Notice the trend in omiting bass & treble controls for DSP modes? (1 Viewer)

[larry mac]

I naturally look at audio/video products whenever I am in a store. Awhile back, I noticed that alot of boomboxes have stopped including bass & treble controls in lieu of a "bass-boost" button. This basically sucks because it sounds horrible without the bass-boost (not near enough bass) and bad with it (too-much bass) and no way to adjust it (the rat-bastards).

Now I'm seeing alot of the "Home Theater In A Box" models doing something similar. They are omitting the controls and adding DSP modes. Even some costing $400 or more.

I can't comment definitively as to the sound because I haven't actually listened to one and I certainly wouldn't buy one. I just think this trend sucks and hope there is some kind of consumer backlash to reverse it.

I wouldn't mind so much if they put something more like an actual EQ with an honest to god graphic display. What I'm seeing though is just like the crap on our receivers; HALL, CONCERT, etc. plus POP, JAZZ, CLASSICAL etc. without any visual representation to verify what the frequency settings are. And when there is a graphic display (like in my Chevy blazer), it's so primitive it's hardly useful.

Now I realize that the HALL, CONCERT and such on our receivers are really just assorted delays (reverb) involving the surrounds. I've always considered these ridiculous garbage. I mean we must utilize some of this for home theater when we watch movies and such. After all, isn't this what Dolby Pro Logic is all about? But come on, why do I want to listen to music in my house that sounds like a big ol echoey building?

Please note that I am aware I've discussed two different things here; DSP surround modes and DSP tone controls. I'm not against the DSP tone controls as long as they are in addition to and not instead of bass and treble controls.

 

[John Garcia]

I don't use any tone controls on any of my gear, so I don't really think it is a bad thing.

Since you say you haven't checked, perhaps you did not notice that many units have these controls digitally, not via a button/knob these days. My last and current receivers had tone controls accessable either via the remote or OSD only, no manual controls on the unit. My brand new PM7000 integrated (all analog) does have tone knobs, as well as "source direct" to defeat them.

 

[Will_B]

Larry, I agree with you. Being able to turn up the bass or treble used to be priorities with stereos, and they even sold things called "graphic equalizers" so you could do it even more. But now, the closest I can get to turning up the bass on my 5.1 Pioneer system is to set the speaker-size as "large", turn off the subwoofer (to force more bass into the regular speakers), turn on a "loudness" setting, and perhaps activate some compression. All that, when all I really want to do is turn the freaking bass knob up a bit. But there isn't one.

 

[John Royster]

strange. I've never heard of a receiver that didn't have tone controls.

 

[JohnnyG]

The ability to CUT bass or treble at certain frequencies can be a good thing, but the ability to boost them is not.