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On neutrality, eyeglasses, speakers and joy.

One thing I have noticed recently as I go outside is that having prescription sunglasses makes me happy. Literally, having them on makes me happier than not. I feel more connected to the world I am in. The same thing, I think, applies to speakers.
Just like with eyeglasses, no one hears the same way. We make too much about "neutral sounding" speakers and not enough about how our hearing deteriorates with age. Nothing wrong with speakers that make your ears sound "young again" or finding great hearing aids which can help you connect to everyone around you, not just music.

Same thing with tone controls. My issue with several vendors with tone controls is that often they are secondary quality to the main preamp/amps. You can hear them engage. I just bought a new integrated in part because the tone controls are pretty great, so if you feel like you need them, you should go out and listen to gear with them and find something you love.

erik_squires
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newbee
4,751 posts
 
'our hearing deteriorating with age'. LOL. I just discovered this effect in spades!  Many years ago I bought a bunch of SED KT88's to power some big mono amps (so I have lots of tubes). I could never adjust to their high frequency response so they sat unused - too lazy to sell even though their value has increased. Well 10 years later I gave them a try. Wow. I can't believe the increase in dynamic's, and a forwardness in the mid range which brings the image further into the room with out the more typical 'brightness'. The only downside is it is hard to ignore the audio effects when you really just want to just listen to the music. 

I guess the moral to all this is don't sell anything just re-visit it as you grow older. Now that I have this reconfigured amp I'm going to have to start dragging out some speakers and sources in semi retirement. :-)
mrdecibel
2,946 posts
 
Eric, I understand you enjoy your bass and treble tone controls on your Lux, and probably the loudness control. However, the tone controls, in shaping, are inadequate, ime. Schiit makes an eq, the Loki, and it will be substantially superior to your ears in what it does. And this, is from a listener ( me ) who chooses not to use eq. But, as always, Enjoy ! MrD.
gdnrbob
4,417 posts
 
@mrdecibel ,
I gotta get one of those Loki's.

@erik,
I, too, wear glasses, but I like the fact I can change pairs and feel like a different person- much like listening to different speakers every day.
B
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