Paul McGowan:
There are two sides to many things: stories, paper, listening rooms. On one side are speakers and on the other, you.
Where you sit in relation to the system: nearness to walls and speakers, height relative to the tweeters, in or out of bass nulls, can often make more difference than the components themselves.
Yes, of course, walking into a room with bad sound is immediately offensive regardless of where you are in the room. But, given good sound and attention to essentials, where you stand, sit or experience the music matters.
I have seen great systems rendered mediocre by nothing more than the quality of the seating.
Take care to get both sides of the equation right so you don’t wind up on the wrong side of great.
