vferrari
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The purpose of this post, for those who are interested, is to dispel some rumors, confusion, and misinformation regarding the following questions - What is Multi IQ and what can it do for me? (Quick answer: See below), How many simultaneous frequencies does the Equinox transmit in multifrequency? (Quick Answer: It Depends) and Is Multi IQ implemented identically in the 600 and 800? (Quick Answer: Yes!). There is a third question - Does it really matter to the average Equinox user? (Quick Answer: No)
As a result of a confusing combination of marketing and technical information regarding the Equinox detector technology that Minelab calls Multi IQ many were under the mistaken impression that the Equinox 600 Multifrequency capability was different than the 800 and were confused about the number and frequency of the multi frequency signals transmitted by the Equinox .
Most folks don't really care about the details as long as the Equinox just works and does what it is supposed to do. While others endlessly debate the underlying meaning of ML blog posts and user manual explanations that generally result in a lot more questions than answers, presumably because on one hand the technology is complex and difficult to explain and on the other hand, certain details are withheld to protect ML intellectual property from the competition. This is further complicated by by ML inexplicably conflating the different single frequency mode capabilities of the 600 and 800 models with the Multi IQ frequency spectrum. Because the 600 can only transmit on three discrete single frequencies (5, 10, and 15 khz) vs. the the five available for the 800 (5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 khz), ML has confused users regarding the Multi IQ capabilities between the two machines because ML has used frequency spectrum "cloud" diagrams that prominently feature the 5 base frequencies of the 800. There really was no reason for ML to do this because there really is not hard correlation between the discrete frequencies transmitted in multi frequency mode and the 5 individual base single frequencies available in single frequency mode on the 800. What is important is that the transmitted simultaneous frequency spectrum covers the range 5 to 40 khz and more impotantly, what Multi IQ does to to take advantage of that to process the received target signals.
Anyway, a lot of frequency spectrum analyzers, magnetic probes, microphonics, and other geeky test equipment gadgets have been enlisted to resolve the debate and because people are often debating apples and oranges, confusion reigns supreme with an underlying mistaken impression that more is necessarily better when it comes to the number of frequencies generated and/or transmitted.
What is Multi IQ?
There are plenty of detailed articles on the ML website and some explanations in the Equinox User Guide that more fully explain what Multi IQ is and is not. So I will keep it brief and to the point here. Multi IQ is a newer simultaneous multifrequency detector technology that ML has implemented on the Equinox detector. It is important to note that Multi IQ does not just refer to the multi frequency signal transmission the Equinox uses but also to the signal processing algorithms that Equinox uses to extract useful target information while in Multi.
Why Multi IQ?
Multi enables a lot of good things that makes Equinox one of the best performing VLF detectors available. First, multi enables superior ground phase compensation in both mineralized soil and salt. This makes it a great salt beach machine and enables a lot of versatility for other types of detecting including coin shooting, jewelry hunting, relic hunting, and gold prospecting. Multi IQ does not eliminate the need to ground balance the machine entirely but it does allow the machine to be very forgiving of a less than optimal ground balance. Multi IQ also helps with target ID stability, discrimination, and also enables a feature called iron bias which can be used to reduce falsing from large, round iron and small iron nail heads. Multi IQ also enables the multiple search profiles or modes that Equinox is capable of providing. The variation in responsiveness to different targets (e.g., high conductive coins, mid-conductive coins, small jewelry, mid-conductive relics, and gold nuggets) and different environmental conditions (mild and hot soil, salt beach, gold fields, freshwater) is facilitated by slight variations in the transmitted frequency spectrum and in the return signal processing. Thus what makes Park 1 different than Field 2 different than Beach 1 different than Gold 2 is not just the user adjustable settings of tones, threshold, recovery speed, and iron bias but in the underlying Multi IQ frequency spectrum and processing algorithms. That is why each mode must be individually noise cancelled and ground balanced, because the different frequency spectra of the different modes means they will behave differently to EMI and the actual measure ground phase. This also means that when you go to single frequency on the four Park and Field modes, you are essentially making all those modes identical except for the different default/custom user parameter settings.
How Many Frequencies are Used in Multi IQ? and Is Multi IQ the Same on both the 600 and 800?
