"Q" is a measurement that usually comes up when talking about
equalizers. It tells how "wide" the affected area is when you dial in
boost or cut for a particular center frequency. For instance, in an
equalizer with a large "Q", if you dial in 3 dB of boost at 120 Hz,
you may find that this results in a 2 dB gain at 110 Hz and 130 Hz,
and a 1 dB gain at 100 Hz and 140 Hz. Also, in some equalizers, the
more boost or cut you dial in, the larger "Q" gets, which means that
if you need to dial in a large amount of boost or cut, like 6 dB or
more, you may get unwanted effects on nearby frequencies.
An equalizer with a smaller "Q" would allow you to dial in
larger adjustments without the changes spilling over into adjacent
bands as much. Several manufacturers, such as AudioControl, have
"constant-Q" equalizers, where the "width" of the affected frequencies
doesn't change, no matter how much boost or cut you dial in.
As for your Kenwood deck, I think the "Q" you're talking about
is part of the "System Q-EX Sound Control " that deck features. As
such, I'm not sure if it's the same "Q" I'm talking about. What are
the available settings? If the choices are "narrow", "medium" and
"wide", or "small", "medium", and "large", then it's probably the same
equalizer "Q" I described.

Scott Gardner


On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 19:12:31 +0200, "Peter"
wrote:

Just got Kenwood X569 installed, and started tinkering around with controls.
What is Q-factor and how should I be setting it for bass, mid and treble? Is
it something determined by speakers?

Thx!
Peter