'Just twiddle with the knobs and sliders until it sounds good. What
else does one need to know? "

Much. One sort of rule of thumb is to take FM hiss, turn off the muting and see which controls have the most effect. The ones with less effect should be boosting and the ones with more effect should be cutting. But that is a very rudimentary primer on it. People used to bring their cars to me to have me set the EQ, back when you could. Houses to, in factr I modified an EQ for a friend of mine because it was only a 5 band and he needed slightly different frequencies. I turned the 60 Hz control into about a 40, the 250 into a 150, left the 1,000 alone and the 3,500 but extended the 15 KHz to infinity by removing the inductor. Also the new 40 Hz control's range extended to subsonic. I used resistance and whatever to get the range where I wanted it with the same inductor, but the cap I took to about 10 X its original value.

I actually heard that system and knew what it needed.

I am a \n expert on frequency response and tone controls. I designed a non-phase-**** set of bass and treble that are so bad to the bone some people wouldn't even want them. The bass turnover adjustable from 48 to 440 Hz, and the treble from 3,500 Hz to about 9,000 Hz. Each has a range of +/- 16 dB.

These controls are to be used judiciously, you can't just say "I like bass, crank the bass all the way", you'll fry either your amp or woofers. The only time you want to use the full range of boost or cut is as a crossover for a subsat system. Even then, I have a no phase shift variable crossover. Much better for the task.

But now with my ears I must really boost certain ranges, to the point where some people do not want to listen with me. But that's OK, been a loner for major parts of my life. Many people will not eat my food. I am a spice, garlic and HOT freak. The very few who eat mt cooking are very happy, but many people just can't stand the strength of my spices. It is the same with the stereo, it is tailored to ME.

You know this mic in the car **** is just a ruse. Like a Rube Golberg design. It will set the sound flat, but wait, they have the same data from the other 999,999 of those cars they sold. So bottom line it is a gimmick/