So try a little humour and encouragement sometime - the ultimate tools for manipulating people's motivations today, as politicians and advertisers well know. Also, it may even help others to understand tech issues better without authoritarian negativity, whether you have to walk on eggshells, hot coals or lie on a bed of roses to make a convincing argument that sticks on merit.
FWIW, Joe Public has always made a mess of tone settings and the sound that greeted me in some homes was unbearable when 3 tone controls, slope switches etc. bristled from every integrated amplifier and additional, noisy graphic equalizers and loudness controls were in use too. Eccchh! Joe or his visitors at least, would have been a lot happier with nothing to tinker with and screw up, just by accepting the weakness of his speakers and home environment.
FWIW, Joe Public has always made a mess of tone settings and the sound that greeted me in some homes was unbearable when 3 tone controls, slope switches etc. bristled from every integrated amplifier and additional, noisy graphic equalizers and loudness controls were in use too. Eccchh! Joe or his visitors at least, would have been a lot happier with nothing to tinker with and screw up, just by accepting the weakness of his speakers and home environment.
Short answer is no. I can only assume the OP was trying to stir the pot given how many times this has been discussed on the 20 years this forum has been active. And the fact that he didn't appear to do any reasearch on Dick Burwen and what he has achieved is his long career (Cello audio palette is possible the thing he is most well known for.
In his retirement Dick has embraced digital processing for tone controls with some really quite fancy setups. burwenaudio.com has a lot of good stuff. Not updated very often which is unsuprising given he is in his 90s now and he still has a system that makes almost everyone elses look like an afterthought.
For anyone where digital is the main or only source DSP offers one the change to have cake and eat it. My personal opinion is that the 3 band BMT that were fitted as standard to many receivers are too coarse to be helpful. I also think that too few people understand WHAT they need to adjust when something doesn't quite sound right and this is not discussed at all on these sort of forums as the two sides of the debate dig a trench and start hurling insults at each other.
This thread is sadly doomed.
Maybe doomed, but only because the manufacturers catering to ignorance set the groundwork a long time ago. Ian spelled it out in his post above. A lot of people use the loudness control to set high volume levels. I've never owned gear with tone controls at all except for subs lately. The Acoustat servo amps also have a HF attenuator for room correction. My hearing is waning a bit so I keep it slightly up.
Agreed. home threatre receivers with microphones for auto-cal could/should have changed that, but given how awful the UI is on many of those it's ignored and 'stadium' setting is defaulted. Horse to water and all.
Z-systems tried to change this in the late 90s with the RDP-1 but I think they offended too many delicate types with their live demos at hifi shows.
Z-systems tried to change this in the late 90s with the RDP-1 but I think they offended too many delicate types with their live demos at hifi shows.
Agreed, most people don't have the knowledge or finese to correct their systems reasonably.
I'd see people shoving those EQ sliders all over the place, sometimes in rediculous ways, like the "V" shape, etc.
A decent system, with carefully chosen components, in the average room, usually only needs a "touch" here and there of tone controls.
Nothing drastic, unless ill-matching of components is the case.
The 7-band EQ on my system is virtually flat, except for a very slight offset of some frequency bands.
I certainly don't need to make a 12dB boost/cut of any of them.
The reason people don't know how to eq their system is because they think they do know. The reason for that is because it's experientially perpetuated and handed down over time by the masses. As was mentioned in a prior post, the so called "tone control detesting purists" are relatively few. So time dictates comfort in familiarity. It's what they're used to hearing. To them(whoever uses controls to tailor to their particular taste), it sounds good. Flatten it out and their immediate reaction is a bewildered upper lip curl. They don't understand that bringing everything up to the same volume instead of just what they've separated out will give them more of what they want. To each his own.
hail the unwashed. 😛
hail the unwashed. 😛
I put an EQ in my system for a while, tweaked it, tweaked it, and tweaked it again, over a few weeks of listening until it was where I liked it .. and guess what
It was basically flat
So I took it out... And got back to enjoying the music instead of fiddling with the EQ
It was basically flat
So I took it out... And got back to enjoying the music instead of fiddling with the EQ
At my age, the excessive treble in some LP and CD recordings aggrevates my tinnitus.
