Isolation of my chair, am I crazy???

Many of you know I am a tweaker, and often over the top. Well, I discovered something last night that was worthy of sharing, and I hope others might try this to help verify my sanity. Actually there are two issues at hand, first is isolation of the listening chair from the floor, and the second is brass weights on the shoulders.

Let me back up. I received a variety of Mapleshade brass footer and weight products for Christmas. I asked for them in that they were one of a small list of products I have not tried. As I was listening, I began touching furniture with and with out the weights to see vibration differences. I noticed my chair and therefore my shoulders were vibrating. I tried placing the 2 ½ pound weights on each shoulder. The sound clarified subtly…

OK, I looked a bit goofy sitting with weights on my shoulders, and yes my wife and son got a good chuckle, but…

Then I decided the chair was a far bigger issue than my shoulders, so I took four Aurios 1.2 isolation bearings and put them under the Lazy Boy. There was a marked improvement in clarity. I then tried with and without a number of times, the results were quite quantifiable. I discovered there was a small smear in the higher frequencies that was not previously perceptible.

A couple examples, the violin on Greencards “Weather and Water” and Natalie Merchant “The House Carpenter’s Daughter” (Both assume folk/ rock) had far greater definition. The separation of strings and thus notes was much better. It was much easier to feel the emotion of the interment and sense the resonance of the violins body. Vocals were clearer in the same fashion as the violin. The most profound sonic change was on Natalie’s fourth track. Near the end there are four or five tones that sound like a deep/rich church bell. Here the clarity and naturalness was far more significant. Before the tone was simply part of the presentation. With the chair on Aurios the tone was isolated, rich and dimensional. The rest is subtle stuff, but in one word I would say “natural” was the effect.

I’m writing this in hope of other people might experiment and share what they find. I assume this is more for those who have already addressed the major issues in isolation and have a very high degree of resolution, but it would be interesting to see what people find.

jd