Tone controls- to use or not?

i have a different experience wit respect to aging. i am more sensitive to treble frequencies than i was 30 years ago. i find very often that i want to attenuate frequencies in the range 1000 to 3000 hz.

i believe, as vett93 has stated, cable, a passive compoent is a better approach than active equilization. in some cases equalizing brings with it phase shifts.

perhaps you might replace your cables with pure silver cables, and see if you are more pleased with the treble response.

there is an implicit assumption that that the engineer and the performer want the purchaser of a recording to hear "something". i disagree. the recording is a stement from both engineer and performer, as to what they want to hear. they don't care what you hear, because they have no idea what your stereo system is.

therefore, it is not logical to assume that altering the sound of the recording is not a good idea. it is neither good nor bad. it is just an idea.

i think it is reasonable to expect a listener to "hear" the recording any way he/she desires, without regard to accuracy of transmission.

the problem with this hobby is that there are too many prescrip[tions as to how one should listen to one's recordings and too much dogmatism as too what is good and what is not good.

it's all subjective and a matter of preference.

accuracy still has meaning. however, some audiophiles are not motivated to achieve it.

as a side note, i will purchasing a decware amplifier which is supplied with an attenuator. i intend to use it. the designer has indicated that he uses it as well.

half of the fun in this hobby is tinkering. tone controls is one way to tinker. the other half is enjoying the music.

hi samuel33:

tinkering is fun, regardless of the outcome. humans are naturally curious. the fun of tinkering is not being able to predict the result. the process is more important than the result.

why does altering the tone produce sonic degradadtion ? here is another example of dogmatic thinking. one person's discomfort is another person's enjoyment.

one cannot generalize as to what is enjoyable for another person.

hi rodman99999:

there is no definitive definition of audiophile. there are many definitions. it's all subjective. "supposed to be" is but an opinion, since it is neither true nor false.

your idea of sonic degredation may be someone's audio nirvana, which follows from the adage "one person's trash is another person's treasure".

i will admit that using tone controls by definition alters the signal and creates inaccuracy. that's another issue.

even if your hypothesis is: accuracy is the hallmark of a high quality stereo system, it is but one of many methods for assessing the merits of stereo systems.

hi kijanki:

not altering the signal is but one method of configuring a stereo system. this is not a definitive approach for listening to music in the home. it is your opinion.
i disagree. one should do to the recording whatever is pleasurable to the listener.

again, the goal of accuracy is one of many purposes of a stereo system. it is better not to dictate what others should be doing with their stereo system.

accuracy is a criterion for evaluating stereo systems. however, it is arbitrary and not the sole means of doing so.