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
I have a question. Do the players of music, use tone control?
Can the guy on bass, turn it up? Can the Gal singing lead, give it the
"thumbs up" and the lead vocals volume is increased? 350-3000 hz
I really don’t understand, NO tone control.

I’m not willing to put up with noise when I can live with sound.
Tone control features DO color the sound, or UN color, so to speak.

A turn of a knob, knowing it will fix a problem for your ears in that room for that song.

Are you saying the lead guy on his Les Paul, that swaps to another, Les Paul, to an acoustic Martin, to a ukulele. Didn’t use tone control?

No tone control, really limits what I would be listening to in my sound areas. No tone control in a shop. Really? After work, no noise, ear plugs and muffs are off. You don’t change the tone controls? Hee hee You guys crack me up...

I’m dedicated to the sound at that time. Home, car, shop, work....
In " The Room ", its stays pretty flat across the tone control sections.
20% of my music listening is in the room. What about the rest of listening time?

Don’t listen, not an option.. I’ll use my tone control

Go ahead and tell me how ALL of you don’t use tone control, you all do,
think about it.. Your car, you partners car, no tone control, yes there is, and you use it...
Need to get into treatment, self denial, is running rampant.
LOL. Don’t take offense now...

Regards


I was wanting a tone control this morning, listening quietly in my basement with everyone else asleep.
I was wanting a tone control yesterday, trying out some Klipsch 600m speakers, to see if the brightness could be tamed.
I was wanting tone control two days ago, to see how much my subwoofer was contributing to the the lower end of my speakers.
I was wanting tone control because an old Joni Mitchell recording had buried her voice in the live mix.
Are there better ways to accomplish these things? Probably.
Would it be ideal if my listening room never needed tone-control adjustment? Sure.
Once my system reaches perfection, will I take my tone control out to the driveway, douse it with lighter fluid, and offer it to the gods as a burnt offering? Of course not.
You need tone controls as you age and your hearing is no longer as good as when you were 12 years old. 
My next amp won't have volume control, either. If I want the music louder, I'll just move closer.
In all seriousness, my integrated amp has all that old-school stuff. Bass, treble, balance, loudness. Most of the time, it isn't used, and is in fact bypassed completely. But at times, it's useful. Not every piece of music is recorded well.
L.
"Move closer" -- love it! 
"Spatial expander?" Move around.
"Turn it off?" Leave the house.
"Turn it on?" Return to house.
And so on.
Thanks for the chuckle, builder3!