Are Tone Controls and the Cutting Edge Incompatible?
- Thread starter Bigerik
- Start date
Art K.
The Voodoo You Do!
It's an integrated amp and it's in my living room as I type.
And I'm in a hotel room in Santa Monica, jealous of you! Anything that basic has to sound good. That's all it has to do..it certainly isn't there as needless bling.
Art K.
The Voodoo You Do!
Right on.
I really don't believe that Nelson Pass couldn't design tone controls into a preamp that would work well and disappear sonically when not in use/switched out. I think the lack of tone controls has become a hair shirt audio fashion statement, which means that builders of high end gear don't have to bother with them. Kinda like no one being able to put an auto lift on a high end turntable.
The guys at Luxman did a great job with the tone controls on the 550 AX. There if you need them. Not noticeable if you don't.
Last edited:
I really don't believe that Nelson Pass couldn't design tone controls into a preamp that would work well and disappear sonically when not in use/switched out. I think the lack of tone controls has become a hair shirt audio fashion statement, which means that builders of high end gear don't have to bother with them. Kinda like no one being able to put an auto lift on a high end turntable.
The guys at Luxman did a great job with the tone controls on the 550 AX. There if you need them. Not noticeable if you don't.
I understand that you can put effective and unobtrusive tone controls on something, but that doesn't logically mean that Nelson Pass isn't putting them on gear because of a market trend. That's just a leap in logic I'm not willing to make, based on everything I've read about his approach.
I wouldn't mind having the Luxman, though. Where my Accuphase sits, was originally a spot that I eventually wanted a 550 to go, based on everything I'd read about it, and the other Luxman gear that I own. I have a bunch of pieces of the Laboratory Reference Series and one of the things I want to track down next is the tone-control component.
BTW, I forgot to mention what was in the system I was hearing the Luxman with. The turntable was the big Avid Acutus Reference, with the monster power supply. Cartridge was the new Transfiguration Proteus. Speakers were Wilson Benesh Discoveries. Simply amazing sounding.
We also played with a Nagra BPS phone stage, which bettered the phono stage in the Luxman, but also cost half of the Luxmans price. Not that the Luxman phono sounded bad. The Nagra just sounded quicker and more detailed, compared to the more luxurious sounding Luxman.
We also played with a Nagra BPS phone stage, which bettered the phono stage in the Luxman, but also cost half of the Luxmans price. Not that the Luxman phono sounded bad. The Nagra just sounded quicker and more detailed, compared to the more luxurious sounding Luxman.
nironiro
Active Member
Rare, but is possible to find Hi End preamp with tone control, like this D'Agostino new model
http://www.stereophile.com/content/dan-dagostino-momentum-preamplifier-0
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3iQY_47pQ..._test_review_matej_isak_monoandstereo_mbl.jpg
http://www.stereophile.com/content/dan-dagostino-momentum-preamplifier-0
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3iQY_47pQ..._test_review_matej_isak_monoandstereo_mbl.jpg
ofajen
Daddy-O-Daddy-O-Baby
These days studio mixers tend to monitor "flat", but thirty years ago or more it was common to have the option to monitor with a slight downward "tilt" eq on the monitors.
This helps make sure you produce a slightly lively and bright sounding mix that will come across well when reproduced by home listeners. Perhaps there was more concern about this when tracking and mixing was done to tape, mastering was on vinyl and all home listening was tape or vinyl. More likelihood of a bit of generational loss of highs in the typical path than in the current, digital audio world.
I would find it handy at times to have a tilt eq circuit available in the studio monitor amp audio path, but no way am I gonna spend $5K for something I can design and build with a relatively modest set of parts.
Cheers,
Otto
Art K.
The Voodoo You Do!
What a wonderful system. That had to be fun!
jblnut
Don't Overthink It
Ever use or listen to a Threshold T2 premp? The crazy thing has banks of resistors that get switched into the circuit one by one. I had it here for a weekend and my friend eventually bought it. Seems to be a direct result of this line of thinking..
Jblnut
ofajen
Daddy-O-Daddy-O-Baby
I use a custom-made Shallco stepped attenuator in my studio on the control room signal to the monitor amp. This is not unusual in studios, especially among mastering engineers, who need carefully calibrated monitor gain.
I must confess that the simple ganged, audio pot I'm using in front of the power amp in the home office seems to do no more damage to the audio than the stepped attenuator; that is, none that I can detect. Certainly cleaner than the active preamp it replaced.
Cheers,
Otto
It certainly was! The common view of the high end certainly would not have built a system that way. Three boxes would have replaced the Luxman. But outside of North America, and especially the US, big dollar, very high quality, integrated amps are very popular. Apparently, Luxman will not spend any dollars advertising their integrated amps in the US. There is near enough no market for them in North America, but they are very popular in Asia and Europe.
Different fashions in audio.