Life without tone controls ... it sucks!

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by albertoderoma, Mar 19, 2011.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Michael Ries

    Michael Ries Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Paul, MN
    Well, that at least explains amnesty internationals investigation into McIntosh.
     
    Matt Richardson likes this.
  2. Don Jo

    Don Jo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario Canada
    On my Arcam AVR-350, I always listen in "Stereo Direct" mode to 2-channel music, which negates use of the tone controls. I don't like using tone controls or adjusting the bass and/or treble to suit my listening preference. This way, I'm able to tell which recordings (whether they're LP, CD, or SACD --- SACD's are always in "direct" mode anyway) are good and which ones are not.
     
  3. Peter Pyle

    Peter Pyle Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario CAN
    See tim185's reply, I completely agree!
     
  4. acdc7369

    acdc7369 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    It's the worst. That's not how snare drums and hi-hats should sound
     
    VinylRob likes this.
  5. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Still drives me crazy to this day. Bring back the days when each mic level control did NOT have EQ. No touchy de EQ'y during recording-y.
     
  6. Rob9874

    Rob9874 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    Do you use tone controls in your car system? I just bought a new Pathfinder last month, and it comes with a decent stock system, but I still love to customize the tone controls. I have the bass on +1 and the treble on +5. I like the clarity of adding treble. When I listen for a while with the treble boosted, and then set it back to flat, it sounds muffled and muted. Like someone put something in front of the speakers.
     
    Matt Richardson likes this.
  7. Isaac K.

    Isaac K. Forum Resident

    I know that this an old thread, but at this point the only thing that I use tone controls for is when I listen to mp3s. They just seem to not have much life without some boost in the bass.
     
    Rob9874 likes this.
  8. Perfect sound forever

    Perfect sound forever Well-Known Member

    Location:
    London

    I am copying that quote again because it sums the tone control situation up . All those people buying bass traps, massive boards , behind your speakers, swapping out cables & cartridges is changing the tone.

    I have a similar Pre amp to Alberto (McIntosh C32) & on the whole I don't use them but some modern music is mixed strangely so sometimes a decrease here & there sorts the problem. I also have a " Purist" Rose RV23 valve Pre amp (rebuilt by Glenn Croft) sounds
    superb but yes the McIntosh sounds better .
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  9. Rob9874

    Rob9874 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    Maybe that's why I need so much tone control in the car, because I'm playing mp3's through my iPhone and not CDs. I did notice how impressed I was when the new remastered CD of The Beatles MMT came out, particularly "Baby You're A Rich Man". The bass line at the beginning was so deep! Then I played the mp3 of it, ripped from the very CD, and the bass was diminished. Cue the bass control...
     
  10. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    I like this analogy, as it is also something that we do every day and fundamentally subjective.
     
  11. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    Aren't these changes removing the distortions induced by the room? That is quite different than changing the tonal balance of the recording itself. As Our Host noted, the problem is that to really correct a recording transparently would require a very complex parametric equalizer and a certain amount of experimentation. It would also require that the room not contribute significant distortion and nothing change with the system or room or even the volume level that the recording is played.

    Current tone controls are like applying a polarized shade over glasses. If it is only correcting glare it serves a purpose but after that it just obscures or distorts. I think tone controls also inhibit the motivation to improve the tonal balance of the system. But if someone doesn't have the interest, money or time to do that, then EQ away.
     
  12. Gibsonian

    Gibsonian Forum Resident

    Location:
    Iowa, USA
    Age old debate. Two camps will never agree.

    There is no right or wrong here.

    I will keep mine and use only when necessary. I'll give them up when those that are making the recordings for me to listen to give up their tone controls.
     
    Matt Richardson and Vinyl Addict like this.
  13. frimleygreener

    frimleygreener "It 'a'int why...it just is"

    Location:
    united kingdom
    I have an Arcam Delta 290: I weaned myself off the tone controls,and use "Direct" as a default.
     
