Tone controls

[MeanandGreen]

If it dictates a person's choice of amp then I reckon they're unnecessarily limiting (and possibly compromising) their options - perhaps missing out on an overall better sounding amp - for the sake of correcting the odd wrongly recorded track.
But I understand that some people can't be without tone controls 😐

I’m not really a user of tone controls, but I do see the benefits for some situations.

I reckon most audiophiles could save a lot of tail chasing, component swapping and expenditure - if they weren’t brainwashed into thinking a tone control circuit was destroying the signal. Thinking that somehow their set up is not audiophile enough if they feel the need to tweak bass and treble up or down by a couple of db.

Music genres vary, recordings and mastering vary, peoples room acoustics vary, peoples ears vary etc…

Yet the audiophile cult says tone controls should be banished from any decent system, but it’s perfectly acceptable to swap around interconnects, speaker cables etc as if to use those as a means of tonal balance adjustment instead. 😂

Where is the logic?

 

[Din5]

Hi M&G,
I agree with all you say, there's nothing wrong with using a tone control, if it results in a better sound.

 

[Gray]

.....if they weren’t brainwashed into thinking a tone control circuit was destroying the signal.

Anyone who's ever had the intermittent, crackly, distorted sound of a tone bypass switch (as several Marantz owners (including me) on this forum have) didn't need brainwashing they clearly heard the signal being destroyed.
True enough, a blast of Servisol clears the problem for a few more years, but in such cases......no tone control circuit, no problem.
Now your point about cables, there's some genuine brainwashing there 🤪
If people desire tone controls, good luck to them.

 

[Romulus]

I used to own NAD receiver 3020 which had treble and bass tone controls, I don't think I ever used them to listen to music as I was happy with off or is it o position. When afterwards 'minimalist' amps came on the Audio scene without tone controls I just thought it was the next logical progression. As to the 'Balance' knob I think I only fooled around with it when listening to Pink Floyds 'Dark Side Of The Moon' because the way it was recorded sound fazing in and out of each speaker... If I had money to burn I would purchase a silver Luxman Integrated Amp because on that amp the tone controls with the Vu meters look simply exquisite and most probably sumptuous to use, most probably the effects of the tone controls would spoil most recordings ....

 

[MUSICRAFT]

subwoofers.

a system with a well integrated sub.

Glad you're using a subwoofer Btw, the HTS is a nice looking sub