In the living room I don't need to use tone controls, even though the Linn Kolektor has them. They are vital with the second system in the garden office, however, since the speakers there are tiny metal-cased Teac jobs with miniscule woofers. Being able to boost the bass and cut the treble a tad - amp is an Onkyo A-9030 - results in a much more listenable sound.
Back to the 80s...
- Thread starter wd40addict
- Start date
Gervais Cote
Predator
In the marketing world, they call this nurtruring.
messengerman
pfm Member
Yuk. That would seriously creep me out. But then there's there's something disturbing about foot or leg tapping. Like winking. A sense maybe of something shuddery and repressed leaking into the living world. I'd be out the door if someone sat next to me and started with that nonsense.
And bopping around gloopily in daylight, sober, before a seated middle aged male audience for work purposes is just a whole other world of wrongness.
wd40addict
pfm Member
Re Ivor T and the single speaker stuff:
http://www.bostonaudiosociety.org/bas_speaker/abx_testing2.htm
http://www.bostonaudiosociety.org/bas_speaker/abx_testing2.htm
the caretaker
pfm Member
I believe my ears...but of course my ears are biased..lol
I use tone controls to ameliorate (not eliminate) room issues. As is common in studio monitors the bass can be attenuated 2, 4 or 6 db depending on the placement of the loudspeakers. The treble can be attenuated 2 db mainly depending on how "live" the room acoustics are. These are quite useful adjustments, IME.
lordsummit
Moderator
Quad, who refused to play by the 1980s magazine and dealer rules, had quite an interesting tone control system on the 44 and 34 preamps. The key bit being a ‘tilt’ control which shifts the whole balance around a pivot point at I think 1kHz or so. That is used in conjunction with a more conventional bass cut/boost and two HF filters. Some clever thinking that I imagine some would find useful, though I very seldom used it as it was a bit of a faff just to blunt an overly bright CD or whatever (I did use the filter for that now and again).
The problem with the ‘tilt’ for me was the very few times I ever even think of wanting tone controls is to dull an unusually fierce digital recording (I usually just get rid of the CD and find a better mastering) or to cut bass on hyped-up ‘small speaker mix’ pop, rap etc which is just overpowering through 15” Tannoys. The tilt alone was useless for this as cutting the top boosted the bass and vice-versa, so it always involved actually EQing using the three controls in unison, which was a real faff. This exacerbated by the beautiful stepped attenuators which for me had too large steps, i.e. I always felt it was ‘too little’ vs. ‘too much’ and would have preferred only to have a click detent for ‘off’.
Since I’ve retired the 34 for a valve pre I haven’t missed this functionality in the slightest, though I do have some CDs (mainly rap etc) that I only play upstairs as the bass is so boosted up for tiny modern speakers or headphones and I have no ‘cut’ on the Tannoys.
You’ve just reminded me I really fancy getting a 34 just because they look so awesome with the 306! I would seriously consider it, I do miss having a knob sometimes.
bigfish786
pfm Member
Back in the 80’s, i had a Sony Stack system, bought out of my mothers Empire Stores catalogue with 2x5 band graphic equilizer . Tone controls must be a 70’s thing.
although, I’ve got them now. They are never used… or needed.
although, I’ve got them now. They are never used… or needed.
Andy Stephenson
pfm Member
I inherited a two times twenty band graphic equalizer. It's still in the box it came in
and I've never been tempted or felt the need to try it. I think it was definitely a
eighties thing.
Regards Andy
and I've never been tempted or felt the need to try it. I think it was definitely a
eighties thing.
Regards Andy
Jodet
pfm Member
Everyone liked Yamaha's loudness control. It was great.
I remember this one...
Just looked, and there’s plenty on ebay, mostly in Japan of course.
ToTo Man
the band not the dog
My 2 x 33-band EQ from the 80s is now in daily use having been stuck in a cupboard for best part of a decade. I use it to replicate the digital parametric EQ settings I apply in my audio playback software so that I can enjoy the same fine-tuned EQ with films. It's a real PITA to configure as moving one band causes changes in adjacent bands but with enough futzing you can counter the overlaps and get it to match the digital EQ settings pretty well. Far quicker and easier to do it digitally though!
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ToTo Man
the band not the dog
Yep, that's the one I use!I remember this one...
Just looked, and there’s plenty on ebay, mostly in Japan of course.
Yep, that's the one I use!
Excellent. Can you recommend a good switch cleaner, and is a bank transfer ok? : )
ToTo Man
the band not the dog
I actually had two but sold one not long after buying it because I thought having two was extravagant and my head was turned by the chance to make a £30 quid profit. I wish I'd have kept it longer as I could've ended up with 10 times that!
The one I really wanted was the SH-8075, as it had lit sliders like my dad's SH-8055 (i.e. something else to potentially go wrong!), plus a limited parametric Q adjustment and an extra tape loop, but I wasn't prepared to pay the premium (the 8075's were going for more than double the 8065's when I bought mine).
On the subject of switch cleaning, I haven't touched my 8065 as I've yet to have any major problems with oxidised contacts (i.e. nothing that a couple of wiggles on the sliders won't resolve).
Yip, this is true. I've seen it many times. They think you don't notice or realize.
Years ago I took a friend to a Naim dem, I can't remember what new product it was. My friend had been a professional drummer and he brought a friend with him, a guy I didn't know. So the three of sat there as the Naim rep talked through the system and played the first track. After it finished the room was full of quietly nodding heads and murmurs of approval. My friend's friend piped up and said 'Actually, I didn't think it sounded very good.' It was horrifying and fantastic at the same time! Lot of shuffling and awkwardness. The Naim rep said 'Ok, what do you feel was wrong' and the guy gave a description of what he quite correctly identified as a fairly thin and harsh sound. No one in the room agreed with him, but he was right. His lack of indoctrination had allowed him to just listen to the music and judge it on face value.
A good lesson. Forget the reputation, forget the cost, just listen and think 'is this nice or not?'.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
It should be remembered that mucho use of tone controls is made in the studio when music is recorded...
Certain topologies are revered and there is "The British Sound" of EQ in certain mixing desks that they would give an arm or leg for! Often 4 bands and parametric on a desk and then there is usually a multi band parametric EQ used after that as well. If that wasn't enough then multiband compression including EQ is not unusual.
Old Sugden amps have a pre amp section in which the action of the tone controls can be set up using pre sets on the pre amp board (not easy to get at!!) so that when the bass and treble are at "0" the response is genuinely flat in both channels. A nice touch Perfect square wave and jobs a gud 'n.
Certain topologies are revered and there is "The British Sound" of EQ in certain mixing desks that they would give an arm or leg for! Often 4 bands and parametric on a desk and then there is usually a multi band parametric EQ used after that as well. If that wasn't enough then multiband compression including EQ is not unusual.
Old Sugden amps have a pre amp section in which the action of the tone controls can be set up using pre sets on the pre amp board (not easy to get at!!) so that when the bass and treble are at "0" the response is genuinely flat in both channels. A nice touch
Perfect square wave and jobs a gud 'n.