Curious? or perhaps not...

Can we start a thread on optimum desk height, Ken? 

Am not actually surprised.  I expect it has changed the reflections you are hearing off what's basically a large flat surface. 

Going to to try some spacers under my coffee table now! 

I have noticed the same. My sitting position is 73cm and my standing 114cm. As Graham suggests I have always assumed it related to the materials the sound is reflecting off. 

At 73cm the reflections are from concrete walls and wooden cabinets. At 114cm it's glass and concrete. Because the wooden cabinets are higher than my sitting position, but lower than my standing position it means the concreate wall is 60cm further back than the cabinets when I'm standing up.

Oh aye Ken - I've long been aware of the aural difference of seating height, let alone the acoustic/absorptive (or not) properties of the seating

There must be an entrepreneurial hole in the market for spiked, height adjustable Hi-Fi seating.

John.

spikes are an optional extra... Oh yes and so is a haircut

Well worth a thread Ken, its because the phase alignment of the two drivers in the crossover region is changed.

Well designed speakers will have driver phase alignment in the crossover region carefully aligned for a normal seated listening position;  each driver should move forward & back in sync & the sound waves arrive at the listener in sync.  One reason I expect why your  SL2's, & SBL, DLB etc have a sloping front baffle,  this brings the tweeter centre into better vertical alignment with the mid/bass unit (it is absolutely the reason for my own speaker designs sloping baffle)  Also think about the theory behind the Tannoy & KEF dual concentric drivers.  

A standing position will bring your SL2 tweeters relatively closer to your ears than the mid/bass units & therefore be out of phase. 

this is what i meant . and by the way i was sitting about 1.3-1.5m in front of the desk (i.e. my normal listening position) when i noticed the difference.

enjoy

ken

Brilliant! I want one! The chair I mean. What a perfect soluion should one change speakers! 

I need a haircut too. Actually, all of them need cutting. Those few that still remain intact that is.

Cheers!

Hook

PS - Ken, I can hear small changes by placing anything between my Ovator 400s. Perhaps more so than other speakers because of their wide dispersion. It would seem logical to me that raising your desk height has created new, audible reflection patterns. And man oh man, I thought I was listening in the near field, but not compared to you sir!

thanks Hook... yes, makes sense -- and "near field" doesnt seem to do much harm in my system, fortunately :-)

enjoy

ken

Nodes and antinodes - cancellations and reinforcements, and the same can be evident moving sideways, forwards or backwards as well as up and down, the degree of variation depending on the room, furnishings and speaker placement - and higher frequencies more noticeable due to their shorter wavelengths.

At some loud rock gigs if some notes have been painfully loud I've generally found that just moving my head a few inches can make a difference - Thijs Van Leer's flute in Focus 40 years ago is one I remember in particular!

Ken, try moving your speakers forward by 50m and then turning them through 90 degrees to face each other.  With your listening position standing at your desk, you should find the soundstage opens up nicely.

If that proves troublesome, you'll need to forget using speakers and move up to a decent pair of cans;  that will definitely resolve any perceived problems.

My third and final suggestion is that you move your audio system lock, stock and barrel into your lounge where it deserves to be 

Hope this helps.

(though I suspect it may not)

Roger

By the way, Simon's idea of a listening chair looks fantastic.

So fantastic, in fact, that I checked them out on that on-line jungle store that begins with Am and ends with azon - I see you can pick one up for around £1,500 - that;s marginally less than a S/L interconnect.  I'm wondering which would be the better upgrade.

And not forgetting the fact that your ear height is fully adjustable with these chairs. 

interesting... and explanation sounds plausible to me... thanks

enjoy

ken

thanks rjstaines. my listening position is not 'standing at your desk' but sitting about 1.3 to 1.5m in front of that desk. 

i am very happy with the way things are right now -- there is nothing to fix --  it was just interesting that there was the difference that i heard and i think there are some interesting explanations in posts above.

enjoy

ken

That's done it I.B. 'Focus III' is playing now with 'Moving Waves' to follow. Focus-tastic!

Dear old Thijs. The yodelling, ivory bashing flautist has changed a bit.

Good listening.

John.

He does look a bit different, doesn't he? Like Edgar Broughton with glasses... 

I havent followed owed them since Mother Focus - must look out for them! Moving Waves is my favourite, but must be 6 or 8 weeks since I last listened to that and Focus III, so maybe tomorrow.