This post reminded me of a Weird upgrade that happened recently however I think I should hide behind the sofa ……?
For many years now I been dabbling with different bits of hifi equipment and accessories such as cables,plugs,fuses,sockets etc and during my time spent as an Audiofool I have heard how dramatically a system can be moved in one direction or another just by changing one item. Even the smallest change such as setting a cartridge up correctly or different cable plugs can make a significant difference
Now as many of us do, I like to experiment in all directions and sometimes accidentally we can come across improvements to our system that are FREE. These in my book are the best HiFi upgrades. Recently I moved to a new property which gave me the lucky opportunity to have a large listening room 14 x 8 x 22 feet in size and I have spent the last 18 months getting the measure of how my system sounds in this room and how it effects the sound. As I have observed over the years your listening room has by far the biggest influence on what you hear and should be regarded as an essential piece of your equipment.
You may think a large room is an immediate blessing but it certainly brings about its own issues as I found every aspect of my system sounded different having moved from a room that was previously 12 x 12!
Certainly I had to change the speakers as small stand mounts did not perform well, hence the move to some large floor standers. Then once I isolated the turntable effectively ( I have a wooden floor) I fine tuned my system through a tortuous process of listening to alternative pieces of kit. In the end only small changes had to be made to get the balance right and I could sit back and relax and listen to music again.
However I made an unexpected and accidental discovery at Christmas which will be regarded by the Audiophile community as a complete no no! Many of us have systems set up in a classic arrangement with speakers carefully placed at one end of the room and equipment on racks in between the speakers. This arrangement sometimes includes a large TV and we think nothing of the effect this has on the sound of our system although I have a friend who has noted he can hear the difference when he removes a couple of CDs from his shelf placed between the speakers!!
Anyhow at Christmas I reconfigured my listening room to accommodate a more acceptable domestic environment and ended up with three SOFAs in the room. A large 3 seater and 2 x 2 seaters one of which had to be placed in front of the speakers. Obviously not the best idea especially positioning the sofa between and directly in front of the speakers. However I was not intending to use my system so it was not a worry, however one evening we were free of people so I thought I would just pop some music on and hey it did not sound too bad! mmmmm I thought that’s strange. I had gone against all convention and somehow this arrangement nearly worked.
So after Christmas I decided to play around with my new piece of acoustic modifying room treatment!
I moved the sofa backwards and forwards positioning it between and slightly back of the speakers. I had full visual and aural visibility of my speakers and hey presto the balance of sound in the room improved for the better. The Sofa attenuated certain frequencies allowing, believe it or not, greater amounts of tonal detail throughout the music spectrum. Focal clarity improved significantly and small details in the recording now became much more prominent and easier to hear.
All the years spent swapping equipment and accessories certainly changed the sound of my system and I have always been aware that room acoustics can have a major influence on what we hear. However this unconventional and free upgrade was unexpected. Anyone walking into my room now would take a look at my set up and probably either think idiot or kindly think - nah that can’t work but not only does it work it has actually improved my listening experience.
With more damping in the room I can play the system louder without it ever sounding shouty or overbearing. I now hear greater detail in the recording and the general balance of the sound I hear is more relaxed. Imaging and transparency have not been affected. Soundstage width and depth are not only better, the positioning of instruments and vocals is better. The only slight downside is in the bass region where certain frequencies do not have quite the precision as they had before.
I would say the SOFA has upgraded the system significantly. I go back to the importance of room acoustics and how size, dimensions and materials can all make a big difference to how your system sounds. Now I am convinced what is in the room and how it damps or reflects sound is equally important.
I would suggest to anyone try it - its free and you maybe surprised. If your room isn’t big enough try an armchair?
Just don’t sit on the SOFA in between the speakers and listen to your system. This does not work!
