Methods of efficient calculation of initial equalizer coefficients are described. In a first stage, a channel matched filter is generated based on an estimate of CIR and then used to filter the CIR estimate. In a second stage, initial FFE coefficients are calculated from a portion of the match filtered CIR and then these initial FFE coefficients and the estimate of CIR may be used to generate initial DFE coefficients. In various embodiments, a window is applied to the CIR estimate before the matched filter is generated. In various embodiments, the second stage is iterated to minimize the pre-echoes following the FFE.