To tone control or not to tone control

You could hook up the Adcom in the tape loop of the CJ and then use the tone controls of the Adcom. Hook the tape out of the CJ to a line level input to the Adcom ( like the AUX in) and the preamp out of the Adcom to the tape in of the CJ. Engage the tape monitor of the CJ and the signal will be going thru the Adcom also. You will need to adjust the level of the Adcom so you don't overload the CJ. Start with the volume on the Adcom down low and the tone controls flat. Then turn it up until you have the same volume level with the CJ tape monitor in or out. When the tape monitor is out, you will be playing straight through the CJ.

The purists in the crowd may abhore this, but if you can doctor some of your bass shy recordings and are happy with the result, enjoy the music. That's what it's all about.

I am curious about your comment "Tone controls will only add distortion." What kind of distortion? A well designed tone control will alter the frequency response of the system, and yes, this is a form of distortion. But why would this be worse than changing cables. When people speak of this cable being brighter than that one, or this one having better bass definition than another; isn't that the same thing? Why is trying to change to change the frequency balance of system with cables better or worse than doing the same thing with a tone control? Perhaps it would be easier and cheaper to attempt to alter the response with a slight adjustment of a tone control than to try to achieve this with expensive cables that have no adjustment other than replacement. After all, a tone control can consist of no more than a capacitor or inductor and a variable resistor. I seem to remember Cello offered a tone control system (equalizer) a few years back that was well recieved. While it is true that such equlization systems are generally scorned by the high end community, I bet most don't have any idea how they work, much less understand how they affect the "distortion" of a system.

Doc, you are correct to a point. Many (most?) recordings are equalized and processed. This is especially true with pop and rock recordings that are recorded to many tracks and then mixed down to 2. A lot of these are equalized and compressed to sound better on car radios so they don't always sound so good on a high end system. However, there are a large number of recordings that are recorded directly to 2 tracks with little or no processing. That is I why I advocated putting the tone control in the processor loop so it could be switched in and out as needed.

I want to know which one of you weasels gave me negative ratings on my posts without having the backbone to state your reasons. If you have a problem with my post, let me know what it is so we can discuss it.

Let me rephrase that. It should read, who is the weasel, not "which one of you weasels". I did not mean to imply that everyone on this forum is a weasel. Just those that vote negative without bothering to state their reasons.

Doc, there is an interesting article this month in Listener magazine about the differences in tube and transistor amplifiers. The premise is that although both distort the signal, tubes do so in a more musical way, which is more pleasing to the senses. Not a new revelation but it is explained pretty well in the article.

I am also in the less is more camp. I am using a passive preamp with homemade cables to connect about $30,000 worth of components. I sold $8000 worth of cables recently and even though they did change the sound of my system, I am not convinced it was any better. I have tried various tweaks and found some do change the sound but believe that one's time is better spent choosing the basic components and working with speaker placement and room tuning. Once this is accomplished, I would rather spend my time listening to the music than obsessing about whether putting green ink on my CDs will make them sound better.

I also find it interesting, like you, that some people get offended when you disagree with them. I welcome the discussion.

I'm suprised it was distorted. Oh well, experimenting is half the fun. Did you make sure to turn the volume on the adcom down so it didn't overload the CJ?