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
prof
3,479 posts
 
mrdecibel,

The thread does indeed have a confusing title.  I kept looking at your posts wondering how you had determined your system was "flat" in the first place, and I saw no mention of measurements.

But then it appears you have used the term "flat" commonly understood to refer to "flat frequency response" to simply "not using any EQ."  (I originally thought you meant you'd achieved a flat response without the use of EQ/tone controls).

Personally, I have nothing ideologically against EQs or tone controls. I simply found I had little use for them. In fact I had a Z-Systems RDP-1 for probably 17 years, at the time the most highly lauded "invisible" eq.  But I just found not reason to add that extra complexity because I could always find a good position for speakers in my room that provided, at least subjectively, very even, pleasing sound.

I finally sold the thing this year.

That said, I have some new subwoofers I want to get around to integrating and I plan to use room correction (e.g. Anti-node) for those.


mrdecibel OP
3,065 posts
 
prof, yes, I should have worded it differently ( which I corrected later in the thread, as pointed out by Doug S. ). Although I have measured my room with a RS meter / test tone discs, I cannot claim my room is ruler flat, but it is excellent, specifically at my normal listening levels, which admittedly is higher than most. A big part of this is not having walls near my speakers and my listening chair. Just careful tweaking, and a bit of luck. I used eq and tone controls a long time ago ( in different homes ), but as I became more affluent and experienced in room set up, and most important, the realization of what I like, it is all good. It is a dedicated room, and my live in gf has no problem. I am in this home going on 5 years. The ex wife had a problem in a previous home, which had a living room as my sound room. She lives in that house now, with no interest in high fidelity. Thank you for your response. And again, in no way have I suggested tone controls or equalization are bad. That was never the point. Always, and Enjoy ! MrD.
prof
3,479 posts
 
mrdecibel

Though I don’t use eq, I still certainly desire a system that is more-flat-than-not.

My listening room has a wide room opening and for a long time my 2 channel listening room had the listening sofa near a back wall, and speakers placed well forward of some bay windows. There was some acoustic magic in the room because no matter what speaker I placed in the room, I got fantastic, smooth sound.

Then when I wanted the room to accomodate home theater as well, I had to switch this situation 180 degrees so now the sofa was near the bay window, speakers out front of the back wall. My acoustics in that configuration went to crap. The response of speakers were no longer close to flat and it just sucked.

It took a full remodel of the room with the input of a professional acoustician, to accommodate the home theater and 2 channel listening speakers. Fortunately in the end of judicious room design/acoustic treatment, the room sounds better than ever and any speaker I place here tends to sound really smooth and even. Whew!
mrdecibel OP
3,065 posts
 
prof, glad it worked out.....Enjoy ! MrD.
More to discover