2. amps-preamps
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I like my system flat, no tone controls, no eq..........what is your preference, and why.

A poster on another thread here has encouraged me to post this. Been an audio professional and a hobbyist for 50 tears. I had my time with eq, tone controls ( even reverb and time delay units ). I am currently at the point where I need nothing to alter the recordings I listen to, nor to compensate for room aberrations. I have spent lots of money on equipment , had equipment on loan, of all types ( pretty much a bit of everything, for the most part ) and I have tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked. I have recently tooled down to a much simpler and less expensive system, and I find I am the happiest I have ever been. Might be my amp, my passive unit, my speakers...…….yes, all of that. Yes, all of that is important, but it is the system synergy that has made me realize that changing anything with an eq or tone controls took me further from that synergy, that balance. I accept, and enjoy my recordings for what they are. Some better than others ( sq ). But, I am enjoying the brilliance of all the studio work put into them,  exactly as they were intended to be listened to. This is me. I do not believe in right or wrong, better or worse, newer vs older, yada yada yada. I have believed, and have stated, particularly in this hobby, to each his own. I hear fuse differences, power cable differences, etc. Some believe I was born a bat. I am happy of my gift, not just hearing well, but through the years, teaching myself " what it is I like ", which is the key for most of us. I am not sure where this thread will go, but I put it out there, and hope folks will drop in, even though much of it might have been stated before in other threads. Thank you A'gon family, be well, and Enjoy ! MrD.
mrdecibel

Showing 1 response by ianrodger

ianrodger
164 posts
 
I have always understood "flat" to mean that if there are tone controls on your amp, leave them centred - no promotion and no restriction of high, mid or low frequency.

It used to be said that if you were using them, your gear was sub-standard. You come to realise what a load of bollocks that theory is when you move your set-up to a different room or install acoustic treatments and it suddenly comes to life. Or when you take into account, the differences in quality of some productions and recordings.

Late last year, I bought a Loki to augment the bass in my system which uses various valve amps with no tone controls. To a lesser extent, I also needed to tame the occasionally harsh high ends on some albums. I enjoyed the effect it had on some recordings.

More recently, I moved to a different room and found I needed the Loki less often.
After an external power supply grid issue, I bought a power conditioner that also delivers a constant voltage. I no longer need the Loki at all.

It seems that apart from now being in a more sympathetic room, a clean and constant power supply to the amp, Dac and server was the missing ingredient in my system. I now have a more substantial bottom end as well as a more refined high end.
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