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Tone controls -- assuming you're ok with them, when would you try them?

So, I'm learning and experimenting w/ speaker/sub placement. I've had some success. Presently using my old Adcom GTP-400 preamp (treble, bass, and loudness/contour controls). It's likely my next amps won't have tone controls (nor balance). 

Beyond compensating for old/bad recordings, I realize there is, nevertheless, a standing debate whether tone controls are worth the (likely) sound degradation. Imagine that debate was settled and tone controls were deemed worthwhile, overall. IF you'll stipulate to all that, my question is this:

QUESTION: If the sound is not right in your room, and you've placed speakers as best you can, what do you try next? At what point do you go for tone controls?

Perhaps some just go for tone controls from the get-go…happy to hear from you all, too.

FWIW, I saw this nice list from @erik_squires on this topic:   
erik_squires8,293 posts
08-19-2017 11:06am
Tone controls help us compensate for differences in recording trends across decades of recordings.
Tone controls help us adjust our sound quality to different listening situations and volumes.
Tone controls help us adjust for speaker placement.
Tone controls are much cheaper and more efficient way of doing this than most other solutions.
A good tone control is a lot easier to implement than a good equalizer. Fewer bands so more affordable to use high quality parts.

128x128hilde45
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,820 posts
 
Pictures of me in a corset are strictly fake news.
cakids
166 posts
 
Well, I got my Loki just to see what it would do. Schiit shipped the day I ordered it.
Love it! And, it did not noticeably degrade sound quality as far as I could tell.  It can be bypassed with one pushbutton on the Manley remote. With the mid bass and lower treble turned up just a bit, there was more prescence and “air” on most recordings - especially voice. Very subtle though, and I probably couldn’t tell if it was in or out of the circuit without instantaneous a-b switching.
d2girls's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
d2girls
1,029 posts
 
I have enjoyed playing with the 25hz and 50hz knobs on my C53 in my system. It helped make certain 'woosh' types of bass sound much more impressive.
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,820 posts
 
These last two posts really speak to another side of audio which I love -- not only *adjusting the sound balance* (as if we were all recording engineers) but also just *play.* I like to play with things. Remembering that helps keep life meaningful to me.
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
I have a question. Do the players of music, use tone control?
Can the guy on bass, turn it up? Can the Gal singing lead, give it the
"thumbs up" and the lead vocals volume is increased? 350-3000 hz
I really don’t understand, NO tone control.

I’m not willing to put up with noise when I can live with sound.
Tone control features DO color the sound, or UN color, so to speak.

A turn of a knob, knowing it will fix a problem for your ears in that room for that song.

Are you saying the lead guy on his Les Paul, that swaps to another, Les Paul, to an acoustic Martin, to a ukulele. Didn’t use tone control?

No tone control, really limits what I would be listening to in my sound areas. No tone control in a shop. Really? After work, no noise, ear plugs and muffs are off. You don’t change the tone controls? Hee hee You guys crack me up...

I’m dedicated to the sound at that time. Home, car, shop, work....
In " The Room ", its stays pretty flat across the tone control sections.
20% of my music listening is in the room. What about the rest of listening time?

Don’t listen, not an option.. I’ll use my tone control

Go ahead and tell me how ALL of you don’t use tone control, you all do,
think about it.. Your car, you partners car, no tone control, yes there is, and you use it...
Need to get into treatment, self denial, is running rampant.
LOL. Don’t take offense now...

Regards


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