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
You need a perfect sound room and speakers for flat...I could not live without control, bass and treble.
about 3 or 4 pairs of different brands and sizes should cover the spectrum.more speakers does a gr8 job with stereo...can never get enough...i make changes often as i vinaled the floors...left with a hollow sound, I run 3 pairs in stereo.AR, JBL and aiwa...18 drivers in total fixed the hollow sound.
but i still love my control..bass and treble, stream digital from our dstv and the audio is far better than any analog transmission.
All my preamps have zero (no) tone controls except one. 
 And the one that has them, are all in the straight up position, (neutral)
 if in the extremely rare scenario I use them, I tweak only slightly.
i still have my Onkyo EQ-540 top of the line integra one, but it’s been in my closet for 20 + years. I like the natural sound of my amps and speakers playing through my speakers. 
  
I think the ultimate "serious cred" system would have no volume pot either. You just move closer to it for louder, further away for softer.