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who wants tone controls on your next preamp?

I can remeber tone controls. They used to be on preamps, and integrated amplifiers. Then somehow, they vanished. I KNOW why they say they got rid of them, but really i think it was so cable manufacturers could sell billions of dollars worth of cables. Anyone else also notice tone controls disappeared same time as we all started to need 'special cables'? it's a plot!
I want tone control back on my stuff.
How about you?
Of course, they would have to be defeatable.
elizabeth
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
"balance and timbre back to what our experience indicates sounds real."

Don't go there - there was another thread few hundred posts long where nobody at the end could agree what is real (including musicians):

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ymisc&1257469878&read&keyw&zzneutrality
bvdiman
432 posts
 
If you are in this hobby to enjoy music, good tone controls of some sort is the way to go. However, it cannot and should not be use as band-aid to correct flawed tonal balance of a system.

Many good reasons and opinions have already been voiced above. IMO, when done right, and everything else is in order--It simply lets one enjoy and explore more varieties of music--bearing in mind the diverse recording quality releases in the market, even to this day.
foster_9
1,610 posts
 
I'd love to have these implemented well on a piece that didn't cost as much as a used car. By the way I tried what I thought was my dream piece, an Avalon AD2055 parametric and it did not work out in my system, disappointingly. Luxman and Accuphase integrated tone controls have always been attractive to me; both have exceptional reputations. I was always intrigued about trying both. I almost bought a McIntosh preamp, almost....
rwwear
2,692 posts
 
Balance controls are just as bad. Just move your head.
carlos269
73 posts
 
Kijanki,
I'm not surprised and that's why this whole concept of "Absolute Sound" (the basis for Audiophilia) is so bogus as we all perceive sound slightly differently due to anatomical differences. It kind of lends even greater value to such devices doesn't it?
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