I recommend UMIK-1 USB microphone (about 100USD) with REW free software, cheap and that can measure everything you need, volume control, level meter built into the REW application. DEQ2496 has analogue microphone input and it is possible to switch it to the output, but I don't see reason to work on this way.
If room and speaker equalisation is your target, Behringer has RTA - real time analysis, room or speaker frequency response measurement capability built in, which works very well, but that is good for room amplitude equalisation only, no phase, no waterfall, step response, THD curve measurement capability, if your intention to measure these on your speaker. So I recommend Behringer against room modes with internal RTA, but UMIK-1+REW to measure speaker parameters.
Well, my main goal was to save some cash if possible
so if DEQ 2496 could be used to measure loudspeakers (as a mic preamp) in addition to its main purpose, that would be great. My options are pretty limited - I can pretty much only get what is on thomann's and one other site (the other one doesn't have the DEQ bundle on offer though) because they also stock the other stuff I need.
I've read the DEQ manual but it is quite spartan and I wasn't able to determine with certainty that it is possible to use the mic input for other purposes than its in-built RTA (can the mic input be redirected to output?). Even if the unit doesn't have a volume control (and it seems that it doesn't) which I would get with a separate mic preamp, I was planning to use the measuring software to circumvent that.
My budget is limited atm as I will be buying other stuff as well and ideally I would like to buy everything I need in one order. For this purchase I would be limited to buying either DEQ2496 in this bundle with the mic and cable if my idea works or mic (Behringer ECM8000, Superlux ECM999, t.bone MM-1 or some other cheap mic they have on offer) + some preamp like the Behringer U-Phoria UM2 or UMC22 + cable.
As I've said, DEQ2496 was on my wish list for some time already (for room and possibly headphone EQ) and if I could get one more use out of it, it would be great, if not, I'd skip on buying it for now and get the other option for speaker measurement only.
So, you said it is possible to switch the mic input to the output? Is that certain? Do you own the DEQ2496 - have you tried it? What do you think about my plan? I plan to upgrade my measurement gear later ofc, I'll probably build my own preamp later, probably the one on Elliot's site, but atm I just want something that works right now.
Thanks for your reply and help btw
.