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Why we need tone controls and/or equalizers

Z

Zygmo

Super Member
Guys. I am tired of audiophiles saying 'set your tone controls flat'.:boring:

Walk into a recording studio....look over there at the guy sitting at this huge console with numerous sliders and knobs. Do you know what many of those are??? TONE controls. He, and the artist are deciding where to put those controls to make their ears happy. How do you know that what they decide on will make your ears happy? And if, for some reason, you are looking to get the exact same sound the artist achieved...forget it. Your equipment and room is certainly different from where the recording was made.

We are all getting older too. Losing some high notes first. Treble boost will put some brightness back into the music.:banana:

If you have a recording that seems a little deficient in bass....add a little! Don't suffer through the recording wishing the artist (or engineer) had done it for you.

One of the dumbest things I ever read in a stereo magazine was: "A perfect preamplifier would be a straight wire with gain". No doubt it would be accurate...but how boring that would be!
 
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Uh Oh, another fire.

I consider myself an audiophile and I DO use tone controls. Other times, I bypass them. Someone can take my tone controls out of my stereo over my dead body. :D
 
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I totally agree with you Zygmo. Back in the 70's I would run everything flat. These days I run the bass at the 3 o'clock position and the treble is set at the 12 o'clock position. Since the 70's I have developed tinitus along with a notched peak in my hearing at 1,000 cycles which can make some recordings very unpleasant to listen to. Sometimes I even roll the treble back to the 9 or 10 o'clock position. I also adjust tone controls relative to the acoustics of the room and to the type of music played.
 
I you like the results without, don't use it, but if you need to add something to a flat recording or your room demands it, go for it.:thmbsp:
 
You know, I don't like the flesh tone Da Vinci used on the Mona Lisa. It just doesn't look right to me. I think I'll just brighten it up a bit with this white paint.
 
I think what many try to accomplish is to have the least amount of cables and components between source and speakers while getting the sound they desire.
 
Zygmo said:
Guys. I am tired of audiophiles saying 'set your tone controls flat'.:boring:

Walk into a recording studio....look over there at the guy sitting at this huge console with numerous sliders and knobs. Do you know what many of those are??? TONE controls. He, and the artist are deciding where to put those controls to make their ears happy.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is true and when I run my tone controls flat I get to hear exactly what they have mixed for me and its desired response.

If I need to add bass or treble it is because something is missing in the recording or the room but not my gear.

I am not an "Audiophile". They are a very lonely bunch IMHO.
I enjoy the music and having it sound right in my home. Always have. When I run Tone Flat its to hear the beauty of the work I have done getting it right!
 
Jancumps (irock)....and you are happy with all recordings as they come out???
My hearing still checks out as excellent, but even when I was in my teens, I wanted more bass in the music. I cannot imagine anyone (especially an 'irock') being happy with the original recordings from, say, the early Animals, or Rolling Stones. Talk about flat recordings!! Now, if rap is your thing, considering the way those are engineered, and your system has eight 15" woofers driven with 2000 watts....yes, I imagine you wouldn't need any boost.

Basically, what I am saying is...don't tell someone who is just getting into buying stereo equipment to try to find preamps without tone controls. That is what somebody said to a reader in one of the other forums, which is why I made the post. Hey....just cause the controls are there....doesn't mean they have to be used! But, at least they are there if needed.

AstroSonic is a good example of what I am saying. He used to be happy with everything set flat..now he is not. Being able to turn a knob, or push a slider to continue enjoying music is a small price to pay to give up that "straight wire with gain". :)
 
cWall99...EXACTLY. You proved my point! You changed the Mona Lisa to the way you like it....but later, you decide HEY...I liked it better the way it was!! Now whatcha gonna do? Unlike having tone controls that can be put back...you would be screwed.

Thank you for clarifying my post!
 
ha

Good timing on this thread

I've been finding and fixing gear for some months now. Aquired quite a pile. Reading along in here to learn new things and get a different aspect on things. Seeing what others think and say.

