2. amps-preamps
  3. 140297-1069

I like my system flat, no tone controls, no eq..........what is your preference, and why.

A poster on another thread here has encouraged me to post this. Been an audio professional and a hobbyist for 50 tears. I had my time with eq, tone controls ( even reverb and time delay units ). I am currently at the point where I need nothing to alter the recordings I listen to, nor to compensate for room aberrations. I have spent lots of money on equipment , had equipment on loan, of all types ( pretty much a bit of everything, for the most part ) and I have tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked. I have recently tooled down to a much simpler and less expensive system, and I find I am the happiest I have ever been. Might be my amp, my passive unit, my speakers...…….yes, all of that. Yes, all of that is important, but it is the system synergy that has made me realize that changing anything with an eq or tone controls took me further from that synergy, that balance. I accept, and enjoy my recordings for what they are. Some better than others ( sq ). But, I am enjoying the brilliance of all the studio work put into them,  exactly as they were intended to be listened to. This is me. I do not believe in right or wrong, better or worse, newer vs older, yada yada yada. I have believed, and have stated, particularly in this hobby, to each his own. I hear fuse differences, power cable differences, etc. Some believe I was born a bat. I am happy of my gift, not just hearing well, but through the years, teaching myself " what it is I like ", which is the key for most of us. I am not sure where this thread will go, but I put it out there, and hope folks will drop in, even though much of it might have been stated before in other threads. Thank you A'gon family, be well, and Enjoy ! MrD.
mrdecibel
timlub
2,039 posts
 
I moved 3+ years ago,  my last room was excellent..... sooooo good, very minimal interaction.  I was completely with you,  tone controls are stupid, they get in the way.   
Where I live now, I've worked my room till blue in the face.  REW room acoustics software has saved me.  I run have a couple of digital eq's downloaded in Foobar.  Once you set your mic properly,  this thing is magic.  I won't hesitate to use it at anytime needed.  The digital eq's in Foobar work great and I can't tell any sound degradation.   
mrdecibel OP
3,029 posts
 
Why are a few of you suggesting that I am stating tone controls or equalization is stupid ? I am just saying " for me ", at this time, not needed, not wanted, not necessary. But great we are all here. Thanks......Enjoy ! MrD. 
wolf_garcia
6,639 posts
 
The 20 hz knob on the Loki is "centered" at that frequency and effects the frequencies nearby, so the effect takes away or adds low bass. It’s not a notch, it’s a smooth curve. Although I augment my (seriously underrated and amazingly great sounding) Heresy IIIs with 2 REL subs, I agree that the bass that the Heresy IIIs produce alone is really nice and seemingly accurate, and I think since they're on the floor getting reinforced acoustically it makes sense. I have turned my subs off and cranked the Loki 20 hz knob just to see what's what, and it's interesting...there's some bass hidden in those 12s!  Otherwise I say again I rarely use the Loki, and when I do it's primarily to deal with reticent or overly aggressive high frequencies on a few recordings.
n80
2,107 posts
 
I think someone may have linked to this video somewhere above but I didn't see it. Nothing much said about the Loki that hasn't been said here but towards the end it does show the frequency curves for each of the dials.

https://youtu.be/i6oyxHGJbsM
2010challenger
10 posts
 
I can't stand the, IMHO, over the top high end just about any speaker has. I thought by the time I got to be as old as I am, 62, that that would change, as it seems to have for every friend of mine, man or woman, even close to my age. But no, I still have to cut the high end, and even simple bass and treble do that ok. Not a huge cut, but definitely a couple of notches. I've recently heard some great systems that have a great low and midrange, that were runined by a sizzling hot high end. My one friend has severe hearing damage from being around jet engines when he was in the USAF. I don't stay inside his house for long, he's got his HT's treble cranked to the max. When he comes over here, he complains how "dead" my system sounds. We're all different, and we hear differently, so some kind of EQ is a must, just due to some of the rotten recordings there are out there.
More to discover