Quote Originally Posted by E-Stat
When you go to a typical big box retailer (Best Buy, Fry's, etc), what kind of sound do you hear? Tipped up bass and treble. Especially the upper bass. Boom. Sizzle. "Like, totally kewl, dood". When you see a "smiley face" profile on an equalizer. That is anything but neutral. That is why some folks tend to favor mid-bass rich speakers like JBLs and the like. Neutral bass never sounds "heavy" or "bloated". It is sensed as much as heard. The same is true of the opposite extreme. Some folks (like one in this thread) perceive more treble to be better treble or "improved clarity". Such is truly not the case. Truly neutral systems sound almost dark until real HF content comes along. Where it emerges from a totally black background and shows its beauty. Speaker manufacturers have been playing against these perceptions for years. The extremely popular JBL L-100 (or pro 4310) exhibited carefully placed peaks around 55 hz and 5 khz as graphed here by JBL. Fun for good 'ol rock n roll? Sure. Neutral? Not!

My forest of bass traps in the main listening room helps to render flat bass response (+/- 1.5 db from 25 hz to 200 hz).

rw
My "rock n roll smile" is extremely subtle and right now, has zero settings for the treble. Personally, I find bass capability a way to dial in a nice warm tone. Nothing excessive, but boosted to add warmth to what I'm hearing. I am also partial to bass as I am a bass guitar player.

That said, I enjoy presence but not boom. Right now, I am doing alot of my listening through my computer's card into my dac. I am using a 2.1 concept by way of an RCA A/V receiver, 2 JBL front sattelites and a KLH sub. I am 50/50 headphones to speakers. This set up serves practical purposes, 1) listening while on the comp and 2) low levels/headphones because kids are asleep.

I am REALLY enjoying this arrangement, so I plugged in my TT as well. I find I am able to dial in a really nice, "natural" sound that's super fun at the same time.

What's the point to all of this blathering? I am curious what you feel the key component is to gaining natural sound. This question is loaded, so how about, do you rely more on your amp, source or speakers to achieve your goal?