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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
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
Trelja is correct. Its far more fun to complain about the room, buy bs tweeks, roll tubes, and blame the recordings.
sonicbeauty OP
324 posts
 
Great post Trelja.

That is EXACTLY the point of this thread.

When you think of it, with all the settings that are possible between the proverbial bass-treble settings, you probably have 50 different types of interconnect, 20 different speaker cables, 10 power tube brands, 5 input (6922 style) tube brands, and what else??

What you don't have with tone controls is bragging rights - and you wouldn't be associated with t-controls unless you wore a paper bag over your head as not be recognized using them. Its a deal breaker for many if not most audiophiles.

food for thought
rwwear
2,847 posts
 
I suppose tone controls can be helpful in certain situations. But they do add distortion and phase shift that room tuning and other tweeks don't.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,141 posts
 
I have two quality systems and both have tone controls. The McIntosh C42 has an 8 band EQ. In the downstairs system the Drawmer D/A has a 4 band parametric EQ and a single band dynamic EQ. Basically the controls are set and forget, but they are engaged. What theoretical distortions they add are easily overridden by the tonal benefits they enable.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
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...
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