Sound

I went to college.  We slept all night using a turntable that kept playing.  Abraxas or DSOTM.  Heard all the Yamahas and Advents.  Good sound? Sure.  And we had the best ,music, mid 70's rock.  Kept the bug.  Very nice store here in town.  Bought a Sony VFET and Polks.  Played the hell out of them. 

WIF=no stereo

Bought a house.  Now we're talking.  My friend kept bringing over his amps that he made or fixed.  Some classics.  Quatre, Ampzilla.  Paradigm speakers.  Could never get them right.

I got banished to the basement.  More iterations.  Then due to work, it just all sat in a pile.

My son talked me into seeing if it all worked.  Buzz in the preamp, poor connections, CD player drawer broke. 

Here we are.  Retired, I love music, I have time, started buying stuff.  I got lucky and/or informed and bought pretty good stuff for my tastes.  I kept telling my wife.  Man, this thing sounds good.  Buy another addition, Man this thing sounds good.  On and on.  NOW, I think it is really good. 

The point is: each time, I thought I had really good sound.  Each time I added something it sounded better.  Kept scooting speakers around, etc etc.  Each time it sounded better.  How do I know?  It's in my head.  The few times I went to hear the $$$ rigs were disappointing.  Let alone remember what they sound like.  So, it's what sounds good to me.   PS never liked tone controls.  Don't want to fiddle with every song. 

@woowoo WPLR Harry Minot Station Manager back then. I also listened and listened. One of his sisters an old friend too.

Anyway .. after dinner we usually sit and listen....nothing better although I'm scheming for that someday room that may never happen.

I you are generalizing music as sound then I 200% agree. For me it is not about status or $ it is about the enjoyment if music any way I can get it. If you like what a piece is doing to help you enjoy the music who cares. Figure more than half the people on this site will be critical of a tweek and they never tried it or heard it. They will tell you your speakers suck based on a graph or db efficient number but they have never heard them in person. We still have “audiophiles” who think stereo sound destroyed music, can only imagine hi res is eating at them terribly. The sooner you can move on from needing someones approval of your system the better off you will be. Enjoy the music and be your own judge and jury they sre your ears and all that matters.

@daledeee1 

the proper use of a “tone control” or eq is not to change each song. The proper use is to enhance a shortfall from the system or the room acoustics. Once you dial in the sound for your room it should be a set it and forget it, not adjusting for every song or artist.

Ultimately you want a system that you enjoy. If equalization works for you, use it.
 

There are folks trying to build the best system possible, over the long term. I have been working on my for fifty years. There are paths that can get you off track. Equalization is one of them. It fixes issues but creates others. I have tried it several times and ultimately realized it created more problems than it solved. . Basically, I found that I needed to fix the problem directly instead of the symptom to get the most out of my components. If a component was too bright… getting a component that was not too bright got me much further along than did modifying the sound with a equalization… or whatever the problem was.