The "It depends" answer depends on what you are talking about - the signal fed into the coil is most likely two square waves of different frequencies. When those two square wave signals are combined the result is an transmitted electromagnetic signal with a wide spectrum of prominent frequencies. The number of useful frequencies is probably more than 5 and those prominent frequency spikes do not necessarily correspond to the single frequency base frequencies of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 khz, but the frequency spectrum certainly falls within the 5 to 40 khz range. The spectrum is different depending on the mode selected and that plus the way Multi IQ processes the target and ground signals gives each search profile/mode its custom performance capabilities. Park 1 and Field 1 spectrum weighted to the lower end of the spectrum (i.e., it has primarily low frequency components between 5 and 10 khz but also some high frequency components) because that favors high conductors and large targets like silver and copper coins and large silver artifacts. The Park 2 and Field 2 spectrum is weighted more towards the higher end of the spectrum (i.e., most components towards 15, 20 and 40 khz) which favors smaller targets and mid conductors like nickels, gold, aluminum, brass, and lead relics and small jewelry. The Beach modes are also low frequency weighted but since they also have high frequency components, will find beach gold. Finally, the gold modes are very high frequency weighted (mostly towards 40 khz) for small natural gold hunting. So is the answer to the multifrequency question 2, 5, 7, 50. Frankly, it doesn't really matter but if you want to wade into these debates it is important to at least fence off the territory that you want to talk about - i.e., the signal fed into the coil, the signal that is emitted from the coil. Regardless two things are certain - (1) the multifrequency spectrum does not line up with the 5 single base frequencies - they simply conveniently define the frequency range the Multi IQ transmitted signal spectra fall into and (2) The multi IQ transmitted frequency spectra is identical for the modes common to both the Equinox 600 and 800 detectors.
A recent back and forth I had with another forum member on this subject was primarily the result of us talking past each other while each of us was referring to different aspects of the above discussion - I was referring to the signal fed into the coil and he was referring the coil output spectra (his detailed frequency spectrum analyzer measurements showed no less than 7 frequency spikes and also showed the multifrequency output spectra was identical for the 600 and the 800). Turns out we were both essentially correct in the aspects of the multi frequency signal sequence to which were each referring. Go figure. Regardless, without ML explicitly weighing in with more facts and with a lot of the above information being "reverse engineered" by hooking up various pieces of electronic test equipment and analyzers to an Equinox the debate will continue to rage on most probably. Again, the detectorist doesn't really care about this as long as it works. Better understanding of this does not necessarily translate into improved user technique, just satisfying geeky curiosity mostly.
Recap:
Is Multi IQ and the frequencies used for common modes the same for common modes between the Equinox 600 and 800? Yes.
How many Multi IQ Frequencies are Used Simultaneously? Probably two square wave frequencies combined and fed into the coil resulting in 5 to 7 frequencies transmitted from the coil in the range of 5 to 40 khz. The spectrum for each mode is slightly different.
Does anyone really care? If geeks count as anyone, then yes.
Does it really matter to the detectorist? Not really.
If you are still with me and interested in this geeky deep dive, hope that answered some questions and put to rest some confusion and rumors. Welcome more discussion, questions and debates for those who are interested.
HH
As a result of a confusing combination of marketing and technical information regarding the Equinox detector technology that Minelab calls Multi IQ many were under the mistaken impression that the Equinox 600 Multifrequency capability was different than the 800 and were confused about the number and frequency of the multi frequency signals transmitted by the Equinox .
Most folks don't really care about the details as long as the Equinox just works and does what it is supposed to do. While others endlessly debate the underlying meaning of ML blog posts and user manual explanations that generally result in a lot more questions than answers, presumably because on one hand the technology is complex and difficult to explain and on the other hand, certain details are withheld to protect ML intellectual property from the competition. This is further complicated by by ML inexplicably conflating the different single frequency mode capabilities of the 600 and 800 models with the Multi IQ frequency spectrum. Because the 600 can only transmit on three discrete single frequencies (5, 10, and 15 khz) vs. the the five available for the 800 (5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 khz), ML has confused users regarding the Multi IQ capabilities between the two machines because ML has used frequency spectrum "cloud" diagrams that prominently feature the 5 base frequencies of the 800. There really was no reason for ML to do this because there really is not hard correlation between the discrete frequencies transmitted in multi frequency mode and the 5 individual base single frequencies available in single frequency mode on the 800. What is important is that the transmitted simultaneous frequency spectrum covers the range 5 to 40 khz and more impotantly, what Multi IQ does to to take advantage of that to process the received target signals.
Anyway, a lot of frequency spectrum analyzers, magnetic probes, microphonics, and other geeky test equipment gadgets have been enlisted to resolve the debate and because people are often debating apples and oranges, confusion reigns supreme with an underlying mistaken impression that more is necessarily better when it comes to the number of frequencies generated and/or transmitted.
What is Multi IQ?
There are plenty of detailed articles on the ML website and some explanations in the Equinox User Guide that more fully explain what Multi IQ is and is not. So I will keep it brief and to the point here. Multi IQ is a newer simultaneous multifrequency detector technology that ML has implemented on the Equinox detector. It is important to note that Multi IQ does not just refer to the multi frequency signal transmission the Equinox uses but also to the signal processing algorithms that Equinox uses to extract useful target information while in Multi.
Why Multi IQ?
