[FullRangeMan]

This is a pool to feel the audiophile interest in minimalist amps or tone controls Mid-Fi amps.

[Mag]

 +1. I use the Tone Controls on my Mixer.

[Yog Sothoth]

This is a pool to feel the audiophile interest in tone controls or minimalist Solid State amps.

Haha, why is there not a selection "No I do not, because I am a music lover"!

[FullRangeMan]

Haha, why is there not a selection "No I do not, because I am a music lover"!

It didnot fit, its allowed max 5 options.

Oops reading again your post, Iam understanding you are an audiophile, in this case vote first option.

[Yog Sothoth]

It didnot fit, its allowed max 5 options.

Ah ha!  Fair enough.

[Yog Sothoth]

I responded with "no".  I find them to be a bludgeon when a surgeon's scalpel is called for; as such I do find PEQ to be useful. 

[brooklyn]

I haven't used tone controls for 40 plus years..

[toocool4]

I don't it and don't use it.

[Speedskater]

Tone controls have come a long way since they earned a bad name about a half century ago.

[WGH]

I voted "No", my preamp doesn't have tone controls but...

My sub has a remote control and I have been known to adjust the bass volume and crossover to fine tune an album. Volume is bumped up, sometimes a lot with early cool jazz recordings where the stand up bass is almost missing in action. Modern pop recordings sometime have too much bass so it's dialed down.

And then there is HQPlayer, the 30 digital filters change how digital music sounds. Minimum Phase filters for fast attacks and transients - good for rock. Linear Phase filters usually give better space presentation - good for classical and recordings with natural reverberation. Some filters have more bass, some more highs. All CD players and digital music players use some sort of filter/dither combination that will sell the most machines/software, kind of like the lowest common denominator. Unless you are lucky, the sound will always be a compromise. HQPlayer enables purists to fine tune the sound to their system and room. HQPlayer isn't DSP, the filters work with the raw bits before the DAC, before the analog stage, similar to but not exactly like the FPGA in the PS Audio DirectStream DAC.

[JLM]

I have a near ideal room, have added treatments (but they work far better in lesser rooms), use 3 subwoofers to tame bass peaks/dips, then tried DSP room corrections (two of them at separate times) but dumped them.  Against all that tone controls are very primitive.  Don't believe in adjusting to the album or cut. 

[Letitroll98]

My old NAD 3020B, which although is in the closet I'll never sell, had a big selling point when new that it had actually effective tone controls.  They boost only the low bass or high treble leaving the entire mid range untouched.  I think I remember something about less phase shift as well, but not sure about that.  I've definitely played with them over the years, but never used them for permanent adjustment, they always sit at flat.

[Digi-G]

I like having them because I like options.  But in reality I rarely use them.  Oh, sure for certain tracks they might be useful, but I won't adjust tone controls for a single track.  Because the next track will be different, etc.

I had a Rane EQ for a while and used it to smooth out the room response.  After a while I realized it was close to flat except for the parametric EQ for the bass.  And once I started using room correction the EQ wasn't needed at all.

So, I like them but don't use them.  Didn't vote.

[BobM]

most "audiophile" products don't have them, so if we don't have tone controls there is only one option in the survey.

[mick wolfe]

Tone controls have come a long way since they earned a bad name about a half century ago.

I use a Schiit Loki in my more casual rig where a wider variety of music is played. Simply tweaks the poorer recordings to a more listenable status.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

If I had them, I would use them on certain music to tame brightness only.

[Tyson]

I have a near ideal room, have added treatments (but they work far better in lesser rooms), use 3 subwoofers to tame bass peaks/dips, then tried DSP room corrections (two of them at separate times) but dumped them.  Against all that tone controls are very primitive.  Don't believe in adjusting to the album or cut. 

I used to use DSP room correction too but I found that using it robbed some of the life from the music.  So I don't use it anymore.  Treating the room and getting speaker position dialed in is far more effective in getting best sound. 

For bass, multiple subs is a very good approach.  Another good approach is to use OB subs that don't load the room in the same way a box sub does. 

[Rusty Jefferson]

I voted "No", my preamp doesn't have tone controls but...

My sub has a remote control and I have been known to adjust the bass volume and crossover to fine tune an album. Volume is bumped up, sometimes a lot with early cool jazz recordings where the stand up bass is almost missing in action. Modern pop recordings sometime have too much bass so it's dialed down....

I voted 'yes', my preamp doesn't have tone controls but...

I do adjust the subwoofer level with the listening level. I don't have a dedicated room just a living room, and the level most of the time is quite low. There's a reason man invented the Loudness control on his stereos (Fletcher Munson Curve). Flat response from a system is great except we don't perceive flat as flat. If you adjust the subwoofer level, I'd say we're using a tone control. 

[Loki57]

I would if my pre had them.

[Wayner]

Tone controls are nice for those that have aged and have lost hearing in the upper frequencies. Several of my pres have TC and I would rather have them (and not use them) than not have them and wish I did.