    Matt Richardson likes this.
  14. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    I go by what sounds best to my ears and I enjoy having tone controls/loudness switches on my vintage equipment for when I want to use them.
     
    Matt Richardson and Vinyl Addict like this.
  15. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    I've not had tone controls since 1987 and I can't understand why I would want them, seems like a bad idea after so long. I'd say somethings not right with your system, if you need them.
     
    Grant likes this.
  16. RiCat

    RiCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Up to the user. This is not even a question of "what is better". Seems to me to be personal choice of how to enjoy your music. My tone control issue is I have never found any that tweaked the music in a totally positive way. Add a bit of bass boost and it spills into a range I want left alone. Trying to tweak a top end is even harder from my experience as the treble tone knob flattens way to broadly. Then there are the darn built in slopes to the curves that disproportionaly change the frequencies. A good parametric maybe? For me no T.C's is the way to go.
     
  17. Rob9874

    Rob9874 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    I can buy that, and it justifies my use of them. If my budget doesn't allow me to buy a system that sounds good sans tone knobs, then I should want to use them on my cheap equipment to compensate for its shortcomings.
     
    Mr Bass likes this.
  18. Thing Fish

    Thing Fish “Jazz isn't dead. It just smells funny.”

    Location:
    London, England
    I have only ever owned Naim and Croft amps and they don't come with tone controls so I have never felt the need for them.

    I also worry that if I had them combined with the fact that i'm slightly OCD I would never be able leave the damned thing's alone !!!
     
    Pastafarian and James Glennon like this.
  19. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Exactly. Less is not more in these cases. Esp if you can disengage them when not needed. I played a wonderful CD the other day, except it had no audible drums or bass; very thin-sounding, even with the sub. I cranked the bass knob on the amp to +3 at the 400hz position....voilá, gut wrenching bottom end. Tone control saved the day.

    Egs : reggae or dance records with little bass; is that REALLY the way the artists wanted them to sound ? (f@ck the engineer)

    A rock cd with muffled guitar/cymbals ? Same case.

    Lots of mediocre-sounding but great music out there can be made pleasant to you ears instead of being ignored. After all; what's perfect in this world ?
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2016
    SandAndGlass and Further like this.
  20. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    I used to have Naim as well and I have Croft since 1989-1990, tone controls have never bothered me!

    JG
     
    Thing Fish likes this.
  21. florandia

    florandia Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    We in Gryffindor house are purists who would never use tone controls ......you need to talk to the denizens of Slytherin house , I strongly suspect that they use tone controls.
    Bloomin' Heck Harry , Hagrid told me that tone controls are not needed on a well balanced modern integrated amplifier..
    Hagrid also added ' I should not have told ye that '
     
    SandAndGlass, russk and Solitaire1 like this.
  22. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    I almost always run everything flat, though I'm not opposed to manufacturers giving the option. My Sony AVR (that I used to use for everything) actually has a sort-of rudimentary parametric EQ built in. It has a frequency range for bass, mid and treble. You can set it to a certain frequency for each of those three and raise/lower the db. It also has a "loudness" button for low volume listening. I used it very rarely.

    My new Mac C2500 has only bass and treble controls, but you can bypass them, which is how I've run it so far. The most tweaking I've done is to boost the level of the MC phono stage a bit to make it closer to that of the digital inputs, and I've played with the cartridge loading (which makes interesting differences). But generally I've found little good sonically comes from messing with the "tone controls."
     
  23. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    I'm so used to my old Adcom preamp and at least having it's tone controls available, I'm hesitant to buy a piece of gear that doesn't have any. I think I'm gonna get a Parasound integrated.
     
    MyOwnWorstEnemy likes this.
  24. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Tone controls are Odin's gift to my ears.
     
    jon9091, bluemooze and The Pinhead like this.
  25. Hubert jan

    Hubert jan Forum Resident

    With a tone control you are free from technicians/mastering people/gear differences/ room modes/differences between releases of the same music etc.
    An 5 band equalizer is handy also, very easy to use. More bands are too complicated for convenient use.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine