Do some audiophiles really prefer flat frequency response?

[Balifly]

I've read that some audio purists frown on tone controls and equalization. I've tried to listen to music with a flat response and to me it just sounds awful. Transistor radio-like. It's been proven scientifically that some frequencies are easier heard than others to the human ear. So then why would anyone choose a level graph over something that really sounds good? Especially if you have good equipment that can really make it come to life. I'd love to hear from the purists and anyone with your thoughts on this. .... Sam

Some so call audiophiles lies about not using tone control.

 

[the skipper]

Assume your're at a restaurant. You ordered a steak. It/s your steak. You can put on as much salt, pepper, or steak sauce as you want,. You paid for it, You can do what you do with it what want to it as you want to make it palatable to you. Me, I might prefer a bit of salt and pepper but that's my choice.

 

[musichal]

I prefer my steak genetically altered, hormone injected and soaked in MSG, but I still don't use eq's. Okay, I will admit that I am indeed lying... I haven't had a steak in several years, but I've had my eye on a good one at the butcher's and am saving up for it.

 

[Gibsonian]

Assume your're at a restaurant. You ordered a steak. It/s your steak. You can put on as much salt, pepper, or steak sauce as you want,. You paid for it, You can do what you do with it what want to it as you want to make it palatable to you. Me, I might prefer a bit of salt and pepper but that's my choice.

Yes but the "engineer" made it palatable for you and shouldn't you eat it as it was made, no alterations such that it remains true to the professional that made it? The added ingredients will spoil the original, distorting it from it's original state...………………..

 

[Beatnik]

If I get a steak and have to add anything, it wasn't prepared properly to begin with, so changes are made. Some cooks are excellent, some aren't so great.

 

[E-Stat]

Me, I might prefer a bit of salt and pepper but that's my choice.

On a rare occasion, the chef puts on too much pepper and I scrape some off the top. Otherwise, the restaurants I go to are competent.

 

[musichal]

Speak to me more of this restaurant thing; what is it, and how does it work? Can one get Ramen noodles there? Peanut butter crackers? A can of sardines?

 

[quiet]

Well it can be hard to spot one because the sign out front doesn't actually say sodium.

 

[SWL3600]

What you do with tone controls or EQ is entirely dependent on your room, your ears and how you prefer to listen.

If I HAD to listen to my system the way some of my audiophile friends listen to their systems, I'd find another hobby pronto because ALMOST anything I've heard set at flat sounds like an absolute joke to me in MOST cases but not all.

Doesn't matter though. I'm not listening to their systems in their house. I'm listening to MY system in MY house and I dig it. Most people love it....some don't and those are typically the wooden eared dorks that listen to their systems flat LOL.

I've read that audiophiles make up only 1% of the population? Well the way I see (hear) it.....if 100 people went to a live rock and roll concert and the sound guy set everything to flat, 99 of those people would get up and walk out and their would be one guy left standing their snapping his fingers singing along admiring the lame sound quality.

Or maybe I've got it all wrong.....maybe us EQ guys have a deficiency in our hearing. Whatever it is I'll continue to use my EQ, big as subs etc. etc til they put me in the ground.

Oh yeah......

 

[Beatnik]

What you do with tone controls or EQ is entirely dependent on your room, your ears and how you prefer to listen.

If I HAD to listen to my system the way some of my audiophile friends listen to their systems, I'd find another hobby pronto because ALMOST anything I've heard set at flat sounds like an absolute joke to me in MOST cases but not all.

Doesn't matter though. I'm not listening to their systems in their house. I'm listening to MY system in MY house and I dig it. Most people love it....some don't and those are typically the wooden eared dorks that listen to their systems flat LOL.

I've read that audiophiles make up only 1% of the population? Well the way I see (hear) it.....if 100 people went to a live rock and roll concert and the sound guy set everything to flat, 99 of those people would get up and walk out and their would be one guy left standing their snapping his fingers singing along admiring the lame sound quality.

