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The use of equipment as "tone controls"

Several times in my Audiogon reading and posting over the last couple of years, I've noticed this or that contributor commenting along the lines of: "You shouldn't use your amp/cables/cartridge/whatever as a tone control."

I assume what this is supposed to mean is that there is some absolutely correct sound out there, and we ought not have audio equipment of any kind that deviates from that absolutely correct sound.

I might be able to buy into this if we were listening to live instruments (although their sound is, of course, affected by the space in which they are played, the position of the listener, etc., so is not itself "absolute"). But we're not listening to live music. We're listening to recordings. There are microphones, cables, recording equipment, mastering equipment, storage medium, etc, all of which come between us and the original sound--not to mention the taste and perception of the engineers, producers, etc. In that sense, what we hear coming out of our speakers is all illusion, anyway. And the illusion comes in quite a few "flavors." On one system I had, Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard sounded like he was in my living room. But Leonard Bernstein conducting the NY Phil in the early 60's was so shrill it made me run screaming from the room. In my current system, Bill Evans doesn't sound as "right there" as he used to (now I'm a few of rows back, yet still quite happy), but Leonard Bernstein doesn't make my ears bleed, either.

How did I work that? I experimented with different equipment. I used the equipment as "tone controls" (I guess). It's all respectible equipment: ARC, VTL, BAT, Cardas, etc. Maybe it reduced the "accuracy" of the reproduction of Bill Evans, but it increased the "accuracy" of the reproduction of Leonard Bernstein. Maybe. But who knows for sure?

We all tailor the sound of our systems to suit our preferences. What's wrong with that? And, most equipment has it's own sound character. That seems like a good thing, to me. It allows us to tailor our sound.

Now what we REALLY need is a good set of tone controls on our fancy pre-amps, so we can really tailor our sound!

Food for comment?
eweedhome
glenn_garza
61 posts
 
Nilthepill, when I wrote that everything sounded practically the same, I pretty much meant that. Though the groups, music, dates, etc. were all different, all could have been recorded in the same studio, and all artists were in the same or similar mood. I was not alone when listening to this system, but was the only pedestrian (non audio field related) that ended up with a negative impression of the system.

I have heard other types of systems that to me were a joke, incapable of producing anything approaching an actual performance, but others just thought that stuff was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I guess it just depends on what we want in our home with our money, which will in part be based on what we know.
eweedhome OP
227 posts
 
Glenn-Garza: A year or two ago, I went on "the great speaker hunt," which involved listening to speakers at various audio stores within 250 miles of where I live. I was quite surprised at the number of systems that I heard that, to me, sounded upleasant, even irritating. In ALL cases, what was unpleasant was that the systems sounded too bright. You could certainly hear LOADS of detail, but there was nothing "real" about the sound. Hearing lots of detail is very exciting I suppose, but (to paraphrase Wireless200), at a certain point, you want the "steak"...assuming you know what "steak" tastes like. (I wonder if it's true...as I've heard some speculate, that many "audiophiles" have actually heard relatively little live music, especially of an acoustic--as opposed to electric--nature?)
halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
Eweedhome I agree with you.......and I've been listening to high end speakers for 30 years!
Out of the dozens that I've heard, I can count on one hand (with fingers left over), the speakers that sounded like 'music'!
I really blame speaker designers and their infuriating quasi-scientific cross-over formulas and soft-ware.
wireless200
415 posts
 
IME, I found that the amp made more difference than anything. Speakers put a particular spin on the sound but for musicality and brightness the amp held sway. Speaker placement, room acoustics, power source did not make much difference in my sytems. I switched to a McIntosh amp and most if not all the brightness problems disappeared. Cables help fine tune the sound. I listen to the Mc and say to myself "that doesn't have the bass punch of the Krell, the strings don't sound as sweet as the Krell, the warmth is not as much as the Musical Fidelity, then I forget those things in 10 seconds and sit and listen blissfully to the music for extended periods. It's the oddest thing. I don't sit and analyze my system constantly. I just think man this sounds good.
eweedhome OP
227 posts
 
Halcro, tell us the speakers that sound like music (and take up less than one hand).

Wireless200 - As reported (I think), I just bought a 2nd hand Mac 2200 pre-amp so I could get tone controls and, I hope, a decent, non-bright sound. Any hope? What kind of Mac amp do you use? I would love to be able to sit back and "listen to the music for extended periods...and not analyze my system constantly." Isn't that what this is supposed to be about...eventually? It sure seems hard to get things set up that way.
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