Isolating the listening chair?

Wow! I've got lead in my butt, according to my wife anyway, perhaps if I used lead in my cushions I would get some great synergy. Sorry if your post was serious......:-)

I've had better luck with high mass dampening. Placing a large sandbag on top of my head snaps the soundstage into focus and increases air around instruments.

I haven't tried it, but I remember there was a thread about something like this before. I think someone was putting bricks on his shoulders or something.

If you are hearing improvements, I'm guessing it is due to the chair making less noise in response to the sound in the room. Perhaps the feet of the chair were vibrating against the floor? Was the chair on a rug or directly on a hard surface?

I'v e been meaning to start a thread on this. I have been wondering if the improvements people hear from using isolation devices are from reducing noise made by the chassis, rather than any effect on the electrical signal. I got to thinking about this at CES when I saw a vendor selling little precious metal bells stuck on blocks of wood that were supposed to enhance the sound field. He was about to do a demo, but we got distracted, and I never heard their effect. But I thought if these little things could affect the sound in response to airborne noise, so could anything else in the listening room.

It would be interesting if you coud comment if there is a difference when you lean your head against the back of the chair or lift your head slightly off the chair. This would give some indication as to whether the effect is due to isolating sound from your head, or something else.

i guess that barber's chair has all neccessary audiophile features.

My chair is made entirely out of myrtle wood blocks and sorbothane. Further, I hang it from the ceiling with aviation cable and springs. The trampoline was too big to fit in the listening room.

try getting off the chair and sitting on the floor.

It's not your BUTT that you should be trying to isolate, but your HEAD dude! That's where your EARS are!
I currently trying one of those inversion devices, where you hang by your heels, and the results are getting pretty good. Except that my EARS (remember....THE important thing!) were not properly lined up with the tweeters.....dang! About to get it right though by adjusting the FORWARD slope of the speaker. Bloods r-u-n-n-i-n-g to my head n-o-w..... but I'm hearing things/details in the music that I've n-e-v-e-r heard before!

I sent my chair out for cryo treatment.

Blows away chairs costing thousands more.

I have not experimented with the chair, yet.
However, I have installed what I call the "Cone of Sound" which can be lowered over my speakers and chair to provide total isolation from all room acoustics. Kind of like having the world's largest headphones. I can't even hear the significant other pounding on the outside! Ahhhhh!

you should try platform shoes...you know the kind that porn stars wear...the soundstage comes into focus more...but , the wife acceptance factor is a bit questionable !!

I did the Cryo thing too, but then followed with the 800 degree heat treatment. Didn't work too well with the Maple frame! Whod'a thunk?!?

Hi All,

Just to bring this thread back to some serious discussion - it would not seem that isolating the listener from the floor by use of vibration control devices would not be appropriate. If the objective of an audio system is to reproduce the experience a person has listening to live instruments it could be argued that the listener in the live situation is normally receiving the vibration from the floor of the performance hall. It might be further argued that removing the floor's vibration from the listener's experience during audio system reproduction would make it more difficult to recreate the original experience.

We know that vibration and resonance audibly changes the signal the audio system is reproducing. It seems clear that if we are attemting to faithfully reproduce the music captured in the recording we must eliminate as much as possible the vibration and resonance from the system's components.

Best,

Barry

Typo - It should say:

"it would not seem that isolating the listener from the floor by use of vibration control devices would be appropriate."

Barry

Audiogon should add a seperate category for this kind of thread. There is an Audiogon member who mentioned in his thread that he was breaking in his speaker stands.

For what it's worth, reading this thread (and the responses) is about the most fun that I've ever had on AudioGon. Every once in a while something comes along which is not only fun, but a little bit like looking in the mirror as well!!

I listen on a suspended second floor, and rather enjoy a little buzz in the butt through my chair!

I agree with Zargon (and Bright Star, I think)that feeling the floor vibrations is kinda cool. But I question Brightstar's suggestion that cones (the original device mentioned in the thread,) are vibration isolation devices that would isolate the listener from the floor vibrations (I think that's what he's saying, but am not sure). Aren't they coupling devices that would transmit vibrations into the chair more effectively?
(To whatever extent this thread can be taken seriously).

Did you suspend it above a beehive?

