIntosh MA12000 will break your back and empty your wallet, but the sound will make you euphoric and happy.
Now you don’t have to buy a whole amplifier to get equalisation in your home system. The MQ112 is a separate equalizer that can be connected between a preamplifier and a power amplifier, and they don’t even have to be from McIntosh.
The MQ112 is not the first so-called environmental equalizer from McIntosh, but it has been a long time since they made the previous MQ model. Back then, it compensated for the placement of the speakers in the room and the poor sound quality of the source material.
Now it’s more about fine-tuning, and here you get eight bands from 25 Hz to 10 kHz, with adjustments of ±12 dB. The MQ112 also has a tilt of ±6 dB, which can be used almost as a loudness, where you can lift the bass or treble.
The equalizer settings can be switched on and off as needed, and for flexibility, the MQ112 has both balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs.
The McIntosh MQ112 is ready to order and costs 3,000 USD.