2. misc-audio
  3. 135979-20253

We give up perspective to avoid tone controls

Hi Everyone,

While most of my thread starters are meant to be fun, I realize this one is downright provocative, so I'm going to try extra hard to be civil. 

One thing that is implicit in the culture of "high end audio" is the disdain for any sort of electronic equalization. The culture disdains the use of anything other than a volume control. Instead we attempt to change everything to avoid this. Speakers, speaker cables, amplifiers, and power cords. We'll shovel tens of thousands of dollars of gear in and out of our listening room to avoid them. 

Some audiophiles even disdain any room acoustic treatments. I heard one brag, after saying he would never buy room treatments: "I will buy a house or not based on how good the living room is going to sound." 

What's weird to me, is how much equalization is done in the mastering studio, how different pro speakers may sound from what you have in your listening room, and how much EQ happens within the speakers themselves. The RIAA circuits in all phono preamps IS a complicated three state EQ, we're OK with that, but not tone controls? 

What attracts us to this mind set? Why must we hold ourselves to this kind of standard? 

Best,


E
erik_squires
whoopycat
69 posts
 
It is possible to find an amp/speaker combo that is tonally perfect (to the owner), but it is difficult and potentially expensive.  

I have two systems, one with no controls (and I have no desire to add them), and one with tone controls (and I wouldn't want to be without them).  

Some tone controls are well implemented and some just sound like band-aids.  My favorite tone control is a Decware ZROCK2 for bass EQ.  Fully adjustable, you can dial in as much kick down low as your speakers will give you, and IMO improves the sound across the rest of the frequency range (it does add gain).  So much easier than trying to integrate a sub, especially if you're like me and you only need bass down to 30-35hz.

tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
@erik_squires 

There's the MiniDSP DDRC series that does that.  They have a version with digital inputs/outputs (which I use since I don't have any analog components and don't plan to purchase any) and one with analog inputs/outputs (balanced XLR).  

I like the digital version as it keeps everything in the digital realm - my streaming box ouputs via digital optical to the DDRC-22D, which does all of its magic and outputs via optical digital to my preamp without having to go through an additional AD/DA conversion. 

If you have analog sources the DDRC-22A works the same but it has to convert from analog to digital to do what it does then convert back to analog for output.  
trelja
3,215 posts
 
My Jadis Orchestra Reference integrated is one of the few high-end audio components you’ll find with tone controls. I’ve owned and been around a lot of amplifiers, and this one moves me in a way few others can. I happen to love the tone controls.
I know as purists, we avoid tone controls. We’re just smarter, more evolved, and just plain better than that. We use phono cartridges, CD players / DACs, pre / power amplifiers, cables, power conditioners, tubes, coupling capacitors, room treatment, isolation devices, contact enhancers, fuses, and all manner of other tweaks to dial in the sound to produce more bass, tone down the bass, liven things up, calm things down, etc., but PLEASE don’t ever calls these things tone controls
erik_squires OP
5,268 posts
 
There's the MiniDSP DDRC series that does that. They have a version with digital inputs/outputs (which I use since I don't have any analog components and don't plan to purchase any) and one with analog inputs/outputs (balanced XLR).  

Yep, I am aware. My problems with that solution are

A) I don't want to pay for Dirac just to play with it
B) I like USB sources
C) I'm using Squeezelite as my virtual Squeezebox touch. 
D) My music server is Linux

So ideally, I'd like to have any EQ/time altering to happen in real time on my Linux box. There are many threads about using EQ in general with Squeezelite, but they are old and many of those links don't even work anymore. 

Best,

E
twochannelami
5 posts
 
 To me it is simple. The best we can do is try and put the band in the room with us. Whether you live in a closet or Carnegie Hall, To try and make your closet not sound like a closet I suppose is reasonable enough but intentionally adding color to the signal when you have spent all that money to keep it pure is a contradiction to the purist in me. And yes I am that guy who thinks opinion has nothing to do with it. Whatever the component the one that best replicates the band standing there wins, like it or not.
 To color the sound in a way that for the moment is pleasing but not accurate will over time give you less pleasure as your brain knows better than you what is real and those beautiful moments when you are sitting in front of your speakers and your jaw drops will begin to diminish. Stay away from the signal path. There should be a law!
 My first post! Hello all!
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