What s in front of your chair?

I used to use a small ottoman in front of my listening chair, it had a tube frame consisting of a circular base and a single straight tube, with a leather top portion. The accompanying chair had a similar tube frame and circular tube base. Without or without the ottoman, I could not notice much of a difference.

Recently, I replaced the 'tubed' furniture with a 'solid state' recliner, a massive thing which much more comfy. It has a higher back, and something in the combination of the high back and more solid chair made a difference in the sound. Overall, the 'solid state' solution is more comfortable than the 'tubed' one.

(Sorry, just couldn'r resist...)

As for the carpet fibers, i agree. I have also had great results with synthetic carpets loaded with various amounts of dirt. Extensive experimentation has shown that clay put down in Size 10 1/2 footprints results in excellent bass imaging that makes the music come to life. Motor oil in similar patterns makes the system sound too slick. Sand deposited at the edge of the carpet result in more grainy highs. I was perhaps most surprised by some ketchup put on the corners on the rugs, contrary to what I expected there was very little coloration, at least when used with the black rugs. About the only thing I would really not recommend trying is crushed cookies in the rugs; with this tweak installed the system sounded really crummy.

Metaphysics, now for a serious answer. The coffee table obviously made a difference, as you noted. The surface of the table is most likely an almost perfect reflector. The ottoman would probably have more shape to it, and be made from another material than glass, so it would probably reflect less sound. If you take a ligt orroman, maybe something with a tube frame like I described earlier, you may find that the effect is not too noticeable.