To EQ or not to EQ - That is the question!

[Mash]

I understand that there was one little problem with the "Live versus Recorded" AR demos, Skep....
The "Live versus Recorded" AR demos began with the musicans playing "live". The musicans would continue to go through the motions of playing (pretending to play without producing sound) when the recording was switched on. Subsequently the musicans would lay down their instruments as the recording continued to play. The audience was wowed! Your eyes will dominate your ears.... which is why sighted listening tests can be a problem. I can tell you that no AR woofer could articulate, in any way, nearly as well a Tympani woofer, and both my AR3a woofer and Tympani woofer were flat down to 39 Hz.

[skeptic]

You had the option of closing your eyes. I heard two demos. One with a guitar and one with a nickelodeon. In both cases they played against AR3. They were both very impressive. Among the last was one where Buddy Rich played against an AR 10 Pi at the AR factory. The account was described in great detail, and both the similarities and differences were noted. This type of demonstration is what accuracy is about. This is as close as you will get to testing a loudspeaker that shows what it can and can't do. However you feel or don't feel about the Magneplanar Timpany IV, they have never dared such a comparison. BTW, when I heard the Tympany IV demonstrated at a trade show they used two Janus subwoofers and a bunch of monster Mark Levinson amps. Apparantly they were not as confident in the speaker as a stand alone full range system as you are.

[Mash]

Neither the Janus, nor the Levinson, would be my picks..... I once considered them, but was not willing to part with my green. I once knew a chap who did development design work at Levinson... he had a compliment of Levison gear at his house, but the sound did nothing for me.... a nice but not realistic sound.

[Peter_Klim]

Best feature I've ever seen on a preamp is the TONE CONTROL BYPASS. Get that crap out of there, just adds more noise to the signal chain!

If you rely on an EQ to make your system sound right, what do you do in the case of a digital signal such as from a DVD? Do they make EQ's with digital inputs?

What about for DVD-Audio or SACD? Would you just go buy 3 stereo EQ's?

Don't you think that a better feature on a pre-amp would be to not even have a TONE CONTROL (which would eliminate your pre's wasteful feature called the TONE CONTROL BYPASS)? Get that crap pre outta your system!! LOL!!

jk

[skeptic]

Why not do away with all of the other controls as well. After all the fewer controls we have, the fewer options and decisions we will have to make. Why not throw away the balance control? What do we need it for? Not only should your speakers be flat, they should be identical to within +/- 0.1 db. While we're at it, chuck the volume control as well? There should be only one correct loudness for music, the loudness of live music. Mabye an internal pot that you set once and that's it. How about the function switch? One input, that's all. Choose your best playback medium, all others are inferior and should be ignored anyway. And finally there is that pesky on off switch. What reason could anyone ever have for turning an amplifier off? There, what an improvement. Greater economy deleting all of these useless controls, fewer circuit elements, and therefore according to this minimalist philosophy, the best possible performance. Now all that's left is to double the price.

[Peter_Klim]

Why not do away with all of the other controls as well. After all the fewer controls we have, the fewer options and decisions we will have to make. Why not throw away the balance control? What do we need it for? Not only should your speakers be flat, they should be identical to within +/- 0.1 db. While we're at it, chuck the volume control as well? There should be only one correct loudness for music, the loudness of live music. Mabye an internal pot that you set once and that's it. How about the function switch? One input, that's all. Choose your best playback medium, all others are inferior and should be ignored anyway. And finally there is that pesky on off switch. What reason could anyone ever have for turning an amplifier off? There, what an improvement. Greater economy deleting all of these useless controls, fewer circuit elements, and therefore according to this minimalist philosophy, the best possible performance. Now all that's left is to double the price.

Dude, lighten up. "jk" mean "just kidding". I was just kidding around.

But to a point, I was serious as to wondering why someone who is so against tone controls would buy a pre with tone controls in the first place (I am sure he had valid reasons). So I was being sarcastic by replying to him to get rid of his own "crap".

Me, I never use the basic bass/treble controls. But usually I use EQs in car audio, but usually I don't in 2 Ch nor HT.

[skeptic]

"So I was being sarcastic "

So was I.