+1
Old skool. You know, when every amp had balance and tone controls as well as a tape loop or two. Sometimes even a "Loudness" or "Presence" button.
E.g. pretty much every Kenwood or Marantz, Sansui or Sanyo, Denon or Technics.
Like these. Heck, even McIntoshes and Quads, Nakamichis and Parasounds, Luxman and Harmon Kardons had them. Even the beloved Dynaco PAT-4 had them, and you can't get much more old skool than that.
It was "middle" skool before they got rid of tone controls, your Krells and Audio Research, your Naims and Meridians, your conrad-johnsons and so on... they were too kool for skool.
The reality is, tone shaping and balance were a lot more important in those days, when speaker design was all over the place, and it was an easy way for "hi-end" hi-fi companies to differentiate themselves from mainstream stereo.
But in reality it still continues to be important even in these days of ruler-flat response gear. Anechoic chamber testing means even the wildest speaker designs (think Orb or Devialet, Linkwitz or Lampizator) can sound surprisingly "normal" but who lives in an anechoic chamber? Every one of us lives in a different kind of house, and even if we lived in identical army housing, we'd fill our houses with different stuff. The room has the most affect on the sound, and the way your speakers interact with the room is right up there; being able to tweak the tone and balance for YOUR room can be important. That's why pretty much all surround sound receivers come with some kind of room correction, and some of them do an amazing job.
Me? As I've said before: my integrated receiver (an Advent Model 300) has bass, treble, balance and mono. I don't use the mono switch, but the other three get tweaked on a regular basis - balance less so. But I adjust the tone controls at least a couple of times a week, depending on what I'm listening to. Some record producers/engineers just have way different tastes from mine, and it's good to be able to tone them down or punch them up when I want to. Or put the singer back in the center.
Hi-fi gear these days is AMAZING. The quality is HUUUUGE, to quote someone. The barrier to entry is low, and the difference between the very best and the good enough is the smallest it's ever been (I'm not talking the $$ difference here, but the quality of reproduction; the money is out of control...).
But our houses are full of more crap than ever, and the ability to tweak YOUR stereo for YOUR situation is as important as ever.
I shouldn't have to break out a MiniDSP and stick it between the pre-amp and the power-amp to do it. It should be a knob, right there on my gear.
One labelled "- Awesome-izer +" and the other "Turn Down The Suck" ...
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