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Tone controls- to use or not?

Thanks to years of playing in bands, and more recently working in a noisy environment, I've come to the sad realisation that my 40-year old ears no longer have their original upper frequency response. Adding a bit of "treble" on my amp's tone controls helps, but I'm normally loathe to use these controls.

Should I be looking at changing my setup to incorporate "brighter" sounding components, or is adding a little treble with the tone controls legitimate?

My system is a Cambridge 640C player, NAD c720 stereo receiver (based on c320 amp) and B&W DM602 speakers, Monster cable IC's and heavy guage "Kordz" (Australian) copper speaker wires.
carl109

Showing 1 response by knownothing

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knownothing
1,536 posts
 
The simple answer is if it sounds better to you, use the tone control.

Unfortunately, if hearing is nearly gone in a particular frequency, it is difficult to compensate with a simple tone control without over emphasizing the lower treble frequencies compared to the rest of the sound spectrum.

Some cables are brighter sounding and some are darker. Silver wire can often bring the upper octaves forward a bit.

When you feel it is time to upgrade your whole system - look for the tonal balance that sounds best to you. It may be time to focus on the midrange and all the wonderful nuance, timbre and tonal colors available there. That's what I am starting to do ;)
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