Loudness, preamps, speaker choice...

[Vladimir]

M&G do you fiddle with the tone controls with every album/song? They must be really worn out mate.

Cheers

 

[robbo400]

[/quote]

IME. If you get the right combination of Amp/Speakers (with a decent Source), then tone controls aren't anything like as necessary.

To get a good taste of what you heard with the McIntosh, as well as Luxman and Accuphase, look at brands like Sugden, Pathos, Electrcompaniet, Icon Audio and Unison Research (even if there are no tone controls)....and combine them with speakers like Harbeth, Spendor Classic Series and Kef R Series.

[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. It sounds spot-on, my only concern being that I would like to feed 3 rooms which have different sound characteristics. All those brands (apart from one which I have discounted because of 2 friends both having reliability issues) are on my list, together with Sonneteer and Musical Fidelity. I've listened to Harbeth (although not in my house) and want to demo back-to-back the Monitor 30 and SL5 in my main listening room. I'm also looking forward to hearing the Spendor Classic range which I've not yet heard.

Suggestions to me have been to try the new MF M6si with 2 M1 PWR amps to feed the other 2 rooms. I will only buy if I feel it gets close enough to that McIntosh sound which so captivated me. If not, I'll wait and save.

Regarding the tone controls, I too have Tone Defeat on most of the time. It's just when I listen to a harsh recording or play into my bright room that I make an adjustment and I think it's nice to have that option. I also think tone controls could be a cyclical fashion, just as I feel we are moving back away from separates and because some of the new music centres (and I call them that because to me they are just a modern reincarnation of the 70s idea) are made by high-end companies they attract more credibility than if produced by respected mid-tier companies. The new Devialet, for example, seems to be getting rave reviews and it too has tone controls.

In my mind, I compare it to boots and hatchbacks on saloon cars. In the 80s every saloon had a hatchback because of the practicality. Then they went out of fashion, I don't know why, and became scoffed at. Now BMW and Audi re-introduce the idea with new names (Sportsback and GT) and all of a sudden they're a great idea again, a masterpiece in engineering design which really helps with the practicalities of modern life. Maybe tone controls will become the norm again, who knows...

 

[Vladimir]

Nothing wrong with using tone controls to suit your sonic preferences or even hearing deficit (don't know why people get insulted by this, I have a hearing deficit and I choose my gear accordingly). Your kit, your toys, you play with it the way it pleases you.

However, the idea that tone controls can fix a bad recording or remedy digital compression, well that's not actually possible, nor practical (fiddling with them for every song). Tone controls are still added to amplifiers because many people will simply not buy an amp without them and manufacturers will not let that extra revenue be lost for a few caps, pots and resistors they already have laying in a bucket somewhere. Its a chicken and the egg thing. They make them because we buy them and we buy them because they make them.

 

[stavvy]

i was happy to have my integrated amp with tone controls and fiddle about with them. but by adding the preamp the tone controls are disabled and the preamp itself has none which kinda puts me off. it does have digital filters however which give the sound either a "sharp" "slow" or "short" whatever that means. But I doubt it will give me the control that is lost by disabling the bass and treble controls and the loudness function.

 

[MeanandGreen]

M&G do you fiddle with the tone controls with every album/song? They must be really worn out mate.

Cheers

lol! You obviously didn't read my post properly mate!

 

[MeanandGreen]

i was happy to have my integrated amp with tone controls and fiddle about with them. but by adding the preamp the tone controls are disabled and the preamp itself has none which kinda puts me off. it does have digital filters however which give the sound either a "sharp" "slow" or "short" whatever that means. But I doubt it will give me the control that is lost by disabling the bass and treble controls and the loudness function.

The digital filters will make next to no difference. In all honesty apart from perhaps upgrading from the headphone socket on your current amp, I really don't think the new DAC/Pre-amp would be a wise move for you given how you like using the features on your current amp.

 

[Vladimir]

M&G do you fiddle with the tone controls with every album/song? They must be really worn out mate.

Cheers

lol! You obviously didn't read my post properly mate!

I did my best, honest. You think todays production is heavy on bass, so you have your amp bass set at 11 o'clock. You are not deaf and your room is set up right.

What about every other music except todays bass heavy production? You don't listen any of it? Do you dial back on at 12 o'clock each time when you do?

 

[ID.]

i was happy to have my integrated amp with tone controls and fiddle about with them. but by adding the preamp the tone controls are disabled and the preamp itself has none which kinda puts me off. it does have digital filters however which give the sound either a "sharp" "slow" or "short" whatever that means. But I doubt it will give me the control that is lost by disabling the bass and treble controls and the loudness function.

The digital filters will make next to no difference. In all honesty apart from perhaps upgrading from the headphone socket on your current amp, I really don't think the new DAC/Pre-amp would be a wise move for you given how you like using the features on your current amp.

This. My understanding is that the kit you are looking at is primarily designed as a DAC and headphone amp and may provide improvements in those areas, but I suspect there will be less to be gained in just using it as a preamp. The digital filters will not have the effect on the bass you are looking for.

 

[MeanandGreen]

M&G do you fiddle with the tone controls with every album/song? They must be really worn out mate.

Cheers

lol! You obviously didn't read my post properly mate!

I did my best, honest. You think todays production is heavy on bass, so you have your amp bass set at 11 o'clock. You are not deaf and your room is set up right.

What about every other music except todays bass heavy production? You don't listen any of it? Do you dial back on at 12 o'clock each time when you do?

For everything else I bypass the tone controls with the 'tone defeat' switch. Probably 98% of the time my tone controls are bypassed. I still like the option of having them there for the odd occasion I feel I want to make an adjustment.

 

[Vladimir]

M&G do you fiddle with the tone controls with every album/song? They must be really worn out mate.

Cheers

lol! You obviously didn't read my post properly mate!

I did my best, honest. You think todays production is heavy on bass, so you have your amp bass set at 11 o'clock. You are not deaf and your room is set up right.

What about every other music except todays bass heavy production? You don't listen any of it? Do you dial back on at 12 o'clock each time when you do?

For everything else I bypass the tone controls with the 'tone defeat' switch. Probably 98% of the time my tone controls are bypassed. I still like the option of having them there for the odd occasion I feel I want to make an adjustment.

Wow! Deja vu.

I think I had this conversation about tone controls before. *mosking*

 

[MeanandGreen]

M&G do you fiddle with the tone controls with every album/song? They must be really worn out mate.

Cheers

lol! You obviously didn't read my post properly mate!

I did my best, honest. You think todays production is heavy on bass, so you have your amp bass set at 11 o'clock. You are not deaf and your room is set up right.

What about every other music except todays bass heavy production? You don't listen any of it? Do you dial back on at 12 o'clock each time when you do?

For everything else I bypass the tone controls with the 'tone defeat' switch. Probably 98% of the time my tone controls are bypassed. I still like the option of having them there for the odd occasion I feel I want to make an adjustment.

Wow! Deja vu.

I think I had this conversation about tone controls before. *mosking*

indeed! *boredom*