Leather couch, leather love seat or single wooden chair
In an ongoing effort, I'm trying to get the best sound in my room-aren't we all:) I'm curious to know what most of you have as your listening chair. I started out with a 3 seat couch, went to a 2 seater and now am using a single chair. Back in the war of 1812, my left arm was damaged, so I have to get 2 men and a boy to move these items out of my room. Because there's a time lapse, it's hard for me to tell which is the best. My wife votes for the two seater, but neither of us gets to sit in the sweet spot. Please give me your experiences and recommendations. I would love to make the two seater work. Maybe we can sit on top of each other:)
There is nothing lonelier than an audiophile alone in a cave, so do everything you can for the two seat solution.
Your choice of speaker matters here. May I suggest Revel as an excellent speaker for couples, though they are not unique, but please give them a listen to hear an example of an excellent sounding speaker with a wide sweet spot. On the uber high end, Magico also exels here.
Also, good room acoustics widens the sweet spot, give GIK Acoustics a call.
There is a way to make a two seater work, at some loss to both listeners, but better than not. But this doesn't replace a single seat. Cross the axis of your speakers well in front of your head. The the person on the right, for example will be listening to the speaker on the left on axis but further away and the speaker on the right off axis which will be closer but where I presume the will be a loss due to off axis dispersion.
Less than perfect for sure but it does work. Another solution would be to use omni speakers. The only loss here would be the loss of specificity in an otherwise huge soundstage.
Personally I gave my wife the family room and TV, I took the living room and stereo with a single central located Scandinavian stressless recliner. Man am I less stressed!@ :-)
Do any of u think, u loose anything sonically, when using a sofa, as opposed to a single chair? I'm using Max II's. I wondered if the sound may be interfered with, when using the couch.
Every room will be a different puzzle to solve. In my room, taking out an overstuffed couch (with a chaise on one end) did the opposite of what I thought would happen: the bass and mids improved a lot. I always thought my speakers were weak in that area but it was that darn couch that messed things up.
Going to a pair of lounge chairs, with all that open space around them, was the better way to go. Good luck.
Cloth, not leather is what sounds better in my listening room. Seating for three. The guests always get or trade places for the sweet spot. Heads are ten feet away from plane of tweeters, tweeters are seven feet apart, so less affect on sweet spot than near-field setups. Very happy with the sound, and so are guests.
+1 on @tomcarr suggestion on Fabric and 3-seater. Leather will bounce the sound waves. 3-seater - on days you listen alone, you can be right in the sweet spot. But try to get a petite size fabric sofa than a full sized one.
Padded seating will distort and deaden sound. From a sonic perspective a wooden bench would be best. But listening also needs to be comfortable to be enjoyed. I used to sit on a firm cushion on the floor- that is the only way I could really enjoy listening to my Vandersteen 5a's.
Couch on 1 side, loveseat on the other and my stressless in the money spot. Sometimes I’ll give it up to somebody else, but I am the one choosing the equipment because it’s important to me. The rest of my family would be happy with Bose or even less.
You are very lucky to have a wife that let you swap the furniture out or around in the room. With me, my wife lets me have the wall where the stereo equipment is and the rest of the room and wall are hers. Large leather sofa 2 large leather recliners and the walls are covered with 3D art work.
Two recliners with ottomans, one in the sweet spot. Leather, and high-backed, they are comfortable, but high-backs are a no-no for audio. Comfort is also important, and I have long been looking for a replacement. I do listen alone, and I prefer it that way. Finding a comfortable chair with a low back and arm-rests that is a good hieght off the floor at a price I can afford (i.e., cheap), is more difficult that I thought it would be.
^ That's what I mean by not being affordable. No way I can afford a $1200 chair. But, good luck finding a nice one, goose. Hopefully it will work for you.
I use a very large sectional sofa custom built for the room (it's also my home theater room). It can seat up to 7 adults comfortably. For me, music and entertainment are for sharing.
Of course, 2 channel listening is an extreme niche these days and I don't expect to be listening with groups. But the comfort and size of the sofa are inviting so often enough I have one of my sons flaking out beside me listening too (they can select music). My older son has sometimes had friends over to listen to new album releases on our sound system, so the sofa comes in handy there too.
Thanks to all, who responded. I'm building two QRD-11's to go behind my listening chair. Thought if I had a sofa, it would probably block the diffusers. Going to place my modified QRD-13 in place on my front wall this weekend. It's designed to mainly affect lower frequencies. I made the wells 20" deep and 3.5" wide and will be flush with the wall. Keeping my fingers crossed. 🎶
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