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Are tone controls worth a second look ?


Are tone controls still prohibited from ''high end''audio?

Seems to me that with all of the advances in electronic design, they starting to make sense again.

In my humble opinion, tone controls are not unlike adding, or substracting sonic flavor to music reproduction. Like switching interconnects or speaker cables that will affect the sound in X or Y manner.

I am not reffering to a technical comparison between tone controls and cables, but rather that their effect could be similar. When you think of it, cables have their own colors. And we pay dearly for this without the opportunity of a ''tone defeat'' button.

What do you think?
sonicbeauty
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 
Before I became a "genuine" audiophile,I used an equalizer; this is the ultimate tone control.
After I discovered how beautiful the music sounded when it was reproduced by Theta, Conrad Johnson, and Audio Research; without tone controls, I became a "genuine" audiophile.
I define a "genuine" audiophile as a lover of music who wants to hear the music exactly as the artist recorded it, and not become part of the band.
rcprince
3,073 posts
 
Gotta agree with Joe (Trelja)'s post. Just look at the posts in the forums looking for warm cables, power cords that improve bass, tubes that have a lush midrange, etc. I don't have tone controls per se in my equipment, but the components, cables and tubes in my system have been matched to suit my taste rather than to serve sonic neutrality (and to the detriment of my wallet). I did have an equalizer years ago before I started getting too serious about this hobby, but I must admit I really only used it to jack up the volume a bit in my system rather than for any real tonal adjustment.
lawrenceaudio
10 posts
 
hear! hear! TRELJA!!
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,229 posts
 
Orpheus10, artist don't record music! Recording engineers record music. Mastering engineers, record producers and even music label executives generally have more say about the final "sound" of an album than the musicians. That being the situation, a plausible case can be made that the end listener should also have some control over the sound.

BTW, EQs are very flexible. If not used properly they can make things far worst then when you started. Also, good sounding EQs are not inexpensive.
6550c
393 posts
 
Gotta agree with Onhwy61. Now-a-days, it is common to do an album and the players are never in the same building together. Even the Beatles would step out of the studio and not really know what the song would sound like or even what the song would be. Most pop is just bits and pieces stuck together by a producer and engineer. They say when you buy an album, you are really buying a producer.
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