Tone Controls etc. Any one use them? If so,why?

In that case, this logic should also work for other senses, too, shouldn't it? If you wear glasses, then take them off the next time you're at the movies because you're not seeing it the way the director intended you too.

 

No, even with EQ, you cannot get back what you lost in hearing ability. If you can only hear up to, say, 15 kHz now, you can't use tones controls or EQ or flatten your personal response back out. All you are doing is further distorting the frequency response, and you will still never hear anything above 15kHz. All you will wind up doing is boostin everything from roughly about 8kHz to whatever you think you can hear. How non-audiophile can you get???

 

I have one of these too, use it mostly when playing reel to reel tapes to monkey with the EQ if needed.

It's a nice unit and looks good with my ELITE gear.

 

You're speaking about total hearing loss of frequency ranges, but I'm speaking of impairment where people can still hear those sounds they just need a little boost.

 

Same thing i'm talking about.

 

Why do I use tone controls? Because every song ever recorded has slightly different sonic qualities from every other song ever recorded, and those unique sonic qualities don't always please me. If I have the means to rectify that, why on earth wouldn't I?

 

Go ahead and use them. Just tell everyone that you don't use them, so you'll fit in with the cool crowd.

 

Insufficient. You need to tell everyone you don't have any tone controls to fit in with the mondo cool crowd. Wanna be's.

 

That's not logical at all, since I also need the glasses outside the theater in the real world.

 

And I don't use tone controls, because I enjoy the slightly different sonic qualities of "every song ever recorded". I guess I don't really have any records that are so skewed that I can't enjoy them flat.

 

Agreed. I enjoy the differences more than I want something to conform to some ideal.

 

An interesting point but I'm not sure it translates to audio perception. Hearing loss seems more band limited and trying to compensate with EQ would affect the surrounding bands with phase and amplitude distortion. The mind seems to fill in these auditory deficiencies ok (I'm only 55 though). I would say that your normal (whatever the degradation) hearing would be the goal.

The Fisher 500c I'm running now needs bout one notch past 12 'o'clock to be close to neutral though.

 

As one ages, true, there is no life above 18k, then 16k, then 14k... There comes a point that there is no ability to hear above a certain point. However... age related hearing loss does also mean that there becomes a roll-off in the ability to hear at a designated frequency before all hearing is lost at that frequency. I can play a 12-khz tone and hear it but if I play a 14-kHz tone at the same volume level, it disappears into the background noise. But, if I really turn up the amplifier, yes, I can hear 14-kHz. It's not that I can't hear it, my hearing is just 40-60 db down at that frequency.

By the time an average male is 35 years old, his hearing is down about 10 db at 8-kHz and will continue to decrease about 10 db for every 10 years past the age of 35. Women tend to loose hearing at about half that rate or less. How often have you heard the comment by someone 65-70 years old who states that his wife has "golden hearing" compared to himself, that is why.

If you are about 35 years old and punch up your EQ 10 db at 8kHz, you will hearing a nearly flat frequency response at that frequency.

To an extent, you can correct hearing loss with EQ.

EQ is still best left to correct interactions between the room and speakers. Tone controls are best used when necessary to correct deficiencies for a particular piece of music, or lacking an EQ just to make things sound better.

 

I'm 58, I'm quite sure I have some presbycusis and notch loss, and I've got nothing above about 13KHz. I don't need hearing aids though.

I use the same ears to hear the real world as I use for reproduced music, so I always still have that "absolute sound" reference available.

I'm more likely to compensate with more volume, I don't feel any need to alter the frequency response.

 

I'm so hard core, I don't even use a volume control anymore. My phono stage is calibrated to the CBS "standard operating level" reference.

If a particular record is cut quiet, or noticeably hot, it's because the engineer intended it to be that way. As an audiophile, it's not my place to second-guess these decisions.

 

And, as someone else pointed out, when you start EQ'ing things, it introduces phase shifts, so you are not hearing things accurately. Also, men have been traditionally exposed to loud sounds at work, or because of being in the military. So, that hearing thing may be true for the WWII generation. But, the ones behind them are catching up as more women are exposed to the sames things men are. On top of that, hearing acuity is not uniform with everyone. There are genetic components that allow some people to have better hearing at a later age. Also, things like smoking effect hearing. Until the last decade, more men smoked.

That tired line of women having better hearing is wearing real thin. Females are not born with better hearing than males.

 

Seriously though, if my system is half-assed neutral sounding most stuff sounds fine. There is the odd record that is dull or bright or has no bass but not many.

Now if I'm using bright cartridge about a third are too damn bright.

 

I'm sure you can find a link for that; but that is a new one for me.

 

Then I guess it's pretty much a given that you also wear a hairshirt when you listen!

 

And you're saying you don't need your ears when not listening to music?

 

It would be interesting to know how flat the freq response really is for the people claiming they like their systems flat.

 

Very true . The moment systems go Pre / Power amplification they cease to be flat & always your room will influence the sound.

 

I used to use my receivers tone controls all the time. Until I joined this forum! Now I set them in the defeat position and find the sound a lot more natural. Every once in a while I set the tone controls where I had them before and I don't know what the heck I was thinking.

JQ

 

Eyes are to glasses what ears are to ____???