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Tone controls -- assuming you're ok with them, when would you try them?

So, I'm learning and experimenting w/ speaker/sub placement. I've had some success. Presently using my old Adcom GTP-400 preamp (treble, bass, and loudness/contour controls). It's likely my next amps won't have tone controls (nor balance). 

Beyond compensating for old/bad recordings, I realize there is, nevertheless, a standing debate whether tone controls are worth the (likely) sound degradation. Imagine that debate was settled and tone controls were deemed worthwhile, overall. IF you'll stipulate to all that, my question is this:

QUESTION: If the sound is not right in your room, and you've placed speakers as best you can, what do you try next? At what point do you go for tone controls?

Perhaps some just go for tone controls from the get-go…happy to hear from you all, too.

FWIW, I saw this nice list from @erik_squires on this topic:   
erik_squires8,293 posts
08-19-2017 11:06am
Tone controls help us compensate for differences in recording trends across decades of recordings.
Tone controls help us adjust our sound quality to different listening situations and volumes.
Tone controls help us adjust for speaker placement.
Tone controls are much cheaper and more efficient way of doing this than most other solutions.
A good tone control is a lot easier to implement than a good equalizer. Fewer bands so more affordable to use high quality parts.

128x128hilde45
dpac996's avatar
dpac996
714 posts
 
Totally love the tone controls on my c-900 pre-amp; Completely transparent and takes rock performances to another level--far more enjoyable than flat; An interesting thing I noticed is that at higher levels and with a modest boost (3-6 dB on the bass knob), the sound stage becomes more enveloping and blooming; I love it;
It has taken me many years to find a pre-amp with such a high fidelity implementation of tone controls and I hope I can hang on to this luxman pre-amp for life; I regretted selling it soon after I let it go the first time; 

 


erik_squires
16,378 posts
 
I find the anti-tone control fanatics to be the modern day equivalent of corset wearers.  Rigid adherence to an aesthetic without much practical benefit.
turnbowm
353 posts
 
I miss the functionality of the Loudness control in particular when I'm using the audio system for background music. The volume is set to a low level and, as predicted by Fletcher-Munson, the low frequencies are MIA.
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
5,053 posts
 
@erik_squires I tried to head that off with the setup to my question. To me, there’s not much difference between audio and food. You think a salad is better with a bit of pepper? You in the mood for parmesan on your pizza? Your coffee needs more milk? Who am I to say? It’s not my place. Your equipment, your subjective experience.

The question becomes a live one when one already prefers to leave the sound alone -- a nod to the purists -- but wants, occasionally, to adjust things, to fix a problem. Then, the question becomes "How best to do that?" The answer "I’d never do that" is tantamount either to, "Sound problems can *always* be fixed without tone controls" or "I’d rather live with the problem than introduce tone controls (because they’re just another problem)."
erik_squires
16,378 posts
 
"Sound problems can *always* be fixed without tone controls"


There’s more to life than serving your stereo. Not everyone can afford a dedicated listening room, or different speakers for different uses. Also, how, exactly, do you fix issues of the recording engineer making choices for speakers that were trendy a decade ago?

The purist ideology falls flat more often than not. Also, why NOT use tone controls if they are otherwise transparent? Why should I go out looking for a new preamp/amp/power cable if the tone control is right in front of me??

Why on earth are super expensive cables OK to use to adjust the tone, hell even buying new speakers and amps, why are those OK but not tone controls?? Makes no sense to me.
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