To tone control or not to tone control

I am curious about your comment "Tone controls will only add distortion." What kind of distortion? A well designed tone control will alter the frequency response of the system, and yes, this is a form of distortion. But why would this be worse than changing cables. When people speak of this cable being brighter than that one, or this one having better bass definition than another; isn't that the same thing? Why is trying to change to change the frequency balance of system with cables better or worse than doing the same thing with a tone control? Perhaps it would be easier and cheaper to attempt to alter the response with a slight adjustment of a tone control than to try to achieve this with expensive cables that have no adjustment other than replacement. After all, a tone control can consist of no more than a capacitor or inductor and a variable resistor. I seem to remember Cello offered a tone control system (equalizer) a few years back that was well recieved. While it is true that such equlization systems are generally scorned by the high end community, I bet most don't have any idea how they work, much less understand how they affect the "distortion" of a system.

Tone controls are the next frontier for high end audio. Digital DSP processing has brought the arrival of transparent tone controls. IMO, tone controls are essential for the playback of normally recorded pop/rock on high resolution systems. For a wide variety of reasons, a lot of wonderful music is aggresively recorded. When played back over a hi-rez system, this music will sound shrill. The judicious use of a well designed EQ circuit can make this music much more enjoyable.

Artemus, there are very few consumer oriented preamps w/ EQ capabilities. If you are truly interested in solutions I would suggest you look at a few of the mid-level pro oriented products and run them thru your tape processor loop.

Not to tone control, I say.

I understand that tone controls add distortion. You are right Greg when you say that the system is more revealing now. This started with the addition of the CJ amp. However I am using Sorbathane isolation pads with cdp , and have replaced ic's with Wireworld Solstace-lll. The speaker cables are Monster Z-1. Certainly there are more expensive & better cables but I did check reviews before buying them. The cdp is not the best but it does have dual 20 bit Burr-Brown DACS. Was going for a higher end on it but decided to wait out the format wars before spending a large amount of money. Speaker placement may be somewhat problematic but in HT mode I can just about rattle the windows without a subwoofer. The problem then seems to be the source material. Most recordings sound great but the few that sound bad sound extremely bad. Again this is due to the very revealing CJ amp. My choices seem to come down to this. Don't listen to these cd's again or doctor them so they are fit to listen too. It is amazing how a little extra bass can fill in those areas which are lacking. It is not pure to the original recording but it may be that it sounds closer to what the engineer was trying to accomplish but did not have ability or equipment to do. That said I will probably try your suggestion Bruce. For the purists who read this please understand that this fix will be used sparingly and under duress. Thanks all for your advice. BTW I am very impressed with the CJ equip. It has given me enjoyment of musical genres which I previously had not enjoyed

Enjoying music is what counts -- so do try Bruce's suggestion before U spend mega $ on the likes of Cello. While you're at it, also try the cdp w/out isolation; it might help the bass...
And don't worry about purists: we're all in this for the music (methinks). Cheers!