What's in a chair?

Everything Else
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Folks:
I watch Paul’s videos religiously. A while back Paul answered a question regarding the listening chair. “How important is the listening chair?” Paul made a convincing case. The chair’s back should be low enough so that the listener’s exposure to the sound is not impeded in any direction. My current listening couch is rather high in the back and blocked reflections. I suspect that many audiophiles are in the same boat. In my 40 + years as an audiophile I never considered the listening chair.

Well, I moved the couch to another room, and replaced it with three chairs just like the ones that Paul recommended. (West Elm had a sale and I took advantage!)

The bottom line is that I noticed a dramatic improvement in the sound, greater than that when I upgraded from Snowmass to Windom. The sound stage is now deeper and wider. Believe it or not the sound is less harsh. I can hear instruments more clearly. For example, in David Roth’s Pearl Diver CD, Vincent (Track 7) is glorious and the chorus in That kind of grace (Track 9) is now very clear. I can follow each singer!

I highly recommend the low back quality chairs.

Thank you Paul. I learned something.

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Awesome. Thanks for sharing. It’s not often we get to hear the good side of things and I am always pleased when that’s where the discussion leads. Thanks for sharing.

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Nice to hear the old man was right! :stuck_out_tongue::joy:
I’ve been using a low back chair for a while now. Not only was it a big difference in perceived staging, but I fall asleep listening a lot less as I can’t rest this big noggin on anything.

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Yes, chair backs matter a lot. I first became aware many years ago when I noticed the change in sound if I clasped my hands behind my head! Arms and elbows protruding had a noticeable effect.