[Jerry]

I personally know a few people who I'd call "purists". These folks believe
the ultimate goal of high fidelity is to reproduce sound exactly as if we
were present at a live concert.

For these folks there is only one setting on their amps ... FLAT! That is,
12 o'clock for bass, treble and mid (if you have one).

Now my AR1500 receiver even has a button for "tone flat". What it does is
completely bypass the tone control circuits and deliver the signal directly
to the power amp. NEVER USED IT!

I admit that I am a "diddler". I adjust to suit my tastes ... all of the
time!

From my perspective, failing to do this leaves the resulting sound at the
discretion of some sound engineer whose ultimate goal is to sell CD's.
Further, this engineer, when mixing, has no idea how my system sounds ...
in MY room. Consequently, there is zero chance that the resulting sound
will be "conditioned" for my room/system.

Some folks will say:

"You want the audio system (a flat responding, low-distortion audio system)
to reproduce recordings, including both the positive and negative features.
That is, you do not want to make a performing soloist jump out in front of
the orchestra and not sound the way they would at a live performance. You do
not want to add clarity (by boosting the mid/treble range to a louder level)
when no such clarity would exist in that strength at a live performance."

From my perspective, if I can't hear a jazz solo, I've missed the
"creativity" that I enjoy so much. Further, if I can't hear that
creativity, then I might as well be listening to classical music where it's
played the same way ... every time.

One last issue that I discovered tonight. I was wondering whether my
tweeters were working, so I hooked up an audio oscillator to my amp and went
from 2000Hz up to 10,000 Hz. Everything was fine up to 8000 Hz (my
tweeters seem to be working). Between 8,000 and 9,000Hz, I could still hear
sound, but at reduced levels. After 9,000 ... nothing!

So I plugged in my Koss headphones and performed the same test. Exactly the
same results! Once I got to 9,000Hz, however, I turn up the amp volume to
see if I could hear the sound any better. No question that with a "boost" I
could hear 9,000 Hz clearly. Then did the same at 10,000K, but this time I
required an even larger boost to hear any sound. Finally, somewhere between
11,000 and 12,000Hz there was nothing I could do to hear any sound

Returning to the tone control issue. Now I know positively that my hearing
is not what it once was (and I suspect I am NOT alone in this). Is it so
terribly wrong for me to boost treble so that I can hear recordings as I
would years ago??

Regards,
Jerry