# Listening position



## loupy31 (Apr 26, 2006)

Hi All,
I am not one to post alot, I try to sort the problems out on my own, But one problem I just cant solve.
I have a small HT, I have added acoustic foam in various place which has lifted the listening experiance. Ok now to the problem.......
When I sit on the couch and lean forward, the sound is well balanced and 3D, when I lean back in my couch, the 3D image seems to colapes into 2D and the main L & R speakers become more of a point source .
Have tried the usual suspects, move couch forward, toe in/out on the mains, move the mains ,
but cant seem to get rid of the problem.
It seem like the mid bass drops and leaves only the low bass and hi mids and up,
I am not sure what else to try, BTW, my speakers are DIY but this problem has been there with several different speakers over the years.

Peter


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The dimensions of the room can play a big part in this have you moved the speakers forward and at least 2ft away from the side wall?


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## mattw (Oct 1, 2009)

Generally the ideal listening position would entail 1) speakers placed ideally in room (recommended distance from front and side walls, as well as from each other) and 2) sitting in an equilateral triangle from speakers 38% from either the front or back wall. Also firing long-ways into a room is preferred over firing short-ways across the room, but from my experience this isn't always possible in your standard living room setup.

Realtraps has a "room setup" section of their website which was helpful in me getting my room situated right.


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## loupy31 (Apr 26, 2006)

Hi Guys,
Thanks for your replies. I have tried moving speakers, at the moment I would say the mains are prob just on 2 feet from the side wall, and about 3 feet from the front, sitting position is about 25% from rear wall. the sitting/speaker positions is not an equilateral triangle, its more 45 degrees.
with me sitting about 10 feet from the mains...............room is 14 x 10 x 8 feet


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## selden (Nov 15, 2009)

loupy31 said:


> When I sit on the couch and lean forward, the sound is well balanced and 3D, when I lean back in my couch, the 3D image seems to colapes into 2D and the main L & R speakers become more of a point source .
> Have tried the usual suspects, move couch forward


Are you saying that when you move the couch forward the best location is still in front of your new listening position?

That suggests to me that the problem is the couch itself.


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## tiggers97 (May 13, 2008)

I've noticed the same thing with my listening position. The problem is probably your chair itself. I have a "love seat" couch in my theater room. Nice comfy and lots of cushion. Probably really bad for listening to music. Basically, it's acting like a big acoustic sponge. When you lean forward, your getting out of the acoustic trap that the couch creates and get more of the room acoustics.

The way I "fix" it is to take all the cushions for leaning on (not sitting ) and stack them behind where I would lean forward, or place the extras on the floor. That way I can lean back comfortably to listen and there is a lot less to absorb reflections and sonics directly behind my left and right shoulders. The sponge is still there, but it is an improvement.

The best option would be to get rid of the couch and replace with something else, but that's not really an option with the family in this theater house.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Any high back lounge, sofa or chair will have that effect...
Ideally there should be airspace above the neck..


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