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To tone control or not to tone control

I recently stepped up to a Conrad Johnson PFR preamp to mate with my CJ MF-2200 amp (200 wpc). Was previously running an Adcom GTP-450 pre/tuner which had bass/treble controls which help to compensate for those recordings which are recorded poorly. Though the CJ PFR sounds really good on most of my cd's there are some of my favorite artists whose recordings are really pitiful. Is there a good tone control which I can use on the PFR to use for these poor recordings? Is there a way to connect both preamps to one system. I do have an older cdp that I could connect to the Adcom preamp for the poor cd's and use the main system for the good stuff. I have also thought of trying a subwoofer to help with filling in the bottom end since most of the poor recordings are R&B and Rock N'Roll and that is where they seem to be lacking the most. The rest of my system consists of a Sherwood Newcastle 980 cdp and Infinity RS 5000 speakers (12 yrs old) and next to be replaced. As always your help is appreciated
128x128artemus_5
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,385 posts
 
I thought that it was mentioned above but cannot find it now (perhaps I am thinking of another thread) but Musical Fidelity used to make a little add on called the X-Tone that you should be able to use as Bruce mentions using the Adcom in his above post and it could then be either switched in or out. The problem though is finding one on the used market, though it should cost $150 or less. I have seen three of them for sale within the last six months at Audiogon, Audo Reveiw and Ebay.
gregm
3,396 posts
 
Great idea, Dekay! Artemus, grab it! Have heard a X-tone and it wasn't bad... easy to use, too (U can switch back & forth). Sorry, it didn't come to mind.
Greg
soundbug1
9 posts
 
I know I will probably catch some flack for this post. I dont like tone controls, I prefer to choose my components to get the sound I want however the best tone control I have ever heard and would not say a thing negative about is the BBE sonic maximizer built for home stereo purposes. It has contour (low) and definition(highs) controls and works amazingly well. On a bad system it can do wonders. I dont know how well it will work with a good one though. They are only about $200 new so a used one might be well worth trying if the price is right. Many recording studios use these machines and live performances are often amplified with BBE processes. It sounds good. I dont own one though.Good luck!
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,148 posts
 
I recognize that most audiophiles do not look favorably upon consumer accessible EQ. The simplest signal path -- straight wire with gain paradigm is dominant. However, for those willing to consider something outside of the norm, I suggest you consider the following manufacturers' equalizers. Aphex, Drawmer, Manley, Summit, Tube Tech (all of the above are tube based designs) or Avalon, Focusrite, GML, Oram and Night Technologies. Prices range from $1,000 (the Aphex and Night Tech units) to slightly under $5,000 (Manley). These units are all well built and are essentially sonically transparent. Insert one of these equalizers into your system's tape loop and you'll never have to be afraid of a hearing impaired recording engineer again.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
You can still find tone controls, even variable turnover(along with a tone-bypass-defeat button) on the really nice preamps such as Accuphase, Cello, Luxman; they've been doing it that way for many years. You get the best of both that way, but they're not cheap. I've had both. The passive that I use now is nicely transparent, but I'm getting it outta there & going back to my old ways when my $10K Accuphase arrives this week. The bit of extra resolution on those few recordings that contains it, is hardly worth the tradeoff of losing Eq. on the majority of software that needs it. For purists, that bypass-button makes it straight-thru-clean when you want it that way too. Luxman C5 or C7 is a more affordable alternative offering similar options.
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