whats your bass and treble set too?

[Deleted]

** crickets chirping, stones silent **

[jetjockey]

Apr 28, 2009 19:43:58 GMT -5 Lonnie said:

Apr 28, 2009 19:35:18 GMT -5 bourbonncigars said:

+ 1.

Uh, oh. We're in sensitive territory now. My view on it?....

If you touch the tone controls, you should get a 5 million amp shock from your preamp or receiver that reminds you why you went with that particular brand in the first place. In my opinion, they alter the very sound you were looking for. If you auditioned correctly and knew what you were looking for, you only need the raw processing power of the chips and other components involved.

Sure, room acoustics may play a part, but the core sound is more important. I think the tone controls are the devil.

Furthermore, (excuse me while I put my flamesuit on) I'm still not convinced that room correction is for me either. I may have a more hardcore outlook than most about this subject, but it's only from experience dealing with numerous home theater components over almost two decades. I guess I'll say a properly implemented room correction system could have benefits, but I'd have to see them for myself to be sure. Honestly, this is an area I have the least amount of experience with, only having dealt with it in two different components.

Bottom line: LEAVE THOSE DAMN BASS AND TREBLE CONTROLS ALONE!!!!! (IMO, only) ;D

So...by saying this, you're saying whoever mixed the particular record you're listening to is the ultimate authority on bass and treble, and that if you change the setting, you are transgressing?

'Bass' and 'treble' are soooooooo subjective to whoever's recording and mixing the album...the conditions can be a huge variable...the speakers used for playback, and the audience/style it's recorded for play a part in how bright or boomy a record is. And just the preference of the engineer. I know guys who think everything should sound dark, and guys who think everything should be tweaked to treble high-heaven.

I know of a VERY famous guitarist who records solo albums that are...BRIGHT. Why? Because he's roasted his hearing above 6k. I've seen his audiogram. I'm seen him argue with his wife and engineer about his records being mixed waaaaaaay to bright in the high end. Listening to those CDs 'as is' can be rather painful. He doesn't care. He's mixing it to sound good to himself. He also cuts a HUGE gouge out of EVERYTHING at 500hZ.

But...to each his own...sacred cows are kind of funky.

One of mine is putting ice in whiskey. Why would you do that? When it gets cold, the entire flavor profile changes...the people who inventing distilling surely didn't add ice...they drank it just the way it was, with maybe a tiny few drops of water to open up the flavors. They would probably freak out to know that ice is being added, and both diluting the flavor AND numbing the imbiber's palate...

Very well said Dan!

Adjust as required.

BTW...Scotch on the rocks is a pretty popular drink or do you mean that vulgar American stuff?

Enjoy all!

[broncsrule21]

May 31, 2009 20:07:55 GMT -5 @chuckienut said:

Apr 22, 2009 19:04:52 GMT -5 hemster said:

selkec, the title of this thread should say "what's your bass and treble set to?"

or if you really are surprised that people set these, you could say "What? Your bass and treble (are) set too?"

Sorry but I am a grammer Nazi... so all I can say is:
"No posts for you!"
"Come back 1 year"... ;D ;D ;D

Sorry Hemster but a little correction:

The title of this thread should "read" (instead of says)..........your bass and treble set "to" is ending a sentence with a preposition. Shame on you! Also, you mispelled "grammar."

Report to Colonel Klink immediately. ;D ;D ;D

(let he who is without sin cast the first stone)

good job Chuckienut...nobody is perfect.

I seem to adjust the bass/treble in the Jeep constantly (each time the song changes on the radio or I change the CD). At home, almost never. But I don't waste my time with radio at home either. Whatever sounds good to each individual is the way to go.

[xyzed]

I mostly have my settings at 0 though sometimes the treble goes to +2. If I'm not using the sub, then the bass may go to +4 subject to the recording as a quick adjustment.

However Bass/Treble controls are pretty useless. They are set at 2 frequencies with a wide Q factor. If you want to adjust for compensations in rooms, bad recordings etc then you would really need a parametric equaliser instead to dial the exact frequency and width required.

So for that example of a guitarist cutting out 500hz, the bass knob at 100hz isn't going to help much, while a parametric eq would hit it on the spot. (I actually use 1 on my sub to smooth it out)

Don't forget there was once a button called 'Loudness' on many amps that has vanished over the years and it wouldn't surprise me that ye old bass/treble knob will vanish too, though hopefully replaced with a multi band eq controlled via a GUI for tad better control.

