Do you need bass and treble? Or are you a purist that goes flat.

But Steve uses EQ...

And what if your speakers and/or room aren't perfect? With my headphones I listen flat, but I bump the bass up one notch with speakers. That actually makes the two a lot closer...

 

I can assure you that Steve's ears and technical ability are miles above mine. All I would do is make a bad situation worse.

David

 

My point is just that every system and room is different. What may sound perfect in one place may be a little bass shy somewhere else.

 

FLAT! There are no tone controls on my good ole Pioneer amp. I did play around with with a Technics 16-band graphic EQ for a while in the mid-'80s but those things just take too much from the signal path.

 

I seem to recall us doing this recently, didn't we? Oh well, anyway, flat for me thanks. I'm also completely disinterested in having a sub.

Jason

 

On LP and most CD's mine are switched out . The odd ghastly CD re-master might have the treble set at 11 o'clock.
I use them more when replaying my 8 Tracks but only when the treble is a little week otherwise.

Equipment is under profiles.

Regards,

 

No tone controls on my pre-amp. OTOH, I have made minor adjustments on the main speakers to the levels on the tweeters (front and rear-facing) and woofers.

 

Flat

 

I'm glad someone mentioned room interaction. There's no shame in using EQ to tame bass peaks and nulls. You'd be amazed at how much better your system will sound when properly EQ'd. A good parametric or simple analog EQ is a good bandaid to tame response, especially in the 40-300hz region. If flat response is what you seek, I doubt anyone is achieving it in a non-eq'd room, untreated room.
PS:Room treatments should always be used first, WAF dependent of course.

 

Flat.

If possible, tone control out of signal path (i.e. Direct)

 

Same here! I don't require coloration. My world is colored enough thanks.

 

What about the coloration of your room and speakers?

 

Room treatment I haven't gone into yet, one day. My speakers sound great and don't seem to add or take away anything from the few other sets I've compared that did have their own sonic signatures.

 

Analog EQ's are very transparent.

 

Well, that's kind of my point. Put those speakers in another room, and they will sound different. Put different speakers in that room, and they will sound different. Not that EQ can eliminate all of those differences, but it can make inroads. It just seems odd that doing things like switching tubes or speakers is a no-brainer, but EQ is something that is despised...

 

If you put an eq or tone control in the signal path then any comparison in regard to cartridge/cd player (modded or not)/(pre?)amp/interconnects/power conditioner/speakers/room kind of goes out the window.

 

What's more important? Comparison or end result? If some speakers are horribly bright "straight", but sound wonderful with EQ, are they necessarily bad? Is the EQ necessarily bad?

 

I agree with you. Even though I don't routinely use tone controls (some of my stuff has them, some doesn't) I would say it's more out of laziness and a desire to remain a music listener as my first priority. I think unless you're tapping Steve on his shoulder as he's mastering and then sitting in his exact spot for a listen, you're system is already introducing changes to what he's done that might in fact be reduced by EQ.

There is certainly an argument that says it's better not to tweak, than to do so randomly. I've heard overuse of tone controls almost every time I enter Best Buy. But, at home, it's your stereo. I would say there are plenty of opportunities for judicious tone control use.

That said, there is a case to be made that your system choices also work to EQ your sound. And, it may well be a less "invasive" method than outboard electronic EQ to simply trade for a speaker pair that better suits your ears.

 

I have a friend who has tone controls but as a bit of a purest would never use them, until one day we were listening to an old Bob Dylan SACD that had a such a shrill harmonica sound that it could kill house flys. I went over to the amp and turned the trebble control to about 10 o'clock which made the recording tolerable. Now he uses them.

WVK

 

Tone controls (or so I'm told) add phase problems, which adversely affect things like soundstage and absolute instrumental timbre. I put up with the occasional earbleeder - the woolly ones don't bother me.

 

FLAT

 

The purists are using cables and tubes to alter the sound of their system. I had no tone controls on my previous system (M.Fidelity pre+power). I have now on my speakers and they are useful. EQ helped control the booming of the 12" woofer in my room! "Variable input sensitivity and bass equalization, adjustable subsonic filters and switchable high frequency response ensuring a very easy and fast installation of the system even in acoustically critical situations or behind perforated screens in home theatre applications."

I'm too bored to use them all the time, i decided in the first months what worked for me and left it there. It's important to mention that EQ's have quality too. Not all EQ's are the same...

 

As a DIY amplifier building hobbyist an EQ in the signal path adds a variable I don't want to deal with. Everytime I've eliminated a component between my source and my speakers, I've improved the quality of the sound in my system. It's not enough for me to have my EQ be flat. Those eletronics components need to out of the signal path. But not many people have 5 CD players of the exact same make and model with different modifications applied to them so I'm very hesitant to dispense my own personal advice. What is good sound? That could be argued just as easily as what type of music is the best. Taste is subjective in every context.

 

That's part of what they pay him to do. If the job needs it he will use it, if not I am sure he will always skip it.

The equipment he uses for equalization must also be much better than what most of us can afford.

In other words, people like Steve are working so that all of us who have gone 'flat' don't need to reinvent the wheel.

 

Gotta tweak through the speakers to compensate for the room. Listen to my headphones flat.