Multi enables a lot of good things that makes Equinox one of the best performing VLF detectors available. First, multi enables superior ground phase compensation in both mineralized soil and salt. This makes it a great salt beach machine and enables a lot of versatility for other types of detecting including coin shooting, jewelry hunting, relic hunting, and gold prospecting. Multi IQ does not eliminate the need to ground balance the machine entirely but it does allow the machine to be very forgiving of a less than optimal ground balance. Multi IQ also helps with target ID stability, discrimination, and also enables a feature called iron bias which can be used to reduce falsing from large, round iron and small iron nail heads. Multi IQ also enables the multiple search profiles or modes that Equinox is capable of providing. The variation in responsiveness to different targets (e.g., high conductive coins, mid-conductive coins, small jewelry, mid-conductive relics, and gold nuggets) and different environmental conditions (mild and hot soil, salt beach, gold fields, freshwater) is facilitated by slight variations in the transmitted frequency spectrum and in the return signal processing. Thus what makes Park 1 different than Field 2 different than Beach 1 different than Gold 2 is not just the user adjustable settings of tones, threshold, recovery speed, and iron bias but in the underlying Multi IQ frequency spectrum and processing algorithms. That is why each mode must be individually noise cancelled and ground balanced, because the different frequency spectra of the different modes means they will behave differently to EMI and the actual measure ground phase. This also means that when you go to single frequency on the four Park and Field modes, you are essentially making all those modes identical except for the different default/custom user parameter settings.
How Many Frequencies are Used in Multi IQ? and Is Multi IQ the Same on both the 600 and 800?
The "It depends" answer depends on what you are talking about - the signal fed into the coil is most likely two square waves of different frequencies. When those two square wave signals are combined the result is an transmitted electromagnetic signal with a wide spectrum of prominent frequencies. The number of useful frequencies is probably more than 5 and those prominent frequency spikes do not necessarily correspond to the single frequency base frequencies of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 khz, but the frequency spectrum certainly falls within the 5 to 40 khz range. The spectrum is different depending on the mode selected and that plus the way Multi IQ processes the target and ground signals gives each search profile/mode its custom performance capabilities. Park 1 and Field 1 spectrum weighted to the lower end of the spectrum (i.e., it has primarily low frequency components between 5 and 10 khz but also some high frequency components) because that favors high conductors and large targets like silver and copper coins and large silver artifacts. The Park 2 and Field 2 spectrum is weighted more towards the higher end of the spectrum (i.e., most components towards 15, 20 and 40 khz) which favors smaller targets and mid conductors like nickels, gold, aluminum, brass, and lead relics and small jewelry. The Beach modes are also low frequency weighted but since they also have high frequency components, will find beach gold. Finally, the gold modes are very high frequency weighted (mostly towards 40 khz) for small natural gold hunting. So is the answer to the multifrequency question 2, 5, 7, 50. Frankly, it doesn't really matter but if you want to wade into these debates it is important to at least fence off the territory that you want to talk about - i.e., the signal fed into the coil, the signal that is emitted from the coil. Regardless two things are certain - (1) the multifrequency spectrum does not line up with the 5 single base frequencies - they simply conveniently define the frequency range the Multi IQ transmitted signal spectra fall into and (2) The multi IQ transmitted frequency spectra is identical for the modes common to both the Equinox 600 and 800 detectors.
A recent back and forth I had with another forum member on this subject was primarily the result of us talking past each other while each of us was referring to different aspects of the above discussion - I was referring to the signal fed into the coil and he was referring the coil output spectra (his detailed frequency spectrum analyzer measurements showed no less than 7 frequency spikes and also showed the multifrequency output spectra was identical for the 600 and the 800). Turns out we were both essentially correct in the aspects of the multi frequency signal sequence to which were each referring. Go figure. Regardless, without ML explicitly weighing in with more facts and with a lot of the above information being "reverse engineered" by hooking up various pieces of electronic test equipment and analyzers to an Equinox the debate will continue to rage on most probably. Again, the detectorist doesn't really care about this as long as it works. Better understanding of this does not necessarily translate into improved user technique, just satisfying geeky curiosity mostly.
Recap:
Is Multi IQ and the frequencies used for common modes the same for common modes between the Equinox 600 and 800? Yes.
How many Multi IQ Frequencies are Used Simultaneously? Probably two square wave frequencies combined and fed into the coil resulting in 5 to 7 frequencies transmitted from the coil in the range of 5 to 40 khz. The spectrum for each mode is slightly different.
Does anyone really care? If geeks count as anyone, then yes.
Does it really matter to the detectorist? Not really.
If you are still with me and interested in this geeky deep dive, hope that answered some questions and put to rest some confusion and rumors. Welcome more discussion, questions and debates for those who are interested.
HH
Amazon Forum Fav 👍
Last edited:
, at least it clarifies to me a little more then the generic description that Minelab puts out there. 
