CAS Member Tip On Room Setup

Recently a CAS member asked that an improvement he discovered be shared with all the CAS viewers. He writes:

“Recently, while evaluating a new DAC, I listened to a number of songs and everything sounded really good. However, when I put on The Beatles – Abbey Road 5oth Anniversary album, it sounded terrible. The bass was undefined and bloated. I downloaded other versions of the album, but they all sounded the same or worse. Later, I came across other songs with similar characteristics.

I tried a number of things to fix this but nothing seemed to work. Long story short, I fixed this problem by moving the position of my listening chair. I put Teflon furniture slides on the feet of my chair and moved it forward about two feet. While sitting in the chair, I pushed it back with my feet until everything came into focus. It was like focusing the lens on a camera. You’ll know when you hit the sweet spot. I probably did this twenty times during the course of the night until it was just right. I have now placed a dot on the floor at the foot of my chair as a benchmark.

Fine tuning the listening position has dramatically enhanced the sound of my system. It’s created a much larger soundstage and the bass is tight and deep. If your setup allows it, I highly recommend giving this a try. Oh, by the way, I bought the DAC!”

This goes to show that proper system setup is as much about the chair as it is about the speakers — and their relationship to each other. And one more tip, all those speaker positioning guides you see online — like the rule of thirds, the 25% rule, the Cardas Formula, they are all nothing more than a starting point. No two rooms are alike and any setup guide or formula must be customized to suit the particular nature of the room itself. And sorry to say, that means trial and error, just like the member above had to go through with his listening chair.

Thanks to the CAS member for sharing his findings!

Happy Listening to all!

CAS