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Is the "improvement" real or imnagined?

This thread may be of interest to no one, but I was inspired by @inna post to start a thread. I had a recent experience that may touch on broader unresolved (unresolvable?) questions. I'm mostly happy with my system and my room has been professionally treated. I don't have an ideal listening chair-the back comes up to ear level, maybe a little above. Concessions have to be made to old and crumbling neck vertebra that need support.

I know that high back seating can in theory affect the sound through reflections. So, I got the bright idea to try to mitigate that-I'm sure its not original.

I bought a weighted blanket-quite thick and covered the chair. I put an Afghan blanket over that, the last one my mom crocheted, so its magical already. I perceive improved detail and better imaging -certainly not huge, but a subtle improvement that I hear, or at least think I hear.

So, maybe there is some science behind this, makes sense the blanket would reduce reflections. On the other hand, maybe its simply expectation bias, placebo effect, whatever, at work because there is science behind that as well, and its hard to imagine this is a big thing.

So, how do I know if its real or imagined? Its not a big deal, no real investment and only a very subtle perceived change, but it does relate to other issues that are often debated, sometimes heatedly, on this forum. How do you account for, or eliminate expectation bias, other than a proper double blind test which I'm guessing most of us are not going to do when auditioning equipment? 

I found this interesting, maybe no one else does. Thoughts?

 

kerrybh
immatthewj
3,300 posts
 

As big a deal as room treatments are on this site (and I am not implying that I don't think they make a difference) I don't know why anyone would not think that the reflections or lack of reflections from a high back chair would make.

 

Personally, while sitting in my high back listening hair, I do notice a change when I either push my head forward (as opposed to it laying against the back) or sit straight up.  But doing either of those is uncomfortable, so I basically always recline in my high back chair when listening.  The tubes are warming up as I type and I am heading back there in about 15 minutes and I am going to swap out my high back chair with a low back steel folding chair that I keep in the garage.  This will not be a comfortable three or four hours, but if I feel it is a sonic improvement, I will look into a more comfortable low backed chair.  I did see that IKEA sells something called a Poanga chair and the have a low back model for $99.

stuartk
4,024 posts
 

What about haircuts?  Has anyone investigated the potential sonic implications ?

deep_333
2,444 posts
 

Even the upholstery on a large sofa, if you have one, makes a bigger difference than the 10k wire+connectors some guys around here buy.. there’s data on this from Grimani systems, etc....

I could move a large couch in and out of my room and post some data, but, i don’t feel like lugging a large couch down the stairs for the likes of ya, you’re not that special. laugh

 

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
6,017 posts
 

I did extensive measuring with REW at the listening position. Changes close to the microphone (i.e., near where my ears would be) sometimes had a significant impact on frequency response and reflections. 

So, it depends, but you could be hearing differences.

And, also, the movement of one's head of just a few inches can have an impact. Depends on dispersion of the speakers, distance,  etc. of course.

deep_333
2,444 posts
 

The idea behind haircuts or non-hair cuts (hair pulled up in a pony tail, bun or whatever) is to keep nothing in the way of the earlobes.

On the same note, one of the reasons everyone hears differetly is the size shape of the head, earlobes, etc. All the spatial audio HRTFs/tools try to account for this to some degree, i.e., when you’re trying to set it up, it asks you to put your ear lobes on camera (wonder why?)--> edge detection/profile/peq/etc....such is the reason

Surround guys, especially mess up royally, a lot of things with the soundfield when they bought that Valencia high couch for comfort. The whole idea behind it is to create a seamsless soundfield with 5 or 7 bedlayer and some height sources.

Stereo is very much impacted too.

What about haircuts? Has anyone investigated the potential sonic implications ?

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