The invention provides a DMT or OFDM equalization system that deals with each tone not only separately, but also globally, which provides better overall performance. In the inventive system, only M+T variables are required to be determined, where M is the number of tones and T represents the number of SIRF taps. The invention defines a matrix R, in which optimal coefficients are found as the eigenvector corresponding to the smallest eigenvalue of the matrix R. The dynamic range of all variables is limited in a system in accordance with the present invention, which provides ease of hardware implementation. Furthermore, the inventive system retains the advantages of per-tone equalization by providing a smoother signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) distribution function versus synchronization delay. In addition, no effort is wasted on the equalization of unused tones, because it is unnecessary to determine the coefficients for unused tones.