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Without tone controls music sounds flat and lifeless. I don't understand why people would not use them.
Reader Stephen M. Rose wants <I>Stereophile</I> readers to confess their audio sins. Do you ever use tone controls in your current system?
I confess I use the bass countour control on my Adcom preamp. A bass control is a help to apartment dwellers like myself. I purosefully bought small stand-mount speakers that roll off the bass around 65Hz. When my downstairs neighbor is home, I can listen at average levels and not bother him. When he is gone I turn on the bass contour on my Adcom preamp, which boosts the bass around 30Hz, and it sounds more full range. It is not perfect, and it can slow down the lower midrange, but it is an acceptable compromise. I will even confess that I sold my old Conrad-Johnson PV-10A tube preamp to buy the Adcom GFP-565. I WANTED the bass contour and a headphone jack. The Adcom is not better, but it serves my needs better right now. When I have my own house I will sell of my sinful products and repent by buying a full-range system.
Now you've opened a can of worms. I just hate the fact that you cannot buy a decent pre-amp these days without tone controls or at least filters. I use my 15hz low filter to dampen subsonic vibrations from my turntable to save my woofers. Occasionally, when playing old-time swing or early jazz, it makes sense to "correct" things a bit. And, hey, it ain't all that hard to make these controls switchable so they don't affect the "pure" signal. I just don't get it. Until the day I die, there are two things I MUST have in a pre-amp: a "mode" control that at least allows me mono (for diagnostic purposes mostly) and at least a friggin' low filter if not full tone controls. And, I'll go one step further. I like really well thought out "loudness" controls to "correct" the deficiencies of human hearing at low volumes. The ol' "Fletcher-Munson" curves. Now, what is about the most worthless control on a pre-amp yet all have it? The freakin' balance control. I've stepped on dirt covered in cow crap that was worth more than that control. Yet, where do you find ground loops, insolvable "hums", just a big pain in the ass. I think balance controls are worth about as much as a cankor sore on a "sensitive member". Yet, all "audiophile" pre-amps have that worthless control but espouse "purety" by avoiding controls with so much more utility - tone and filters. And, "mode" controls. Uh, don't get me started here. A really BIG peeve.
It might appear a hair-shirt approach to start with, but I've run my primary system without tone controls for quite a few years now. I was surprised, but very quickly you forget they even existed. Does it make a difference to the sound? I'm not sure I can tell, but it does take away the nagging feeling of "that's the wrong setting" or "I haven't got this set up right" that one gets when the tone controls aren't in the flat position. Thus the enjoyment factor is increased, which is what it's all about in the end.
It's true that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. I use that rule to draw an analogy to audio tone controls. My preamp is devoid of tone controls because any extraneous circuitry in a given system detracts from from the sonic integrity of that system. If you need to use tone controls in your system, you're simply compensating for a less than musical setup.
System: Rega Planet and VPI HW19jr playing into Rega Mira integrated, with Sonus Faber Concertino speakers. I've never felt a need for tone controls with this system. On my old college receiver in the basement and my HT setup the tone controls seem to come in to play quite frequently . . as I try to make each cd listenable. For some reason these adjustments aren't necessary with the Mira.
I use a Conrad-Johnson PV10A. There are no tone controls. This is as it should be. I don't want any electronic coloration in my music. If my room has deficiencies (as it does), I change the room to compensate as well as I can.