Adding Tone Controls?

Tone controls are band aids that have no place in a well thought out and designed system.

Shakey

To each his own. I am happy to have them. Its the software that is the problem, not the system. At least that's my take on reality.

"My system sounds wonderful when playing well recorded jazz, classical, or "audiophile approved" material. Unfortunately, mass market pop frequently sounds horrible, with screechy splashy highs. It's obviously recorded with a built in bias to be played on car radios or lo-fi mp3s."

Welcome to the club. Your situation is very common; its one of the negative aspects of having high resolution audio equipment. There are a lot of different things you can do to fix the problem. I believe the best, and most effective fix, is to get an EQ.

"Oh for heaven's sake, he's already listening to abysmally recorded albums and you're gonna worry about the supposedly deleterious effects of an equalizer? Some times I wonder if some of you guys made it thru grade school."

I couldn't agree more. I have an EQ that I use for the same reason. You may want to look at a Behringer Ultracurve PRO DEQ2496. I have one and get great results with it.

To correct/tame less than stellar (bad) recordings, tone control of some sort is needed. Whether it be in the form of simple bass/treble ones, digital correction, equalizer, or linearizer. I would avoid using cable as band-aids, as then you'll need loom$ of them for the diverse recordings, not to mention the trouble of swapping. Fine tuning or use as finishing touch to an already well balanced system is more the cable's duty, imo.

+1 to suggestions by RW/Elizabeth .