Or maybe I've got it all wrong.....maybe us EQ guys have a deficiency in our hearing. Whatever it is I'll continue to use my EQ, big as subs etc. etc til they put me in the ground.

Oh yeah......

This comes back to the, if you have and use tone controls your not an audiophile. I wonder if R.L. uses tone controls in his home system ?

 

[Ken Boyd]

This comes back to the, if you have and use tone controls your not an audiophile. I wonder if R.L. uses tone controls in his home system ?

No that goes back to what I posted, an EQ lover mocking anyone who doesn't prefer an EQ in their system as a "Wooden Ear Dork" which is a new one to me, it's usually an "Audiophile Snob". It would be interesting to know how many threads are started by people with gear that doesn't have an EQ or gear with no Tone Controls mocking those who use them, from my memory the number would be few if any.

 

[Beatnik]

Just about every add an eq thread get's slammed, I read them all.

 

[Beatnik]

It would seem to me that mastering is always a comprise, has to sound listenable on whatever it is played back on by a listener. If someone's system is more capable than anothers, then adjustments can always be made to compensate.

I have a Supertramp Breakfast in America pure audio disc thay sounds amazing flat.

 

[62caddy]

The main reason for the demise for EQ threads comes from those who firmly believe that their way is the way. On that front, there's plenty of guilt to go around- regardless of camp.

 

[4-2-7]

It would seem to me that mastering is always a comprise,

Then the logical question is,
Does one need to EQ?
Does one need to EQ every side of a record?

 

[stoutblock]

Altering low level EQ slopes prior to the power amps can improve your speakers response within any given room but working with full frequency stero channels is typically a compromise at best. If you are very, very lucky, your speakers, room and ears don’t need EQ but this level of luck in audio is quite rare. I strongly believe the ideal solution is no passive crossover in the speakers, a highly adjustable active crossover and independent amplification for each frequency range for the drivers in the speakers. Four way active crossovers for each channel can tune a system to perfection with much less compromise than exists in a passive crossover designed by someone who had no clue how the speaker will couple with the room (or the listener’s ears).

This level of tuning ability in the wrong hands can totally screw up the best of systems, and there is something to say for a skilled audio engineer’s crossover and driver solutions for great speakers, but uncompromised personal solutions for your own listening space cannot be beat.

 

[woodj]

Silly topic. As if "liking" a flat response was confirmation of possessing flat gear, flat room, flat ears, and flat taste. Or some Monte Carlo combination of individual non-flatnesses which produces an overall flat response. Not for me.

Yes.

Yes but the "engineer" made it palatable for you and shouldn't you eat it as it was made,

What credentials do these "engineers" have; do we know?

 

[Beatnik]

Then the logical question is,
Does one need to EQ?

Maybe.

Does one need to EQ every side of a record?

No.

 

[drumbum]

Big problem I see with most peoples opinion about "flat" is that it isn't flat unless speakers are "measured" in room.

Not tone controls set flat or defeated
Not EQ sliders set flat across at 0 db

Flat on a graphic EQ, properly adjusted, for speaker/room combo, will have sliders all over with what appears to be no rhyme or reason.

A graphic EQ needs spectrum analyzing with mic input and pink noise generator at a minimum, unless you have a means to play "Mr. Microphone", i.e. spl meter an patience.

BSR EQ-3000 adds .008thd and -100db hum and noise a weighted. Wasn't it bragged about when a manufacturer built speakers w/less than 10% distortion back in the day?

 

[4-2-7]

It would seem to me that mastering is always a comprise, has to sound listenable on whatever it is played back on by a listener. If someone's system is more capable than anothers, then adjustments can always be made to compensate.

Maybe.

Then the logical question is,
Does one need to EQ?

No.

Does one need to EQ every side of a record?

Why maybe & No now?

The logical question would be.

If the mastering is "Always compromised", and the system adjustments can "Always be made to compensate", why would one not "Alway EQ every a record?