Are tone controls worth a second look ?



Are tone controls still prohibited from ''high end''audio?

Seems to me that with all of the advances in electronic design, they starting to make sense again.

In my humble opinion, tone controls are not unlike adding, or substracting sonic flavor to music reproduction. Like switching interconnects or speaker cables that will affect the sound in X or Y manner.

I am not reffering to a technical comparison between tone controls and cables, but rather that their effect could be similar. When you think of it, cables have their own colors. And we pay dearly for this without the opportunity of a ''tone defeat'' button.

What do you think?
sonicbeauty

Showing 2 responses by trelja

Despite thinking we are purists in this sense, I've yet to find an audiophile who isn't using tone controls.

Today's tone controls are vacuum tubes, tube buffers, cabling, isolation devices, equipment stands, cryogenic treatment, plugs/receptacles, and room treatment. You could even argue the very components folks use - cartridges, turntables, CD players, preamplifiers, amplifiers, and loudspeakers are tone controls as well, which is but one part of the equation of why so many people flip gear at the rate they do.

It's pretty ridiculous when you think about the things we try, but heaven forbid a set of tone controls show up on the preamp or integrated - that's sheer high-end audio blasphemy!
I'm impressed, Onhwy61.

Thanks for the kind words guys! I myself had a Jadis Orchestra Reference with tone controls. It was kind of a bold move on the part of Jadis, but I can tell you I greatly appreciated having them onboard. Currently, I have a DA30 and DA60, and though I respect them immensely (the DA60 is about as good a high-end audio component as I've encountered), I do miss the tone controls. Almost all of the current Orchestra and Orchestra Reference variants brought into the North American market by the Jadis importer today lacks them, as he explained to me he's not a fan. What a shame...