[croseiv]

Apr 23, 2009 18:47:30 GMT -5 flamingeye said:

Me personally if I want more bass I raise the sub volume using the pre/pro & if I need more treble I lower the sub volume

That's what I do as well. My bass/trebel levels are at "0". If I want more or less bass, I just raise or lower my subwoofer level as desired.

[TRT]

+/-0

If I needed to add or subtract treble or bass, I would get rid of whatever unit causing my problem.

[selkec]

Jul 26, 2009 18:44:15 GMT -5 TRT said:

+/-0

If I needed to add or subtract treble or bass, I would get rid of whatever unit causing my problem.

What if the unit causing the problem is the recording? You going to throw it out?

[TRT]

Yes. I would acquire a better recording.

[selkec]

Jul 28, 2009 20:18:32 GMT -5 TRT said:

Yes. I would acquire a better recording.

If the only recording is a LP how are you going to aquire a better one. If it does not sound right then it was how it was mixed. This is when you would want to change the bass or treble....
By the way everyone. I think I started this thread and over the time I moved all my dials to almost 0. I think the bass is +2 because I do not have a sub right now. So in all I think its really up to the persons ears. We all hear different. what ever makes us all happy is what matters.

[grapenuts]

I rarely touch those controls. I may fiddle with them for a poorly recorded record, but as soon as it's over it goes back to zero on both dials. But they have their place, and that is why they still come installed on equipment.

[Deleted]

Aug 10, 2009 6:09:50 GMT -5 grapenuts said:

I rarely touch those controls. I may fiddle with them for a poorly recorded record, but as soon as it's over it goes back to zero on both dials. But they have their place, and that is why they still come installed on equipment.

+1

[jmilton]

My McCormack LD-2 does not have tone controls at all...zip....nada! Apparently that is the trend for a lot of the more refined, hi end processors.

[jedinite24]

Aug 10, 2009 9:18:44 GMT -5 jmilton said:

My McCormack LD-2 does not have tone controls at all...zip....nada! Apparently that is the trend for a lot of the more refined, hi end processors.

I've got a McCormack TLC-1 from years ago and it doesn't have any tone controls either. I love it. I have no choice in tweaking any treble or bass. In some situations I've had to turn off my sub or increase the subs volume by a smidge. JD

[hangman]

My Rotel Pre-amp does not have these settings, but have curve settings which is set = 0.
My Parasounds do not have these settings (0 by default then I guess)
My receivers are set at Pure Direct so again bypasses these setting, but they are also set at 0 when not in Pure Direct mode.

[selkec]

I just got a pioneer elite and I no longer adjust the tone comtrols. In fact I cant find them. This thing has so many adjustments. I just let it do its thing and then all I did was on the EQ was upped the 40hz frequency 1.5db since I dont use a sub. It sounds alot better then my old HK. I will never own HK again. It was a terrible receiver. I actually passed on the UMC-1 after confirming I wanted it I emailed them to let someone else have it. Money is tight and the elite had a feature I wanted.

[scottl]

Mine are bypassed.

Apr 28, 2009 20:05:09 GMT -5 selkec said:

Why are you all so set on not messing with the controls?

One reason some folks really don't like tone controls is that they can be detrimental to the overall sound (it's another part the signal passes through, so it's another opportunity for something to go wrong). The tone control "bypass" option on many preamps and receivers allows you to avoid this if desired.

Also, some folks just want the purest, most completely unmolested sound reproduction they can get, warts and all. Thus, no EQ, no nothin'.

For adjusting to different recordings, I really like a "tilt" control. It's not very common, but it allows you to change the overall balance of the sound by simultaneously increasing treble & decreasing bass, or vice versa - "tilting" the frequency response. A very elegant and simple solution.

I don't use tone controls of any kind very often, except for proper room equalization with multiple EQ bands - bass and treble knobs are blunt instruments for that sort of thing. I optimize the system to the greatest degree possible by proper speaker & component selection & placement, and then use the EQ for the last little things I couldn't iron out.

[ntrain42]

I dont use bass and treble gains. I used Xover points and slopes, amp gains and channel EQ cuts/gains to dial in the sound.

[bigred7078]

no treble/bass adjustments for me either....but

my volume goes to 11!

[flamingeye]

My volume goes to Damn it Jeff turn that down

[monkumonku]

Nov 16, 2009 17:31:05 GMT -5 flamingeye said:

My volume goes to Damn it Jeff turn that down

Is that anything like, "the box says shut up?" ;D