Equalization for vinyl nirvana

The dominant view in high end audio is “straight wire”, the least amount of electronics for the best sound. Almost no high end audio equipment has any kind of tone controls... because they introduce noice and reduce overall fidelity. I recommend fixing the problem, equalization is a band aid likely to move you further away from good sound.

My rule of thumb is that at any given cost level (mid-FI up) an analog rig will sound better than the digital end. So my Analog end (TT, arm, cartridge, and preamp) cost about $31K... my digital end (streamer plus DAC) cost $41K. The analog end edges out the digital. It would do this (in general for compatible equipment set up correctly) at the $1K component level as well as at the $100K level.
So, having said that. Is the cartridge set up correctly, the phono stage quality is VERY important. What are you comparing it too. What is your other equipment?

I hope you understand the difference between Equalizers and Phono Correction (which sometimes called Phono EQ) ? 

If you're newbie then maybe you need simple tone control (bass and treble), nice integrated amp like this Luxman have it. 

If you're always using tone control in your system then something wrong in your system. 

With matched components you don't need tone controls. 

One advice, before you will buy components:

Look for high efficient speaker (90db or higher), low power amp are perfect for high efficient speakers, and buy yourself a decent phono cartridge (this is where it is all started). 

jasonbourn52. I love this: "Learn to accept reality!"

Kidding aside, we know there is no such thing as perfect recording or reproduction. If by "accepting reality" you mean that the goal of a good hi-fi system should be to accurately reproduce whatever is in the recording to the nth degree... suppose that's one worthy approach. 

But, if say 9/10 listeners appreciate boosting the bass when listening to a bass-deficient recording, then are they all wrong? Do all these listeners just have bad taste in audio and should be more appreciative of transparency no matter what?

It use to be the same everywhere.

The guy would come to work and say, I changed the CART on my TT and I couldn’t believe my ears.. 100% of the time..

MM carts with a stylus change 50% of the time. :-)

THEN the RtR guys said try this new Tape preamp, it made my turntable sound great, while I was doing some recordings. People learned how to LOAD carts correctly EVEN MM carts, it made a world of difference in reproduction. This was in the mid 70s for me. Same with RtRs you get the bias correct.. its a world of difference in playback.

Head or Cart same idea, the phono section on an old Pioneer, Marantz, HK, or Mac sure sounded good back then.. Because they did.. Nothing fancy..

So what’s up with todays 15K rigs sounding anything BUT mucho good, onbre’? I think it’s the same thing.. CART and set it up with a good matching phono stage. Simple tone control on you preamp will be all you need..

Brite digital STUFF for comparison? Your ears are OK? no heavy roll off on the highs right.... ;-)

Regards

If you remember Hi-Fi systems from the past then you’re familiar with this type of Graphic Equalizers. If you want something like this in your system then you can play with it pretending to be a "mastering engineer" in your room, actually many re-mastered reissues are terrible compared to the originals. The reason is that someone EQ-ed them too much. Another example is car stereo with a sub that you can hear two blocks away (some drivers love bass boost:)

Analog audio system must reproduce what mastering and cutting engineers expected you to hear. It must be neutral. If you can put together system like this then it's audio nirvana, but it can take years and years or trial and errors.