OMG - Room Acoustics are Critical - WAF be dam-ed!.
Just wanted to let my friends on Audiogon know - my wife was gone this week - I moved a LAMP in my living room - Sound stage widened by 4 feet. Mid and high end much cleaner.
Room Treatments do matter.
Wish me luck - she gets home in 3 hours!
Enjoy the music - I am amazed at my playlists - like a new and improved system!
In my wife’s defense - the offending lamp is part of a matched pair we bought together on a trip to Hong Kong in 1982. The lamp is pierced porcelain and hand painted with birds - that is why is was left at the wrong end of the couch for the last 18 years. Everyone now agrees it is on the left end of the couch - out of the Soundstage!! God Bless Compromise!
My hole song books are AMAZING now! Listing to Joe Bonamassa - Anton Fig can play drums !!! Joe can make a guitar CRY!
And I am still married to the same woman after 46 years this May!
I had to have my speakers close to the back wall....Wife....She is worth keeping so I obliged. So I wondered what would happen if I moved them out 2 inches. No comments. A week later I moved them another two inches....no comment. So I moved them out another two inches....no comment. I gave her 6 inches and apparently she was still happy with me. So I moved them out another 3 inches. She could not handle the 9 inches and said something. We compromised at 7 inches and she was a happy camper. The moral of the story...give her 6 inches and she always wants one more inch.
that is a great idea for my Maggie 1.7is but I do not want to push my luck!
They are already 2.7feet from the back wall and sound amazing.
Just FYI, you will benefit from more distance from the back wall. If not possible, it's not. I have a similar issue. But those with the luxury of space can get even more from their Maggies.
Just an update - had my audiophile friend (and his wife) over yesterday - he confirmed my analysis - moving the dam- lamp opened up the soundstage on the left channel speaker and really balanced the left and right channel output for a variety of music .Both wives confirmed the soundstage was larger, and better detail in multiple songs played were easy to hear. My speakers are Maggie 1.7is and I also have a Maggie bass panel behind the left channel speaker. I have been moving the DWM and I have strengthened the bass response as well on my system. I have also found the pillows on the couch can affect the sound.
this has been a very fruitful adventure in improving my system’s sound.
I just want to thank everyone on this site for helping educate me in my hobby and love of music!
I now need to do the grocery shopping - still trying to keep the wife happy!
@donquichotte Someone else being in the room with you can change the sound, making demonstrating your system frustrating unless they turn out to be a good acoustic treatment.
Well, we all know room matters a lot, don't we? Yet, exactly how much was unknown to me in spite of hundreds if not thousands of hours of tinkering with it. This is perhaps the greatest audio discovery I've made during the past few years.
You see, my hybrid electrostats used to sound different every day, maybe even different from one listening session to another during the same day. I couldn't believe it so I thought it must be an illusion; then I blamed the inconsistent quality of the electricity; then I gave up searching for an explanation and just tried to swallow my frustration. You see, I'm very sensitive to the tonal balance and each one of these changes did upset this balance. Sick and tired of this roller-coaster, I was contemplating selling my speakers.
Then, a few months ago, everything clicked into place. I don't have a dedicated listening room, my system resides in the living room. Every now and then, someone, even myself, removed, added or moved around an object in the room: removed a thick book from the right side bookshelf that also serves as a diffuser of sorts, put a cardboard box on the wooden table to the left thus making it somewhat less reflective, changed a bit the position of the curtain in front of the window, moved around a piano stool with its sound absorbing surface over the reflective wooden floor to the left and so on and so forth. Each one of these changes in the acoustic environment was audible to me, I just didn't know why I was hearing a difference.
I still cannot understand why would the difference be (so) noticeable, my mind says it's quite ridiculous (I mean, OK, the electrostats are particularly sensitive to the environment IME - as opposed to what some people are claiming - but still, even so: one pathetic book from the bookshelf?!?) My audiophile friend came over and confirmed I am not hallucinating, and he doesn't get it either. So for the past few months I've been playing with making small (I emphasize, small) changes to this acoustic environment, with two very positive outcomes:
1. I have managed to improve the sound of my system to the point that I'm enjoying it much more than before
2. I have learned what kind of acoustic effect each of these changes results into. Consequently, I am now able to restore the sound balance to a very satisfactorily degree every time something or someone upsets it - which is to say, every day. As a result, now I'm fine tuning the room before each listening session, much like a guitar player re-tuning their instrument!
So I'd like to encourage each one of you, my fellow audiophiles and music lovers, to play around with your acoustic environment. Pay attention to the treble extension, bass fullness, lower midrange body and presence, soundstage and imaging, transients' roundness / sharpness etc. They can all be impacted by small changes in my room. Depending on your speakers and room, you might be surprised to discover the same!
When it comes to the environment the most important thing in my experience has been to live in a house made out of wood. My first house was brick and plaster. It was impossible to get good sound there. I made dozens of bass traps and lots of other sound absorbers. I measured it and used eq to make it measure flat. Nothing I did made it good enough for me. Now, several houses later I'm in a big old wood frame house. Not great construction quality. But it sounds good. The reflections exist but they don't bother me.
I had a good divorce. She got rid of my butt and I kept my stereo.
I don’t see why you can’t move the lamp when you listen. BESURE to move it back. Don’t wanna be poking at the dragon. Speaking of poking the dragon,,,,
@knotscott Guess its because she holds the keys to the magic sugar bowl.
Who are all of these men that are so afraid of their women? Afraid to move a lamp or throw pillow? It is our house too.
LOL...I'm a pretty sturdy 235 pounder, outweigh my wife by 110lbs, and back down from nearly no one, yet I ask myself all the time why I'm afraid of her! 😲 Guess its because she holds the keys to the magic sugar bowl. 🤣
God Bless you all for the comments - just an update - I did not sleep in the Garage last night - amazing what a good steak dinner and a bottle of wine does to bring peace and harmony to our home - we also watched her ‘Brit Shows’ last night
The offending lamp is permanently moved out of the soundstage!!
Thank you all for your support!
my clincher move - ‘Honey, this is way better than a set of Maggie 3.7is.
My wife if very tolerant of my hobby. She thinks it’s a lot better than going out to the bars! But when I move speakers around, I use blue painters tape to mark the floor and she’s even okay with that, but the dogs on the other hand, love to peal the tape up and eat it!
I moved some furniture out of my listening room, put a recliner in the sweet spot and made it a dedicated music / movie room. Its amazing how subtle changes can improve sound quality.
@tom8999 Congrats. Yes that would effect sound in a a good way will benefit your listening experience. If you use anything aesthetically friendly and wife acceptance factor when using to control room acoustics, then both will benefit from it.
I just posted my two systems here at home last week on Audiogon - if you look I am sure you will see which lamp was moved. I will let you all know how it works out - I am hopeful she will also hear the difference!
I feel ya! When my wife leaves, I pull the speakers out where they can breath, and move the furniture around. It bothers her if she even "knows" about, whether she can see it or not, LOL😄
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