Bugzilla – Bug 11086
Include balance control, maybe simple EQ in core!
Last modified: 2009-02-23 10:02:12 UTC
Sorry for updating an old issue, but I think there is a NEED out there. Rooms and equipment just aren’t ideal in real life. This needs to be targeted at. I just ran into the same issue: Needing a balance control due to an imperfect "stereo triangle". And yes, I know, in theory it would also require DRC because of delay issues. But alas! I'd love to use InguzEQ, but it's simply unusable on a 1.8GHz P4 PC, and I'm planning to put SC onto a Linux machine eventually. Many people use SB3 or Duet Receivers with *just* active speakers, and not everyone uses Windows or has the processing power for InguzEQ (NAS users!). I really think that a product that can be used as a pure "easy start" consumer product with an upgrade path to an audiophile setup should have a means for balance control, and maybe even a simple 3- or 5-band equalizer *built in*. Since I've seen very fine design in the SB product line, I'd be astonished if (at least) a balance control couldn't be done in firmware in the hardware units (SB2/SB3/Duet Receiver/Transporter) and only *controlled* via the remotes (IR/SBC), like the volume is now. Integrating this feature into the core would allow anyone to start with a good quality "beginner setup" (i.e. SqueezeBox + active speakers) and allow a perfect upgrade path to an "audiophile setup" later on, without compromising quality. (Like volume, these "extra features" could probably be disabled in SqueezeCenter Settings.) Logitech: Read "increase sales". Really.
Can I suggest an enhancement to this enhancement? (one I was planning to propose anyway, but fits both technically and logically with this one): * Include a Stereo/Mono selector in the Audio Settings * Reason: in applications where only one speaker is used, or the two speakers are NOT arranged as a stereo pair, then a mono signal, fed to both outputs is needed. Two speakers very widely separated, or in different areas would benefit from mono signals being fed to both. I use a SB2 on a room divider, with one active speaker facing into the kitchen, and the other active speaker facing into the dining room. Hence the need for a mono pair of outputs. This stereo/mono switch should obviously be placed in the signal path BEFORE the balance control proposed above, so the latter still has the desired effect.
Unfortunately we can't do these things in the firmware on the current products. We'll keep this in mind for the future.