HLabs Audio EQ169S is a two-channel three-band equaliser in a 1U chassis, replicating the EQ section of the Studer 169 console. Inputs and outputs are transformerless, on Neutrik XLR connectors.
Stereo bus EQ without matching two modules
Two 500-series modules across a stereo bus have to be set separately, and every time you have to check that the knobs actually landed in the same place. The EQ169S holds both channels in one chassis with independent earth lift per output, which makes it as usable across a subgroup bus as it is in front of a converter on a stereo recording. The transformerless path with top-grade op-amps stays transparent — the colour comes from the EQ curves, not from the circuit.
±15 dB shelves you do not have to dose carefully
The Studer EQ section has the property of still sounding gentle at large settings: the 20 Hz and 20 kHz shelves take deep ±15 dB moves without the hardening that parametric designs start showing at +6 dB. The Presence band, continuously variable from 150 to 7000 Hz at Q ≈ 1.0, covers the whole region where the character of a vocal, a snare and a guitar lives.
KEY FEATURES
- Two-channel three-band equaliser in a 1U chassis
- Replica of the Studer 169 console EQ section
- High and low shelves with ±15 dB of range
- Continuously variable Presence filter, 150–7000 Hz
- Transformerless input and output using top-grade op-amps
- Relay-operated bypass
- Neutrik XLR inputs and outputs
- Independent earth lift on each output
- Designed and assembled in Saint-Vérand, France
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Channels: 2
- High shelf: ±15 dB @ 20 kHz
- Presence filter: ±11 dB, 150–7000 Hz (continuously variable), Q ≈ 1.0
- Low shelf: ±15 dB @ 20 Hz
- Maximum input and output level: +22 dBu
- Input impedance: 48 kΩ; output impedance: 50 Ω
- Frequency response (1 kΩ load): ±0.5 dB from 5.4 Hz to 25 kHz
- Signal-to-noise ratio: above 105 dB (0.2% THD)
- Mains: 100–240 V, 50–60 Hz
- Dimensions: 483 × 260 × 44 mm (1U), weight 3.2 kg
