What kind of listening chair


Should your critical listening chair be high-back, low-back, or a stool?  Wood, leather, or fabric?
markinthedark
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What is the seat height of the Herman Eames? I just ordered Stressless Mayfair for my studio...back of headrest sits below ears and swivels, rotate, and reclines. I though this through about how we listen how others such as guests or clients listen. When we go to audio show we most often sit on chairs that are typically a basic type of school chair with cushions, LOL. Dealer showrooms often have couches or some type of lounge chair for customers to listen to the stereo. I find myself listening inventively and upright at the shows and dealer demos, also at home with new equipment, records, or when getting into the zone. The Stressless Mayfair Signature allows me to sit with deep focus if I want, or, recline, rock, or swivel at will. This type of solution is the best of both worlds, for clients, friends and family, and myself. They are on sale right now. https://reclinerstore.com/recliners/stressless-recliners/stressless-mayfair-signature-recliner-ottom...
Herman Miller Eames lounge or equivalent.

Comfort, look and feel. Checks all the boxes.
Whatever you use, don‘t let it be above shoulder height.
Also height should provide good allignment with the tweeters.
It wasn’t the most comfortable, but for superior Sonics, I found a dining room chair to be the best. Shoulder height back with arm rests. Nothing to deflect the sound on the sides.   Superb
Just went from the Ikea Poang to a Stressless recliner. Much more comfortable, especially during longer listening sessions, but I can't say it changed the sound any.
If you can buy local, and support small business.  Most of the best restaurants are local and do not have a drive up window.  But if you don't support local business, you will only have mainstream chains to shop and eat at....what joy. 

I put my speakers on the ground. That way, I don't need a chair. I bought a lot of extra music with the money I saved on both speaker stands and a chair. According to Stereophile, you should have more money invested in the music collection than in the kit.
This is what staying home because of COVID does to a person.
You\r chair people need to buy my, natural, organic, rubber coasters to isolate the chair from the floor.  I have two models, one for turntables, and one for CD's  We are working on a streaming one.  When ordering for a turntable, please specify whether you use a moving coil or magnetic cartridge, as well as whether the latter is moving iron or moving magnet.  I have my ears above my chair back, but I also have half of my house open behind me.
One that gives me good back/lumbar support, like the zero-gravity chair I use for listening, television, reading, etc etc....
As with most things, it is good to sit in a chair before buying.  The Eames chair appears to have a headrest, but it is not.

"The Eames lounge chair doesn't have a headrest. It looks like it does due to the fact that it's rarely photographed in such a way as to figure out scale. The top of the chair back is 32" from the floor. For reference the average upholstered chair has a back height of 32 - 35".
It is a very old design. My parents had one back in the late 60's. Very comfortable. After about 10 years it started to delaminate in the sharp curve from bottom to side. I have an Italian leather sofa that is 32 years old, been moved twice, lived through two kids and looks like the day we bought it. I doubt the Lazy Boy will go that long but I have to say, the leather is just as good. My daughter wants the sofa. She is trying to talk me into getting theater seating. Kids.
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The Herman Miller Charles Eames chair is a good one and several models of Stressless recliners from the Norway company, Ekornes.

Eames Lounge and Ottoman - Lounge Chair - Herman Miller

https://shop.stressless.com/en/c/recliners

There are several other good chairs and a great number of bad ones. There are a lot of noise making machines that will never appear on AudiogoN, in fact most are appliances. I owned a high end furniture store for decades and sold much of the best from all over the world. Furniture is no different than restaurants. For every great restaurant there are thousands of "me too" burger places with drive up windows. I have never been in a town where the best restaurant had a drive up window. Or been in a Wal-Mart or Sears with SOTA audiophile stereo components...and yes, any Sears will sell more noise makers in a week than the audiophile store in that town does in a year.


I use a Cost Plus Kendall chair that has low back and comfortable, as seen on my system page. It is a fabric and not leather chair. Why I purchased this? Because the Le Corbusier LC2 is way expensive!
I use a top end Lazy Boy recliner in leather. Real soft and cushy. You can see it on my system page. When you recline you open up the sound field behind you sort of like having no back. I set my calibration mic right where my ears are, perfect. 
I am looking at task chairs with retractable foot rests.  Several on Amazon.
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I started with a high back Steelcase Gesture chair $1,200. Amazing armrests, and comfy.But then I was in Office Depot one day and tried a few. When I sat in the Serta Smartlayers office chair...Wow. Bought it for less than $300.I'm 5'7"tall. It's a bit tall for us short guys, so one day I stuck a block offoam I have from tearing down an old mattress. It's big, maybe 12" thick, by 15X20". Like a footstool, but WAY better. Greatest mistake I ever made. With your knees bent, and stocking feet on the edge, you canbounce your feet to the music. It's amazing.Then to prove just how weird I am I sat and considered..."Hmm how can I make this even more comfortable. I realized that subconsciously I was holding my knees together with muscles, instead of relaxing. So I found a flexible strap (like a big wide rubber band made of fabric), put it around my knees. Bingo! Then I removed the armrests, put a down pillow on mylap (which also holds the remotes), and I gotta say, everyone laughed at
me at first, until they sat in it.  Give it a try, and too you will realized how total body relaxation can improve the listening experience.
Comfortable.
Important to have the optimal ear height to suit your speakers.
Low back below ear level.
....leather...*pant, pant*....with a 4 point seat belt 'cus of the subs....
Its a love seat and it has low, mid back plush fabric. I sit three quarters to the right. Plenty of room to keep things, like remotes, to the left. I feel that a lower back is the best option.
Just make sure your cushion chair isn't messing with you ears and you're good.  No big grandpaw cloudy chairs.
Recliner, overstuffed, soft and velour-covered.  Sit upright but with the footrest kicked up. 

Left speaker front about 8 feet from the wall behind them 2 feet from left wall (long wall).  Right speaker about 7 feet from the wall behind them 3 + feet from the right wall (long wall).  Area behind the speakers is a small artificial ficus forest (around a dozen 5 footer, some on stands) to act as a large diffuser.  

Listening position is equal distant from each speaker slightly off room long centerline in a roughly equilateral triangle, slightly stretched, between speakers and listening position.  The speakers are slightly canted out equally relative to the listening position.  Other artificial ficus trees are scattered around the room to act as diffusers.  

There is a method to the madness in asymmetrical placement of the speakers.  Combined with the ficus acting as diffusers, midrange and upper bass room resonances are almost completely eliminated.  Sound is quite good, most satisfying.  And the fici are much more attractive than tube traps or ugly wall hangings.
High back....nothing but reflections behind you! Speakers should be on long wall and seating position on short against rear wall.  Reduces standing waves and reflections.  Speakers as far apart and toed out as far as center fill allows.  Sit lower than normal if possible and closer than typical triangle setup.  All aspects of listening enjoyment will be improved!
Millercarbon is spot on. And it fits well with his philosophy that “everything matters”. In this case, comfort. 
Low back for sure. Your ears should be well above the back. No leather, fabric or wood is better. 
I'll second MC's post.  Headrest should be lower than your ears, otherwise, go for support and comfort--fabric would be better than leather or vinyl for less sound rebound.  

Bob
No-back is optimum for SQ, but not for long listening sessions. If your room is lively, avoid leather. 
How about the egg chair? The sonics are outstanding and the speakers are included. Hot Pink will fit in any decor!

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What I’ve learned is that there is a room mode in the vertical center of the room (as well as other places). So, consider that along with: ceiling height, ceiling/floor reflection points, tweeter height, and listening-position-ear-height.