Ok, I have run some trials and so far have some surprising results, at least to me:
Base Case - Poang by Ikea - high comfort, low cost, adequate SQ, at least to me before reading this post (thanks again OP!)
Trial 1 - simple wood bar stool. Not comfy, low cost, SQ was like moving from 1st level balcony to nose bleed seats - obviously the new ear height relative to the speakers is the cause. This was trial 1 bc it was the the only other chair I have at my listening pad.
Trial 2 - no chair, sitting on floor. Not comfy, but much improved SQ, like moving to the main floor of the concert hall. More detail, resonance, presence. Hmmm,
Went on vacation, no listening for 10+ days, upon returning went straight to the neighborhood big box store and bought a zero gravity chair.
Revisited base case. Nice, nice to come back from vacation and once again realize that my stereo sucks less than 80% of the time. But geoffkait and the floor listening experience has led to the deep seeded fears of audiophiliac's insecurity - I can and MUST do better!
Trail 3 - zero gravity chair. Not very comfy (I have never been comfortable in one of these but kinda made sense to me from an acoustic perspective?), SQ was not distinguishable from the Poang. WTF?
Revisited Trial 2 - same results. Began pondering the vibe of a chairless listening room......could get a variety of cool floor pillows, some blankets, a classy rug that's easy to clean bc of all the spills I'll have due to resting beverages on the floor....umm wait a minute this is not looking so good. To pull it off I'd have to stick to a very minimalistic design approach, aka not comfy enough for listening for hours. Nix that idea.
Hypothesis - the zero gravity chair is made of cheap plasticy material, and has a head cushion, probably padded with foam equivalent in cost/quality to the Poang. It's this material next to my ears that is the culprit. So, next trial will be a lowback chair made of wood. Headed to the local neighborhood thrift/consignment store this weekend. Once again cursing my sister for stealing the Eames chair my mom found at a garage sale inspired by a nasty divorce...but that's another story.
More to come.
Base Case - Poang by Ikea - high comfort, low cost, adequate SQ, at least to me before reading this post (thanks again OP!)
Trial 1 - simple wood bar stool. Not comfy, low cost, SQ was like moving from 1st level balcony to nose bleed seats - obviously the new ear height relative to the speakers is the cause. This was trial 1 bc it was the the only other chair I have at my listening pad.
Trial 2 - no chair, sitting on floor. Not comfy, but much improved SQ, like moving to the main floor of the concert hall. More detail, resonance, presence. Hmmm,
Went on vacation, no listening for 10+ days, upon returning went straight to the neighborhood big box store and bought a zero gravity chair.
Revisited base case. Nice, nice to come back from vacation and once again realize that my stereo sucks less than 80% of the time. But geoffkait and the floor listening experience has led to the deep seeded fears of audiophiliac's insecurity - I can and MUST do better!
Trail 3 - zero gravity chair. Not very comfy (I have never been comfortable in one of these but kinda made sense to me from an acoustic perspective?), SQ was not distinguishable from the Poang. WTF?
Revisited Trial 2 - same results. Began pondering the vibe of a chairless listening room......could get a variety of cool floor pillows, some blankets, a classy rug that's easy to clean bc of all the spills I'll have due to resting beverages on the floor....umm wait a minute this is not looking so good. To pull it off I'd have to stick to a very minimalistic design approach, aka not comfy enough for listening for hours. Nix that idea.
Hypothesis - the zero gravity chair is made of cheap plasticy material, and has a head cushion, probably padded with foam equivalent in cost/quality to the Poang. It's this material next to my ears that is the culprit. So, next trial will be a lowback chair made of wood. Headed to the local neighborhood thrift/consignment store this weekend. Once again cursing my sister for stealing the Eames chair my mom found at a garage sale inspired by a nasty divorce...but that's another story.
More to come.