Floors vibrating? Butts vibrating while sitting on vibrating floors caused by the neighbors below! Sounding like......they are LIKING IT!!! Where's THIS thread going?!? :-)

Seriously, our bodies feel sound as well as hear it, especially the low end. A little floor vibration adds a sense of immediacy and realism.

PS, no neighbors below, this is my system causing the vibration.

For ROYY re 6/20/06: I am very curious about the thread you referenced for breaking in speaker stands since I'm currently exploring the very same thing: A month ago I purchased the Yoyodyne flux capacitor that was made specifically for metal monitor stands. It induces a purified steady-state time-aligned fully-differentiated current to the entire metal portion of my speaker stands; the object being to properly align the metal molecules at the partical level so that sound waves don't scatter but, in essence, flow through the metal legs like a waterfall. I'll be honest with you guys: I don't think it was worth the $2,200 I paid for it because aside from a bit more "bloom" on some of the acoustic tracks of my direct-to-disk Quiet Riott LP's I haven't discerened that much difference. Oh wait ... maybe I haven't property broken in the stands? The manual said 10,000 hours....

jamscience, I must inform you that the use of the "CONE OF SOUND" is a top secret device to be used only by the chief and maxwell smart .... any further use of said device shall warrant a tongue lashing from agent 99...

For Veloceracing: If you'll send those stands to me I'll GLADLY break'em in (pre-paid shipping both-ways & a small deposit repuired) for you.
It's a secret process that I won't explain.....cause then it wouldn't be a S-E-C-R-E-T! But I can assure you that there is NO truth to the vile lies posted by a competitor with a compooter!!! My (patent pending) cryo & vibration process/treatment does NOT employ a 23 year old GOLD colored Frigidaire OR a paint shaker liberated from the Poplar Ave Home Depot.
I'll be looking to receive them!

p.s. And my process WILL completely change the appearance, as well as the performance, of the stands. It's that radical! A TEST DISK is included though so you can confirm the difference!

Myraj: As you can probably surmise, I'm no fool. I can spot a scam a mile away. But if you're saying that your process employs secret tecniques then that's good enough for me! No doubt, you probably gleaned your skills and expertise working in the intelligence field or computer industry with only the most exotic of materials. Sure, nothing you wrote speaks to that but, as I said before, I'm no fool - I can read between the lines.

I'm also intrigued because by mentioning the materials and processes that you DON'T use, then it only stands to reason (regardless if some sceptics may call it an unsubstantiated assumption) that you must use the most sophisticated of processes and equipment in synergy with old-fashioned know-how. Now I understand that said-same cynics might say that nothing in what you wrote should lead me to think this but hey, they're the same guys who couldn't appreciate the magical effects of tuning dots.

So how can I go wrong, what with you throwing in a test CD and all, right? I mean, from the (ahem) sound of things if I can't hear a difference then it's my own damn fault.

My credit card number is .....

Veloceracing: and for that quick response I'll also gladly include TWO....not one but TWO!!! sets of cryo'd Myraj brand Q-TIPS!
Thanks for the early payment and the Q-TIPS are.....in the mail!

You guys are all nuts! Why spend all that hard earned $ on Myrtle wood and US Gvm'nt Surplus bungie cord? A quick trip to the garage located a bicycle tire pump and a basketball inflation valve. Screw the valve onto the end of the pump hose, wet the valve with saliva (or KY jelly if you have any of that in the garage [don't ask]) and insert the valve into the orifice on your body furtherest from your ears. Just a few pumps may bring you to new heights in listening pleasure. CAUTION! Don't get greedy. While a few pumps may bring pleasure, don't expect several pumps to bring ecstasy. Too many pumps and you may find yourself flying around the room and bashing into things just as soon as the valve is removed from your bung hole.

Viridian - I've got two cryo'd mystical glowing chipmunks left. They give off such a warm soothing glow. It'll work wonders for you system...but you gotta make sure they're on isospikes or else your system is ruined.

Submurge it in a sandbox....good times for everyone ;)

I had some brass cones lying around and screwed them to the bottom of my listening chair for the additional height. Worked like a charm. Really!

Whoa! Hey, now we’re getting somewhere! Yes, the listening chair should be isolated AND all large items in the room should be isolated, too - couch, bookshelf, chest of drawers, etc. I used large or small DH Cones but any cone will do. Super, duper! 😄