Tweaking System to reference Song...

jakelm

Just curious.

The wife and I were having a few drinks last night, listening to Sarah McLachlan. The song Angel came on. We like the song so much , I found myself tweaking my system to fit the song. I have heard many recordings of this song, but found the CD Surfacing, has the best recording.

I found the mids to be alittle strong, so there I was, messin' with the controls again. Telling myself, I dont care what anything else sounds like, as long as this song sounds great.

Do you all do the same, or am I just going crazy??

treitz3

Depending on the song, I have been known to tweak my rig over the course of a couple of hours to make one song shine. "Anal" is a word that comes to mind when I'm doing this, "Bliss" is a word that comes to mind when it's tweaked.

Refefer

I hate tone controls personally. I try to buy equipment which helps make the songs I like sound as I like.

Ricardo

I NEVER touch tone controls. Maybe because I don't have any.

jakelm

Well it started out as just simple, controls. Beings I have my subs intergrated with my 7's, it started with simple blending.

Turning subs on and off, mains large and small. 2 channel stereo, with 7's.

Then before you knew it, I was moving my 7's around, toeing them in and out, moving closer, farther away.

I had to stop myself. Or I was going to end up breaking out the spl meter again and start running frq sweeps.

My wife had that cute little confused puppy dog look on her face, like "what the hell are doing?"

treitz3

Refefer wrote: »

I hate tone controls personally.

I consider them "knobs of sin" as they can knock one off reference. There are songs that have been recorded so ****, that the only thing one can do is to change certain things. There was a song I started a thread about in the music and movies forum [ http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61445 ] and the only way I could get it to sound good WAS to tweak the system.

I doubt that any rig could have that recording sound good without adjustments. The rest of the album, yes. That song, I highly doubt it.

danger boy

it's to bad that CD's aren't consistent in their sound.. so yeah. often times I have to tweak it out.. bugs the hell out of me. i just want to listen to some music without being annoyed that this CD sounds bad and I like the CD over the previous ones I was just listening to that sounded great.

i've tweaked my gear to get it to sound the best. but every so often a bad sounding CD makes it to the CDP, ruining all my hard tweaking work. :mad:

madmax

It is a very bad thing to tweak to a particular song or CD, whether by tone controls or equipment changes. For every tweak to make a single selection sound slightly better you are eliminating enjoyment of many other recordings either by comparison or by skewing the sound away from overall neutrality.
madmax

george daniel

what is a "tone control"

treitz3

madmax wrote: »

It is a very bad thing to tweak to a particular song or CD, whether by tone controls or equipment changes. For every tweak to make a single selection sound slightly better you are eliminating enjoyment of many other recordings either by comparison or by skewing the sound away from overall neutrality.
madmax

That's why after the song all signals are set back to what I consider "reference", which is a flat signal. I might tweak 3 or 4 times a year because if I don't....I don't even want to hear the song I'm tweaking the rig for.

jakelm

george daniel wrote: »

what is a "tone control"

You would know it as Cable.

jakelm

It amazes me at how much money and effort you can throw into a system, but it all comes down to the recording.

I try to get my system as neutral as possible, but , what difference does that make, if I have to get up for every other CD and scew it (as it was put earlier), one way or the other.

It all started with, Fleetwood Mac. Excellent recording, probably my "reference" CD. But then comes another CD, that I really enjoy listening to. And "wammo", back to adjusting. Then resetting everything back to the way I had it, when I ran my system responce software.

Then started wondering..hmmmmmm.. "I wonder if different cables will make this strong mid bass I'm hearing, slack off abit"

I should have never got started.

I need to go to AA (audioholic's anonymous)

madmax

One thing I notice is sometimes I put on something that sounds like crap at first but as I adapt to the sound I find the real beauty of the recording. Had I immediatly changed my systems sound I may have never found the gold.
madmax

jakelm

Or hearing someone say, "buy this cd it is recorded fantastic", so I buy the CD, and it sounds like ****. So, there I go again, tweaking.

danger boy

if a recording doesn't sound good from the first song.. i won't enjoy the whole CD/album

just bugs me to know that if I bump up the treble one notch it will sound much better. I have tried many different cables, and found the ones right now that sound the most pleasing to me. so I'm not tweaking any more cables, i think now I'm just going to have to live with the fact that some recordings are bad.

jakelm

danger boy wrote: »

if a recording doesn't sound good from the first song.. i won't enjoy the whole CD/album

just bugs me to know that if I bump up the treble one notch it will sound much better. I have tried many different cables, and found the ones right now that sound the most pleasing to me. so I'm not tweaking any more cables, i think now I'm just going to have to live with the fact that some recordings are bad.

Yes, Spending hours getting you system to perform as close to "flat" as possible, only to have a song you realy like, and find out that you have to bump/lower, bass or treble, to get it right.:mad:

Other recordings might not sound quite as good, but I know my fav song sounds great. That is the hardship I have to indure...

jakelm

Since we are on the subject.

I dont own any HDCD's. Are they worth looking into? I was looking at a few HDcd's like,Mozrat

Excuse the dumb question, but can any cd/dvd player play them? My HK says it can decode it. But I dont know about my Oppo or XA1.

Early B.

jakelm wrote: »

I dont own any HDCD's. Are they worth looking into?

Not really. Every CDP can play them, but only a few can decode HDCD.

I suggest tweaking your system to the music you like best, then leave it alone. You will NEVER be satisifed if you keep fiddling with it for every recording. Getting your system to sound "neutral" is bad news for most CDs, especially the commercial artists.

This hobby sucks.

jakelm

Early B. wrote: »

Not really. Every CDP can play them, but only a few can decode HDCD.

But my HK can decode them, so I'm ok.

I suggest tweaking your system to the music you like best, then leave it alone. You will NEVER be satisifed if you keep fiddling with it for every recording. Getting your system to sound "neutral" is bad news for most CDs, especially the commercial artists.

This hobby sucks.

Sadly, I agree

Early B.

BTW, Jake --

I didn't see a separate CDP in your sig. What are you using as the source? I'm asking because the source may be the source of your tweakaphile problem.

jakelm

Early B. wrote: »

BTW, Jake --

I didn't see a separate CDP in your sig. What are you using as the source? I'm asking because the source may be the source of your tweakaphile problem.

I use my Oppo and my XA1. My XA1 does a great job, using its direct mode (5.1 analog out for movies or just the L/R of the 5.1 out for CD)

Or Oppo, mix L/R out.

I had a very nice Kenwood 5 disk player, but when it broke I never replaced it.

Early B.

jakelm wrote: »

I use my Oppo and my XA1.

It's time to consider setting up a separate 2-channel rig.

jakelm

Early B. wrote: »

It's time to consider setting up a separate 2-channel rig.

I know, but I have no room for a seperate 2 chnl rig. I need at least a dedicated CDP. I enjoy my HK pre, B&K amp and 7's combo, too much, to change them out, but a good CDP is in order.

wizzy

george daniel wrote: »

what is a "tone control"

It's a little knob hidden in the small of the back on all women. Turn it one way and it lowers the tone, their belly and **** get flabby. Turn it the other way and it tones them up, tightening the belly and lifting the ****.

Poee7R

So now because of Wizzy, I want tone controls.


Dave

AudioFilet

Early B. wrote: »

It's time to consider setting up a separate 2-channel rig.

+1 on that. Leave the HT system alone after you calibrate it & listen to music on a separate system. Tweakage is much easier there, and easy to reset when you are done.