It is in such circumstances that I make judicious use of the treble control.
Any decent amp equipped with tone controls these days will have the option to switch them out of circuit, so offering consumers the best of both worlds.
It is in such circumstances that I make judicious use of the treble control.
Any decent amp equipped with tone controls these days will have the option to switch them out of circuit, so offering consumers the best of both worlds.
Right, but at the cost of an additional circuit, or switch. I also have tinnitus but I tweak the HF attenuator of my amps "up" because of it. Actually, my tinnitus is accompanied with some hearing loss.
This all makes sense but for various reasons, even the tone control "defeat" or bypass switches can be a problem, themselves. Sometimes it's the cheap and tiny mechanical design that bends, wears or breaks. Other times it's the solder mounting joints or springs whose pressure weakens with use or the silver plated contact surfaces become oxidized and insulate rather than conduct.
I think much of the blame comes down to inappropriate switching materials and impedances as it wasn't long after the problems emerged, that sealed signal relays began to appear in up-market domestic and semi-pro audio products. Even reed switches were used in earlier days (eg Naim) only to find it was yet another bad idea in practice.
For the major Japanese manufacturers of the 1980s, the plan seems to have been to make tone controls extremely flexible in order to please everyone and meet all practical and imaginable requirements at once, just by rolling off or boosting frequencies with response slopes of any form possible at low cost. When you are left with distorted, weak or no signal after some years of use though, the novelty of these extra controls can wear thin.
I had a few such integrated amps and a preamp by Technics from that period. All needed contact cleaner or replacement switches with every second use so most of it recently went to a collector who believes he has a source for most switches and a tech who believes he can solve the ongoing contact problems for the rest.....well, maybe 🙄
I think much of the blame comes down to inappropriate switching materials and impedances as it wasn't long after the problems emerged, that sealed signal relays began to appear in up-market domestic and semi-pro audio products. Even reed switches were used in earlier days (eg Naim) only to find it was yet another bad idea in practice.
For the major Japanese manufacturers of the 1980s, the plan seems to have been to make tone controls extremely flexible in order to please everyone and meet all practical and imaginable requirements at once, just by rolling off or boosting frequencies with response slopes of any form possible at low cost. When you are left with distorted, weak or no signal after some years of use though, the novelty of these extra controls can wear thin.
I had a few such integrated amps and a preamp by Technics from that period. All needed contact cleaner or replacement switches with every second use so most of it recently went to a collector who believes he has a source for most switches and a tech who believes he can solve the ongoing contact problems for the rest.....well, maybe 🙄
The tone controls are (I can't remember others) of the "universal" Baxandall type, I guess that's the name of the creator. They are of the active type (with amplification so as not to lose signal amplitude), those of the passive type are only attenuators (you can reduce but not increase the frequencies within a preset operating range)
Here is a simple circuit for those who wish to incorporate it into their power amplifiers, without having to modify it, since you assemble it in a box and connect it to the input itself. A single BC548 transistor.
CONTROL DE TONO
Based on an article by Newton C. Braga, it must surely be available in English.
And if you want to calculate your own cutoff frequencies and build something more elaborate, you have another with two LM324 ICs.
Baxandall Bass and Tone Circuit and Calculator
This is Diy Audio! 🙂
Here is a simple circuit for those who wish to incorporate it into their power amplifiers, without having to modify it, since you assemble it in a box and connect it to the input itself. A single BC548 transistor.
CONTROL DE TONO
Based on an article by Newton C. Braga, it must surely be available in English.
And if you want to calculate your own cutoff frequencies and build something more elaborate, you have another with two LM324 ICs.
Baxandall Bass and Tone Circuit and Calculator
This is Diy Audio! 🙂
Well, I think you could make an effort, geniuses should share their knowledge, tell us what are the evils, we are eager to learn from you.....🙄
That will affect your health!
How to get over hating someone | Ohio State Medical Center.
Luckily I'm not a purist, haha ..... I also use them in some of my systems ! 😀
How to get over hating someone | Ohio State Medical Center.
Luckily I'm not a purist, haha ..... I also use them in some of my systems ! 😀