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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
wolf_garcia
6,602 posts
 
In my listening room the floor is flat as are the walls and ceiling, although the latter does slope up fairly high in a flat way. And I can say I’m VERY judgmental about this stuff, as I’m a purist. I’ll say again that the Loki doesn’t degrade anything except my reputation as I previously stated prior to denying I own one, which I do...both things...deny and own...
strabo
15 posts
 
Only tone control in my system is an analog PEQ in the sub that does not affect the mains. No tone control on the preamp.
My room is a sonic mess but it is treated with a collection of purchased and DIY treatments placed strategically using REW. Speaker placement and the sub were also dialed in using REW, including trying to line up the phase of the sub to the mains at the crossover frequency. It helps that the sub has a very flat phase response across frequencies.
As long as I play the hifi game, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
jhills
610 posts
 
@erik_squires
Depends on listening level and music.

I could listen to music a lot lower volume if I could have old-school loudness controls like the Denon's and now some rare Yamaha integrated amps have.

Is exactly true.
I am a purest, in that I like to have as little in the signal path as possible, but the fact is:
Our human hearing is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the musical/vocal spectrum (28-16K Hz, excluding harmonics) until the overall db level at your listening position is at about 65db. which is at the moderately loud level. At 30db the highs we hear will balance out to the  mids, but the limit of low end frequencies that we hear at 30db is about 150Hz and is the reason that some of the old school receivers and integrated amps had loudness controls.
By raising the listening level up to around 45db the human hearing (good, undamaged hearing) becomes equally sensitive to all frequencies from about 60Hz up to 18K Hz. Add a bit of boost to your sub below 60 Hz and you should be good.
At 65db your hearing will be equally sensitive to frequencies from 28 Hz - 18K Hz (down to 20 Hz @ about 85db) so if you like listening loud at 65db and up, you're good but then there is the room and the louder you listen the more the room and everything in it has an effect and the more need for treatment.
Not to lecture but keep in mind (for those that like it loud) continual listening at levels 87 db and up will take it's toll on hearing and then it won't matter......Jim

prof
3,436 posts
 
mrdecibel,

The thread does indeed have a confusing title.  I kept looking at your posts wondering how you had determined your system was "flat" in the first place, and I saw no mention of measurements.

But then it appears you have used the term "flat" commonly understood to refer to "flat frequency response" to simply "not using any EQ."  (I originally thought you meant you'd achieved a flat response without the use of EQ/tone controls).

Personally, I have nothing ideologically against EQs or tone controls. I simply found I had little use for them. In fact I had a Z-Systems RDP-1 for probably 17 years, at the time the most highly lauded "invisible" eq.  But I just found not reason to add that extra complexity because I could always find a good position for speakers in my room that provided, at least subjectively, very even, pleasing sound.

I finally sold the thing this year.

That said, I have some new subwoofers I want to get around to integrating and I plan to use room correction (e.g. Anti-node) for those.


mrdecibel OP
2,898 posts
 
prof, yes, I should have worded it differently ( which I corrected later in the thread, as pointed out by Doug S. ). Although I have measured my room with a RS meter / test tone discs, I cannot claim my room is ruler flat, but it is excellent, specifically at my normal listening levels, which admittedly is higher than most. A big part of this is not having walls near my speakers and my listening chair. Just careful tweaking, and a bit of luck. I used eq and tone controls a long time ago ( in different homes ), but as I became more affluent and experienced in room set up, and most important, the realization of what I like, it is all good. It is a dedicated room, and my live in gf has no problem. I am in this home going on 5 years. The ex wife had a problem in a previous home, which had a living room as my sound room. She lives in that house now, with no interest in high fidelity. Thank you for your response. And again, in no way have I suggested tone controls or equalization are bad. That was never the point. Always, and Enjoy ! MrD.
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