I like my system flat, no tone controls, no eq..........what is your preference, and why.


A poster on another thread here has encouraged me to post this. Been an audio professional and a hobbyist for 50 tears. I had my time with eq, tone controls ( even reverb and time delay units ). I am currently at the point where I need nothing to alter the recordings I listen to, nor to compensate for room aberrations. I have spent lots of money on equipment , had equipment on loan, of all types ( pretty much a bit of everything, for the most part ) and I have tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked. I have recently tooled down to a much simpler and less expensive system, and I find I am the happiest I have ever been. Might be my amp, my passive unit, my speakers...…….yes, all of that. Yes, all of that is important, but it is the system synergy that has made me realize that changing anything with an eq or tone controls took me further from that synergy, that balance. I accept, and enjoy my recordings for what they are. Some better than others ( sq ). But, I am enjoying the brilliance of all the studio work put into them,  exactly as they were intended to be listened to. This is me. I do not believe in right or wrong, better or worse, newer vs older, yada yada yada. I have believed, and have stated, particularly in this hobby, to each his own. I hear fuse differences, power cable differences, etc. Some believe I was born a bat. I am happy of my gift, not just hearing well, but through the years, teaching myself " what it is I like ", which is the key for most of us. I am not sure where this thread will go, but I put it out there, and hope folks will drop in, even though much of it might have been stated before in other threads. Thank you A'gon family, be well, and Enjoy ! MrD.
mrdecibel
I have 4 systems and all of them are "flat" with no tone controls.  That doesn't mean that I don't try to change the sound, but it's always by making changes to the system - different speakers, cartridges, amps, sources, etc.

Having said that, I belong to a music meetup and we meet at a hifi shop and play music on one of their demo systems, which for the last few months has included the Anthem STR integrated with Anthem Room Correction. 

The music sounds pleasing with ARC engaged, but at the same time there is an "artificial" quality to it that I can't ignore.  I really enjoy listening to that system both with and without ARC engaged.  I haven't spent enough time listening to it in both modes to be able to say that I would not use ARC. 

That technology seems to have made good progress.  ARC is much more natural sounding than Audyssey in my Marantz and Onkyo AVPs.
I've been playing systems sans any tone controls since the late 1970s. I don't miss them nor do I miss messing with tone controls to get the tonal balance right.

i worked on my room a lot to get rid of reflective surfaces and that really helped. Record shelves with lots of LPs are good diffusers!
I have pursued the "minimalist" approach and am very happy with my SQ.  I have been at it for 50 years and went down a few paths.  My current system consists Naim streamer, Townshend Autotransformer Control, Krell KSA-80B power amp and Apogee Scintilla One Ohms.  The sound is glorious/sublime/virtually real and I have no intention of adding more between the streamer and power amp.  I did upgrade to Inakustik interconnects and speaker cables, along with a PSA 3500 conditioner.  While this "minimalist" approach has minimized the number of boxes, it has taken a hit on my pocketbook--but this has allowed me to get the best possible piece at each point for my constraints without breaking the bank.  The litmus test for me is that my wife, who is a life long piano player, enjoys listening to the system.  Listening to Chris Stapleton right now.  
I have been enjoying my music without an EQ for some time.  But the EQ is still in the rack.  Amazedly I have not  missed it.