Klark Teknik DN-332
Two full-range 16-band channels of Klark Teknik equalisation squeezed into just two inches of rack space — the broadcast engineer's line-equalising tool.
Overview
The DN-332 is Klark Teknik's dual 2/3-octave graphic equaliser, sixteen bands per channel, and the whole design argument is density. Recording Engineer (August 1983, p.110) noted the DN360 dual-channel third-octave graphic equaliser as a development in the same line. The distributor literature of the period is blunt about the purpose: the unit is intended for stereo tonal control, and "particularly in outside broadcasting to equalize lines," where the use of the DN-332 gives the engineer two full frequency range 2/3-octave channels of equalisation. That "particularly" is doing real work — this is a box built with the broadcast van and the transmission line in mind, not the studio monitor room.
The packaging is the trick. Klark Teknik's own product listing describes the DN-332 as putting two full frequency range octave channels of equalisation "within only 2" vertical rack space." Anyone who has racked a pair of conventional 30-band graphics knows what that claim is worth: half the rack height, twice the channel count, and the same stereo coverage. For an OB truck or a cassette-duplication line where rack real estate is at a premium, that geometry is the entire sales pitch.
The band count is where the DN-332 sits in the range, and it is a deliberate middle position. Sixteen bands at 2/3-octave spacing is coarser than the 30-band ⅓-octave resolution of the DN360, but it is finer than a plain octave graphic. The trade-off is honest: you give up the ability to notch a single narrow resonance, and in exchange you get a channel that is quick to set up and covers the full audio band without eating a whole rack unit per side. For line equalisation — correcting the gentle tilt a long cable run or a tape machine introduces — that resolution is usually enough, and the extra faders on a 30-band unit are often just there to be left flat.
The DN-332B is the same equaliser with balanced outputs, and the price gap between the two tells you how Klark Teknik positioned the options. The distributor listings quote the DN-332 at a manufacturer's suggested list of $1095.00, with the balanced-output DN-332B stepping up to $1245.00 — a $150 premium for the convenience of a balanced interface. That is a modest upcharge by the standards of the day, and most working engineers who were patching into professional line-level gear would have taken it. The unbalanced version made sense for shorter, controlled installs; the B variant was the one you bought if the unit was going to live in a real signal chain.
What the DN-332 does not try to be is a surgical instrument. The 2/3-octave spacing and the sixteen-fader layout make it a broad-stroke tonal corrector — the kind of EQ you reach for when a feed sounds dull or thin and you want to fix it in a hurry without hunting for a single offending frequency. Klark Teknik built its reputation on the precision of its ⅓-octave graphics, and the DN-332 trades some of that precision for portability and speed. Collectors who know the brand's DN360 will recognise the house sound and the build philosophy; the DN-332 is the same thinking applied to a smaller, faster, more rack-efficient package.
Documentation on the DN-332 is thin compared to the company's flagship equalisers — the surviving record is mostly distributor price sheets and a conformity declaration that lists the DN332 among the graphic equaliser variants covered by the DN300 family. That declaration, dated 1 January 1997 and signed by Klark Teknik's head of engineering, places the DN332 squarely in the graphic equaliser line alongside the DN360 and DN301, which is useful confirmation of its lineage even if it says nothing about the circuit inside.
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