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What s in front of your chair?

I'm condsidering putting an ottoman in front of my listening chair, but am concerned about sonic effects. However, could an ottoman be beneficial as a low frequency absorber? If so, what type of ottoman would be best? I'm thinking cloth covered with natural stuffing, i.e. wool or cotton. Has anyone experimented with this? I guess anything would be better than a glass table. I just don't want to buy something then not like it because once it's in, it will never leave(SO). Hey, maybe there's a product in this thread for some ingenious furniture maker: Audiophile Ottomans, $10,000, Chairs, $15,000.
metaphysics
elwood
42 posts
 
A new meaning for Blind Listening is being born. Single blind listening could be done with monocles. We could even switch eyes. Double blind with the simple removal of spectacles or even contacts. Don"t you just love science!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let us all report back. With the number of trials a group our size can perform we could develope a sample large enough to use statistics.The significance is mind boggling.
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,421 posts
 
Elwood: Eyeglasses do change the sound considerably (not for the better, IMO). I always take mine off when doing other than casual listening. Think about it, you are creating two areas of reflection two or three inches from the ears (depending on how fat the head is) and they (the areas of reflection) are between the speakers and the ears. No kidding.
sfinnell
28 posts
 
I have Apogeen Mini-Grands, and my leather Ottoman is very detrimental to the sound. I would think that would be true with any planar or planar-hybrid speaker. It does not severely compromise my Von Schwiekerts, but the drivers are not nearly as close to the floor. It really depends on the type of speakers and how close the ottoman is to the speaker. Obviously if you listen in the nearfield and the ottoman is blocking a driver it would be very bad. Just put a box where the ottoman would go and have a listen for yourself
garfish
1,840 posts
 
........actually, the effects of wearing glasses on listening to music was written up in Stereophile several years ago-- don't remember if was tongue-in-cheek or not, or the effects. It seems to me Dick Olsher, a tube man, was involved-- that was back in the days when Stereophile was a good mag. Craig
njonker
107 posts
 
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...)
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