Build a 5-band graphic equalizer circuit using NE5532 and LM833

This is a design diagram of a 5-band graphic equalizer circuit built using op amp chip NE5532 or LM833. Op amp ICs are a good choice as they are cheap and the output quality is quite good. Each IC contains dual op-amp circuits, so you will need 4 ICs of NE5532 or LM833 to build this 5-band graphic equalizer.

For best audio performance, use:

Regulated power supply circuit (using LM78xx)

Use MKM type non-polar capacitors

Use tantalum type bipolar capacitors (electrolytic capacitors)

Use metal film type resistors

Equalizer circuits typically divide the audio spectrum into separate frequency bands and provide independent gain controls for each band. The output of each band is mixed at IC4(A) and then fed to the audio power amplifier. An appropriate quality factor (Q) needs to be chosen to avoid overlap of adjacent frequency bands, as this will introduce coloration into the audio signal.

The potentiometers (VR1 to VR5) are in the signal path and therefore should have the best quality. Wrap the body of the pot with bare copper wire and solder the other end of the wire to ground. Since the filter is very sensitive and for best performance, all resistors should be metal film type and capacitors should be polyester type.