Are tone controls worth a second look ?

The thing with tone controls though is that when I had them, I'd experiment with them when the receiver was new, but would eventually find a spot that I liked and leave them set where they are for every recording.

Now given that high-end equalizers that would be of sufficient quality not to wreck the signal would likely cost more than the other cables & tweaks that we buy, which have as a basic goal to protect against the unwanted filtering out of frequencies (and thus not harm the signal, but improve it), what is the need for tone controls? In either case, I'm finding what I like, then leaving it be.

I agree that cables & tweaks are the modern equivalent of tone controls. But, they do a better job than tone controls, and in the pursuit of good sound, it's all about what works better, not necessarily what works more easily.

The Luxman integrateds have tone control setting on the remote. Works wonders for small tweaks on bad recordings.

Just visiting this thread a year later - any further comments?

Ikonetic,

My thoughts exactly. The recording that is heard through the "perfect" audiophile system with no tone controls is the results of a sound engineer mixing, tweaking, equalizing, etc. to get the "best" sound. Even a live concert has sound engineers adding their touch.

Bill

Luxman with tone controls on the remote. Can't beat that. I mean, if you are like me and play music via Itunes/Pure Music into a USB DAC, no need to get up if you choose a recording that is not so good, just make the adjustment on the remote. Now, anyone have 7 grand I can borrow for a Luxman L-507u integrated. :-).