Started to ween off EQs, reverbs, expanders, trying to hear what others hear.

Working on a barter with another AK'r. We got down to 2 receivers I have to trade. He asked which one I thought is better. Lucky, I have a bunch of speakers in the family of his. Took out the two receivers, checked them for bias, offset, deoxit controls to make sure.
Hooked up 4 sets of speakers. Three of his brand and one well respected set I happen to have close. Been sitting and listening and changing sets of speakers between receivers and listening, etc...

One definite thing I can say for sure.

Different speakers make a world of difference.

Some need a little tone control, some a little more, some very little or none.

I KEEP trying to run flat and hear but I keep thinking they put those controls on for a reason and make EQs for a reason and I loved vinyl on expander for a reason and a little reverb for a reason.

I do know that speakers held in high esteem don't seem to need a lot of tone control but not everyone has those.

I also know the the room itself makes a difference.

I keep thinking the "run flat" people either bought well and correctly or kept trading up until they hit the magic.

I say get lots of gear, EQs, reverbs, expanders, speakers, amps and mix and match and tweak the knobs and switch the gear and the room and have fun.

I also know I have been to others listening rooms and they had some of the best there is and it sounded horrible. And, I have MOTL and BOTL that sounds as good as some of the TOTL I have, once things are "tweeked" just right. Granted the TOTL will perform a lot "larger" (I don't want to say louder).

My room, my ears, my gear, my music.

I do know a speaker rebuilder that demos speakers running "flat" with big amps typically at 40 watts or more. You can hear the different performance on speakers at that level. But at reasonable listening levels, things change. The loudness switch is based on audio science.

Use what you need and like.
 
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Zygmo said:
Basically, what I am saying is...don't tell someone who is just getting into buying stereo equipment to try to find preamps without tone controls.
Click to expand...

And don't tell someone who has been at it for awhile not to. Deal? It's your opinion, and that doesn't make it a fact for everybody just like my opinion about tone controls only applies to one person: me.
 
A subjective subject to say the least. The great thing about music is that it sounds different to everyone. A lot of folks agree on "good" music, but will then argue as to WHY it sounds good.

I was a tone control/loudness button/equalizer junkie. As my equipment got a little better I found I missed the controls less and less. Now....the EQ sits on the shelf. My music has plenty of everything I want and nothing I don't. If this is the way the artist meant for it to sound, that's cool. If not, that's OK too. It sounds good to ME. In fact, it sounds pretty DAMN good.

Speakers, on the other hand, is another subject. I can change the sound of my system simply by hooking up another set of speakers. The source is always the same, and I feel it as true to the original as I can afford to make it.

Whatever floats your boat.
 
Zygmo said:
Guys. I am tired of audiophiles saying 'set your tone controls flat'.:boring:

Walk into a recording studio....look over there at the guy sitting at this huge console with numerous sliders and knobs. Do you know what many of those are??? TONE controls. He, and the artist are deciding where to put those controls to make their ears happy. How do you know that what they decide on will make your ears happy? And if, for some reason, you are looking to get the exact same sound the artist achieved...forget it. Your equipment and room is certainly different from where the recording was made.

We are all getting older too. Losing some high notes first. Treble boost will put some brightness back into the music.:banana:

If you have a recording that seems a little deficient in bass....add a little! Don't suffer through the recording wishing the artist (or engineer) had done it for you.

One of the dumbest things I ever read in a stereo magazine was: "A perfect preamplifier would be a straight wire with gain". No doubt it would be accurate...but how boring that would be!
Click to expand...

The point of good room acoustics is to remove the room from that equation.
 
Heck, I have never NOT used tone controls and my hearing has always been excellent.

It's just that the typical system response, especially the room, almost demands it.

Having the amp flat results in a very boring presentation indeed.

I also get a kick out of the universal sneering attitude about the "smiley" response curve of a typical equalizer. This is almost always exactly what is required to correct a typical room curve.

Has anyone ever used a sound level meter and plotted curves? I have.

Doug
 
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