Question HIFI set ups are personal .

[hifi]

Depending on how you like too listen too your music and what you listen too rock soul or what ever and what format you listen too it on CD OR Cassette ,Stream. or record how do you like your treble or bass we are all very diffrent.

 

[WayneKerr]

Mainly ripped CD's for me. Don't particularly like bright as I want long listening sessions when in the mood... not a headache. Think we all crave too much bass and though, sometimes, I may like a little more I think I've got it just about right... too much bass can ruin everything.

 

[Cricketbat70]

Depending on how you like too listen too your music and what you listen too rock soul or what ever and what format you listen too it on CD OR Cassette ,Stream. or record how do you like your treble or bass we are all very diffrent.

Never liked a lot of treble. Sometimes I turn the bass up a little, other times I hit source direct and cut out tone controls.

 

[hifi]

Never liked a lot of treble. Sometimes I turn the bass up a little, other times I hit source direct and cut out tone controls.

Thats why i would never buy a Amp with out tone controls no Amp is perfect with diffrent types of music.

 

[Cricketbat70]

Thats why i would never buy a Amp with out tone controls no Amp is perfect with diffrent types of music.

Exactly! Got a bit of a tale in that regard. So today is the funeral of a friend's wife. I've been asked to provide something to play music on at the little get together at a local function hall, after the funeral. I was given a list of Sarah's favourite songs to put on CD. I have a bit of other people's discarded hi-fi so yesterday I took 20 mins out of work to set it all up. A Roksan Kandy KA1 mk3, I was given a few months ago, a pair of B&W Vision DS2, my first pair of speakers I bought when I got into hi-fi separates (that have been stored under my son's bed for the last 20 years) and a TEAC CDP 100. (Cheap as chips from Richer Sounds 25 years ago)
When I put the first CD in to test it all I thought, that is so bright/ harsh to my ears, I looked at the Roksan and no tone controls to turn the treble down or add a little bass.

When I bought those B&W 30+ years ago they were partnered with a Denon PMA250 mk2,the sound was so much warmer to my ears, not bass heavy but definitely warmer. I was disappointed with the sound from the Kandy.
My old Denon PMA250 I use at work partnered with a pair of TDL book shelf speakers my son bought from FB market place and Harman Kardon Bluetooth receiver and we stream Spotify. Again even in our large warehouse with the volume cranked up that combo is so much warmer than the Kandy.

 

[record_spot]

I don't have a bass or treble option using only active speakers and the source. As it happens, the sound's pretty good!

 

[plastic penguin]

Like many modern integrated or active or powered speakers, I have no tone controls. However, a balanced sound, as flat as one can get across all frequencies, is preferred. But I am partial to a nice clean trebly sound, not so it's bright but a lovely open sound.

 

[Gray]

Like many modern integrated or active or powered speakers, I have no tone controls. However, a balanced sound, as flat as one can get across all frequencies, is preferred. But I am partial to a nice clean trebly sound, not so it's bright but a lovely open sound.

👍
Veiled HF is the worst crime a hifi can commit as far as I'm concerned.

I've had amps with and without tone and even (God forbid) loudness controls.
Apart from initial tests, never once used any tone control.

 

[Al ears]

👍
Veiled HF is the worst crime a hifi can commit as far as I'm concerned.

I've had amps with and without tone and even (God forbid) loudness controls.
Apart from initial tests, never once used any tone control.

Agree, if you need treble or bass controls on an amp your source is the issue., That or your speakers or both.
The only thing I require these days is a balance control.....

 

[plastic penguin]

👍
Veiled HF is the worst crime a hifi can commit as far as I'm concerned.

I've had amps with and without tone and even (God forbid) loudness controls.
Apart from initial tests, never once used any tone control.

Agree, if you need treble or bass controls on an amp your source is the issue., That or your speakers or both.
The only thing I require these days is a balance control.....

You can certainly manipulate a sound to a certain degree, and that's what I've always tried to do. Whether speakers or sources, but that said, there is always a limit to how far you can tweak an amp.

As I've said for a while now the amp is the heart of any system; it's what you add around it determines the end game.

I'm pretty sure, knowing @Gray taste in systems he would really like what a Leema gives you.

 

[Gray]

I'm pretty sure, knowing @Gray taste in systems he would really like what a Leema gives you.

I reckon he would too 👍

 

[WayneKerr]

I reckon he would too 👍

No he wouldn't

 

[Romulus]

I don't have tone controls so I get familiar with the sound. I really don't see how tone controls as to treble or bass would really enhance the sound. A valve amp with tone controls is a good avenue to distorted music, if that's your poison...😉

 

[NADman]

Many years ago when i started taking hifi more seriously i remember reading from a number of sources about keeping the signal path clear - over the years i found a few amps that had such a clear signal path ( including fixed headshell TT's) and/or with no bass treble and balance controls or even one which had a direct line switch cutting out any kind of tone controls at all to be a huge advantage, also keeping speaker and RCA cables as short as possible.
The worst offender back in the day of course was the dreaded Graphic Equaliser which was usually put in the signal path to make up for shortcomings in the system , these also added nothing to the sound except distortion,
Even if a recording has had dodgy mastering i still believe it should be heard as intended and if anyone thinks they have poor "room acoustics" should look at their system and match it to their room size, i still see huge speakers and 100watt amps being used in small rooms on Youtube!
I am currently using a Rega Brio amp, which has no balance or tone controls, which i find perfect for modern recordings but a little bright on old original pressings such as the Beatles, but i have an original NAD 3020 (recapped) on which those older records smoother on, it even "tamed" an original pressing of Oasis Definitely Maybe which is one of my more difficult recordings on most other systems i have heard that album on.
I recently decided to add a new CD player , a Rotel CD 11 Tribute to my setup after a long hiatus and found to my surprise how much this format has improved so much over the last few years - a nice smooth listen (esp. on the new Blur :The Ballad of Darren album ) which has prompted me to add a few more gems to my collection.
Happy listening all !

 

[AJM1981]

Hifi probably provides the biggest illusion of being more than it really is.

My choices lay in functional design and form that follows it. I would never buy a great performing speaker that is plain ugly or a good looking pricey speaker which sounds underwhelming. I went for a three way speaker in my living, just to have a better vertical image. Went for a small form factor Yamaha class D amp based on reviews given its energy consumption, performance and built in streamer. It replaced my huge Harman Kardon amp with loads of unused connection possibilities more than well.

I often find it amusing that claims are there that amps should be uncolored 'unless' it's a Macintosh or another valve amp,then harmonic distortion is fine because it sounds "better". In the end that part gives all room to human perception over a flat measurement to "all amps". If there are things with an amp an audiophile cant really place it is most likely a form of harmonic distortion that gives a little signature difference. If I could change anything, I would stop this whole duality in theory vs practical use logic. We all like our personal percentage wise differences in signatures.

I 'try' to draw a personal border at which I would personally fail in a double blind test. As stated in another topic I would definitely get a thick designed speaker cable someday (for cheap, because they are also dead cheap to produce), but definitely for optical reasons only, just to compliment the loudspeakers' design. The same reason I once probably also will go for black tripod stands for my second set, the Denton 85th.. The optical factor is often tugged away, pretending we do it all for sound.

 

[aversaurus]

I like a valve sound which thickens the bottom end enhances the middle and to some extent rolls the treble.
But don't use bass or treble control's

 

[Gray]

I like a valve sound which thickens the bottom end enhances the middle and to some extent rolls the treble.
But don't use bass or treble control's

You've got tone manipulation without any need for controls 🤨

'Rolled' treble and a thick bottom end 😱
I think you'd have loved our 1960s radiogram 👍