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Bass and Treble Dials

It seems every high end audiophile quality preamp/amp comes with no bass/treble dials. There is no way to adjust the sound coming out of the system other than by adding, removing or replace the audio equipment components... such as the needles, tubes, cables and etc etc. I wonder what would be a real reason behind of not having the treble/bass dials? While it might be a simple question but I really don't know the exact answer. I only guess that it is because the adding the treble/bass dials will unavoidably make an electronic circuit more "complex" which would go against a whole concept: "the simpler the better" or "the less is more". Am I correct in my assumptions?
sputniks
meiwan
399 posts
 
two reasons come to mind. One, as you suggest, is that less in the signal path is better. Two, base and treble controls really only work at one frequency each so they are not a very good adjustment. One assumes if you are the designer of a high end amp you tune it properly and tone controls just muck up the plan. You might recall graphic equalizers were popular years ago so you could really play around.

Kind of like asking for salt and pepper in a high end restaurant.
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
You could always get a decent parametric equalizer and see how it sounds in your system. All of them have bypass capability so you can quickly A-B the sound with and without the equalizer in the chain...

-RW-
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,446 posts
 
Sputniks,

Adjusting treble and bass can do more harm than good since nature of recording deficiency (if any) is more complex than just treble and bass.

It shows in market demand - no tone controls in most high end systems but tone controls in every low end system - they need them to fix lack of transparency and neutrality.

Low end speaker is a good example - limited low end with pronounced hump at mid-bass. On recordings with a lot of midbass it will sound better with less bass but on recordings with low bass it needs more bass from an amp.

I don't have any desire to adjust tone (or balance) but remember doing it constantly with low end system.
rgs92
974 posts
 
Accuphase, Mcintosh, and Van Alstine offer them in many
of their preamps, FWIW.
jfz
570 posts
 
You are correct with regard to the signal path. And tone controls can affect things such as imaging, soundstage, etc as much other things (distortion, purity, etc).

I also want to suggest to you that there are other ways to affect the sound in your system, other than adding or removing components. In fact, some of the best ways include room treatments, speaker position, and listening position. Experiment with those things - a lot - and you may be surprised how much better your system can sound.
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