Are tone controls worth a second look ?

Despite thinking we are purists in this sense, I've yet to find an audiophile who isn't using tone controls.

Today's tone controls are vacuum tubes, tube buffers, cabling, isolation devices, equipment stands, cryogenic treatment, plugs/receptacles, and room treatment. You could even argue the very components folks use - cartridges, turntables, CD players, preamplifiers, amplifiers, and loudspeakers are tone controls as well, which is but one part of the equation of why so many people flip gear at the rate they do.

It's pretty ridiculous when you think about the things we try, but heaven forbid a set of tone controls show up on the preamp or integrated - that's sheer high-end audio blasphemy!

Trelja is correct. Its far more fun to complain about the room, buy bs tweeks, roll tubes, and blame the recordings.

Great post Trelja.

That is EXACTLY the point of this thread.

When you think of it, with all the settings that are possible between the proverbial bass-treble settings, you probably have 50 different types of interconnect, 20 different speaker cables, 10 power tube brands, 5 input (6922 style) tube brands, and what else??

What you don't have with tone controls is bragging rights - and you wouldn't be associated with t-controls unless you wore a paper bag over your head as not be recognized using them. Its a deal breaker for many if not most audiophiles.

food for thought

I suppose tone controls can be helpful in certain situations. But they do add distortion and phase shift that room tuning and other tweeks don't.

I have two quality systems and both have tone controls. The McIntosh C42 has an 8 band EQ. In the downstairs system the Drawmer D/A has a 4 band parametric EQ and a single band dynamic EQ. Basically the controls are set and forget, but they are engaged. What theoretical distortions they add are easily overridden by the tonal benefits they enable.