Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Tone Control Blasphemy

I have a shameful secret that makes me feel like I am doing something wrong but I just can't help myself...

I use the tone controls on my receiver.

I wish I preferred music the way it was intended, I really do. I often try it out for awhile just to see if it's an aquired taste but to no avail. I feel guilt when I read through the forum here, knowing that all true audio lovers would never think of doing such a thing but I just can't help myself.

For me, when I have the tone controls where they should be the music sounds completely anemic. There is no bass, no sparkling treble, it just sounds dead and lifeless. When I crank up the bass knob and turn up the treble a bit the music comes to life. The bass is now felt and not just barely heard and the highs sound crisp and clean.

Maybe it's my music. I love metal, and listening to metal with no added bass or treble makes me understand why maybe a lot of people don't like the genre...

However, I do like some rock too. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Rush, etc all sound much better with some added bass and treble. I even prefer movies this way too...

So what's the deal? Are there others out there like me? Afraid that the golden ear society will knock on the door any day now and take away the music?

What speakers do you have? And have you calibrated your system using an SPL meter? Room geometry and speaker placement can have a drammatic impact on performance.

Hi Cameron,

Welcome.

By all means use your tone controls when necessary. The tweaky British edict (that's where it began, with some of the eccentric British reviewers and magazines) that touching tone controls is forbidden is utter nonsense. Even worse was the trend of manufacturing some "high-end" preamps and amplifiers without any tone controls at all.

Given the wide variation in recording practices as well as the natural decline in lower-bass response of many smaller speakers, tone controls can sometimes be quite useful.

Most smaller bookshelf speakers have bass response that begins to taper off (roll off) beginning at 50 or 60 Hz. The bottom string on an electric bass is at 40 Hz so many bookshelf models are rapidly losing output at 40 Hz. A modest tweek (or an immodest boost!) of the bass control can restore significant output in that region, lending plenty of nice bass and kick drum stuff to playback. Be careful of adding more than 3 dB or 5 dB of bass boost AND turning up the volume--you may overdrive the woofer of a compact speaker.

If you hear nasty "snaps" or grotty distortion, turn down the bass control and/or the volume. But lots of well-designed speakers with good power handling like Axiom's M22s, M3s and M2 bookshelf models can accept 3 dB or more of bass boost with ease at moderately loud levels.

Well-designed tone controls do not introduce distortion of any audible proportions. The best alternative is to have tone controls that can be switched out if audiophiles want to route the signal "direct" to the amp.

I have lots of CDs with anemic or poorly recorded deep bass that can sometimes be given some help with a tweak of the bass control. Likewise, a 2 or 3 dB reduction of treble will sometimes make sibilant CDs quite listenable. If the high-frequency response of your speakers is dull or muted, a treble boost will occasionally make things much more detailed.

Regards,

I have the M60's. Yeah, I've calibrated with Avia and the radio shack meter many times. I've also had different systems and different rooms and the results are all the same. Flat tone controls sound exactly that, flat. To get any tactile bass or a sparkle of treble I have to turn up the main volume so high that it hurts my ears.

My basement room I use now is 23' x 17' and I've tried it all. I've tried the couch on a wall (2 different walls), couch 3/4 lenght of room back from the speakers, couch 1/4 lenght of room back from speakers, couch right in the middle of the room (I know that's a no-no) etc. Seriously my wife thinks I'm OCD when it comes to constantly re-configuring the room.

Thing is I have two other rooms with speakers set up (I have m3's in the living room) and those tone controls are up too. The tone controls are up in my car, the eq is tweaked to up the bass/treble in my classroom at school - it goes on and on.

I'd love to hear someone else's system that sounds great to them with the controls neutral with metal music playing. To me the sound is so small, almost clock-raidio-ish (well, not that bad but you get the point).

I've been a lurker/occasional poster here for years and I didn't want to admit all this...

Thanks Alan, I responded before I saw your post. BTW, I love my m60's and m3's it's not their fault. I have done this with all the speakers I've ever owned. The Axioms in fact are the only speakers I have had that I didn't really crank up the treble, I just turn it up to +3. The bass... I don't want to admit that one!!!

Cameron, do you think you might have some loss of sensitivity in your hearing spectrum in the bass and/or treble region, due to damage or illness or long-term exposure to high SPLs?

You could find out if you go to an audiologist and have your hearing tested. It's also somewhat age-dependent. Males all lose some sensitivity after age 30--it's very gradual--and the parts of the spectrum where we lose sensitivity may vary from one person to another. Most commonly it's the really high frequencies that go first, 15 kHz and higher, but there's nothing of musical interest up there, except a few harmonics that are extremely low-level and musically not important.

But if you lost sensitivity in the upper midrange and bass, that might be reflected in your tendency to crank up the bass and treble.

Maybe you just need an EP500 subwoofer to restore the lower octaves, ha, ha!

Regards,

That very well could be the case. I'm 34 and I do have quite a bit of tinnitus (constant ringing of the ears usually because of over exposure to loud noises). It only bothers me at night but I crank up the fan and that helps.

I had my ears tested 3 or 4 years ago because of it and my hearing was actually above average or normal or whatever they call it. I was surprised because when I put on those headphones in the sound proof booth I thought there was no way I was going to hear anything above the shrill ringing in my own ears, but I did well on the test.

I have cranked up the tone controls ever since I was a little kid. I remember my friend up the street who introduced me to metal/hard rock (hearing Highway to Hell at age 8 was a moment in time I'll never forget) had his tone controls both maxed out with the bass boost on (I think it was called a loudness button back then) and to this day he still has his current receiver set this way. Maybe it's all the hours at his house growing up that shaped how I hear music.

I'm good to go on subs (although is there really such a thing as good to go on subs?). I have a svs dual 12 inch box sub (can't remember the model) at the front of the room and a near field sub (dayton 10 inch) right next to me for some tactile feel.

I have the Dayton crossed over at 80 hz so I mostly feel it, not so much hear it. I turn it off for movies.

Cameron, since you've had your tone controls "hot" since you were a little kid, I believe you have sensitized yourself to that quality of sound. You may want to try flattening them for say a month of listening to see how you like the difference. I would recommend this particularly with the bass as you may be missing "textures" with your bass turned up so high. Most drivers don't do as good a job with fine details when the bass is run hot.

I have to admit I'v never made it more than a couple of days running it flat. It's like asking a herion addict to just hold the needle and look at it.. but don't inject!

Good idea though, I really should try going cold turkey for an extended period of time. In the past when I give in and crank up the bass and treble again it's always like, "whoaaaa that's what I needed!!!"

I absolutely love listening to music, it's something I do every single day - I'll try it out and report how it's going. This is not going to be easy...

Should I turn off the subs? When I calibrate using avia, I can't get the sub levels to match no matter how low I turn the subwoofers volume.

In fact, if I completely turn off the sub and just have the bass tone going through the main speakers the meter still goes higher for the bass tone that is supposed to be going through the subwoofer (but obviously can't be becaues it's turned off) than the tone that's supposed to go through the main speaker. Does that make sense?

I tried explaining that on other forums to no avail, no one knew what the hell I was talking about.

The sub tone cycles back and forth between the speaker and the sub and it is louder on the meter on the sub tone than the speaker tone EVEN EITH THE SUB OFF! And the speakers are set to cross over at 80 hz.

Totally off topic there, but do you guys know what I mean? I'm thinking I might just turn off the sub and use the mains for my cold turkey test.