If the question is switched to a three person sofa, would the same comments about fabric versus leather apply? I am wondering if a three person sofa in which only one person is sitting in the center might have sonic issues if it is leather due to reflections, but I really don’t know.
Fabric or Leather Upholstery for Listening Chair?
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
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conversely; a large fabric sofa, particularly one that is cushy, would be like a huge bass trap and would change tonality more than a typical 'modern' leather sofa. also depends of how close your ears are to the surface of the sofa. is it high backed? is it closed to the floor or is there clear space and air underneath? it's like 6 or 7 more people standing in the room.
I have a large 3 person leather sofa. The back does not go above the shoulders. I have measued the effect of the reflection on the freq response by using pillows stuffed with shedded denim insulation.
Looks like the inside of a yacht
The chair also looks like its heavily weighted too.Depends if you tend to sweat alot. I am a huge fan of mesh cloth chairs. If I could find an Eames styled chair in breathable mesh I would be in heaven. I like my rooms colder than most, I am usually sweating balls when most are complaining of being cold, perfect room temp 65 Fahrenheit.
Fabric over leather for comfort all day long.
Fabric over leather for comfort all day long.
Slightly off topic. I definitely prefer a 3 seater rather 1 seater. I never find 1 seater comfortable. It is too constrained.
Agree.. it’s more inviting and you have the option to lay down and snooze between crescendos ...
Funny, except classical is exciting in the quieter moments too, like test cricket
Same. I prefer most the Roche Bobois cuddlemuffin, you can get two or three seater depending on size, even the two seater is almost seven feet wide, and both are deep, fabric, and great to sleep in too
You should be concerned with absorption, I have never come across a reflective sofa even a minimalist one absorbs sound wether in leather or other covering materials. I prefer the look and feel of fine leather over textiles anytime.
david
I understand that. The other point, though, is that when I am on a couch I am fidgeting around with my exact seating position to make certain that I am centered on the couch vis-à-vis the midpoint of the speakers. (I think KeithR will confirm.)
If I am in a single, planted chair I don't have that concern.
Ron, if you are slightly off center, does the sound bother you? I appreciate a system where one does not need to be locked in to a precise location but can move a few few feet to one side and still have it sound good. A few inches certainly don't bother me when sitting in the center of a sofa.
Since I have had MartinLogan electrostatic speakers for 18 years I kind of automatically want to center myself, yes.
The other thing is that channel imbalance is something I am sensitive to and able to hear pretty easily.
If a vocalist is centered in the recording, then I find it a little bit offputting if the singer is not centered by the stereo, or by me not being centered on the couch.
I suppose I get that for girl with guitar type recordings and even the solo cell0 recordings I love. I've been listening to vocal recordings lately, some opera, some choral, where singers are not centered, or they actually move around the soundstage. With jazz and classical instrumental recordings, it is not a concern for me.
I don't want to get too far off the topic of your fabric/leather thread, but what about not sitting in a center seat at a concert hall? At the BSO, there is an empty aisle in the going up the center away from the stage. And when I went to jazz lounges I could not help but notice the sound of the singer's voice being projected down on the audience seated at their tables from a monitor centered up near the ceiling at the front of the stage. The sound was not connected to what I actually saw right in front of me. Very "off putting", as you say.
If I am in a concert hall listening to a symphony orchestra performance I don't expect to hear a singular source like a vocal in the center.
At a cabaret venue with public address amplification the sound is all screwed up so the center vocal question is moot.
Ar a cabaret venue with an unamplified vocalist I don't think I care that much about hearing the vocalist in the center. But when we set it up as a stereo in a controlled environment for whatever reason I'm focused on a centered vocal image.
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