The front end upstream specially analogue such as Vinyl reproduction and the downstream speaker systems are transducers and far from the “ideal” ? of a ruler flat response.
Or, it’s that the manufacturers through their R&D discovered their products have better sound quality without tone controls. Why would they knowingly sell a product with a feature that compromises its sound quality? It would only hurt them in comparisons to other brands at similar price points. Or look at it this way, if they could increase their product’s sound quality for “a few dollars” surely they would, especially for a multi-thousand dollar product.
I do not believe any manufactures designed tone controls and then decided to remove them later before marketing the amp. The manufactures are afraid their product would lose sales with tone controls because the uninformed public thinks a quality designed tone control sounds bad.
Firstly, it's Line Magnetic LM-518iA. Secondly, that's what tube-rolling is for; to find the sweet spot. Lastly, I don't need tone controls. It keeps the circuitry as simple as possible, which, in those LM amps, is still not relatively simple, all things considered.
I have owned integrated amplifiers and receivers with and without tone controls including those with "defeat" circuits. The results being the same; I never use the tone controls. My current collection of devices don't have tone controls and I don't miss them. I suppose if I needed to compensate for a deficiency in a recording (I can't think of any I own), an aberrant room response (none I'm aware of) or hearing limitations calling for boosting whichever band required to level out perceived response then tone controls could become important. And even with some hearing loss (61 years old with a work history of loud environments) I'm good as borne out by testing.
There's a thread here called "Vandersteen, 1st Order Crossovers, and Bad Measurements." Look it up. The measurements are meaningless. Vandersteen makes excellent speakers. Again, the OP wants a tube integrated amp with tone controls, but you guys keep telling him he's wrong to want that.
I have seen enough movies to get the idea that a good opium den does not cause people to sit up. It's the opposite, they seem to lay around wherever they can.
Correction, there are amps available, tube and otherwise with tone controls, what is wanted here is that the makers that choose not to use them comply with the OP wishes which is a different thing. Without doing much research I've found this Luxman, I believe it has tone controls, balance and remote control, problem solved? Here it is anyway: SQ-N150 | VACUUM TUBE AMPLIFIERS | PRODUCTS | LUXMAN | Seeking higher sound quality
Actually I just bought a couple of SET monoblocks. Does not have tone control, but is not an integrated amp either. I found that by selecting pre-driver tubes I could get the presentation and tone I wanted. If for some reason I wanted tone controls and room correction I would use a DSP between amp and pre-amp, it would give me parametric tone controls, time alignment functions, electronic xovers, and a way to measure the results. But I what I hear now is thoroughly satisfying so I see no reason to go down that path. Audio Mirror Reflections Is A Nice Amp
I wasn’t telling him he’s wrong to want that, I was countering a statement he made with an alternate possibility.
Wow! It’s the uninformed public that is buying high end audio equipment? And word class engineers that are trying to make the best possible products are knowingly omitting tone controls because they know their customers are “uninformed” and would therefore not buy their products If they sounded better? You have drifted very far from the shore with your reasoning and assumptions. People that are dropping 10k or more on stereo equipment are not uniformed as a general rule. They are obsessive, read endlessly, audition equipment, overthink everything and second guess every choice. Really, go listen to some equipment. also, again, just buy an external EQ if you want tone controls.
Measured.? By ear.? By my ear or yours.? please explain so people can understand what a good set up is.........
Or he’s been told why it’s not there and he can buy an external if he want’s it. His claim is marketing and stupidity is why modern tube amps don’t have tone controls. It’s odd and more than a bit insulting to people that have bought new amps in the last 30 years.
Have got three of these 31-band EQs: Amazon.com: ART EQ355 Dual Channel 31-Band Equalizer : Electronics They sort of work OK but have minor noise and require internal preamp circuitry. Tried to find out from ART whether the pre was class A but they never responded. In any case, have put all 3 in the garage(s) because, as I said above, analog media sounds better without them. Use Nobsound/Douk 300B monos (SET) that are high quality and each has a volume control so you can adjust balance in the room. Not practical for each selection however. When i play R2R tape (preferred media format) the age of the tape requires subtle balance adjustment and this does not affect the soundstage -- that is spectacular by comparison to vinyl. High-end analog EQ is not available by my searches but perhaps someone here knows of a source. I assume that many of you know of convolution filters and how they can be created in REW and imported into an editor such as JRiver.
