Very occasionally, a design is so correct from the very start that it needs little or no development over many years.
The KLARK TEKNIK DN360 has been in continuous production for over twenty years with only one minor design revision, and is still the most popular analogue graphic equaliser on the planet.
With over 35,000 units shipped worldwide to date, DN360 has achieved ubiquity in pro-audio circles. So why is it so enduringly popular? Like all KT units it is well designed and engineered to very high standards so will handle continuous road use with only minimal service. They are also very consistent, so engineers using units sourced locally all over the world will get the same response every time.
But perhaps most important of all is the way they sound – it’s notoriously difficult to describe sound, but talk to anyone that prefers DN360s to any other graphic and they will use words like ‘musical’ ‘smooth’ ‘responsive’ and ‘great sounding’. Primarily this is because we use proportional-Q filtering, where the ‘Q’ value of the frequency increases as the cut or boost increases. This provides a flowing response at low cut / boost values, but also accurate frequency control at higher values.