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Message from the Past: We were never against tone controls

For those of us who started being audiophiles a very long time ago, we have a message for you all:

We were never against tone controls. We were against poor sounding tone controls, and many of them were. From bass / treble nobs to 1/3 octave equalizers, they all were almost universally garbage.

That was decades ago. Now things are in some cases much better, or at least, not nearly as bad sounding as a poor recording.  Stop using guidelines from the 1980's to decide what to do.

You are not obligated to sit through a performance without adjusting the music to suite your tastes. It’s OK to boost the bass, or turn down the treble for your liking. You have all the permission you need.
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
15,657 posts
 
If you have a true hi end preamp tone controls are not needed.


Yeah, amazing how that Aritficial Intelligence automatically adjusts for my tastes, my room and recordings.  It like just knows how to fix up my Stop Making Sense CD so it no longer sounds terrible.
erik_squires OP
15,657 posts
 
Yeah, I know, it's *knob but one of my biggest fans, EBM, commented before I could fix it.
erik_squires OP
15,657 posts
 
If you don't have tone controls, how can you say you have a high end preamp?  You don't.  You have a mid-fi preamp that is missing features.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@erik_squires 


Ok, while I totally agree with your premise that it's fine to incorporate tone controls into audiophile listening, I have to categorically disagree with this statement of yours.  Seriously???

If you don't have tone controls, how can you say you have a high end preamp? You don't. You have a mid-fi preamp that is missing features.

erik_squires OP
15,657 posts
 
@three_easy_payments

I'm trolling. It's obvious I'm trolling, and yet, people will allow themselves to be trolled. :)
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