Wife Says Sounds Better From Kitchen, etc.

[squeedle]

Probably like many of you, I've long been amused by silly comments like, "even my wife said my new speakers sounded better from the kitchen"! So I was surprised to find how much better my new speakers do seem to sound to me now...from different rooms of the house. No I don't have measurements to back this up, and yes clearly I'm opening myself up for ridicule. So be it. But I swear it's true.

My previous speakers were Vandersteen 2's. I always loved them, had them for a long time. But they definitely did NOT have anything close to linear off-axis sound. The sound was not uniform if you were much outside the "sweet spot". But my new speakers, Salk BePure2's, sound so much closer to the "sweet spot" sound even if I leave the listening room and go elsewhere in the house, even upstairs.

Has anyone other than fabled kitchen-bound audiophile wives experienced this phenomenon?

Bring on the ridicule.

 

[Chrispy]

If it sounds good beyond the basic room, that's just a good thing....

 

[Deleted member 21219]

New electronics, if competently designed, will not show any differences. Speakers, however, are an entirely different beast.

Differences in speakers can be very audible. Our brain is accustomed to one standard (such as your Vandersteens) and when the same material is introduced via another speaker, the brain perks up and notices every little variance. This includes not only the on-axis frequency response, but the room response, too. The room response of the Salk is much different than the Vandersteen.
This variance is why so many people keep saying, "I can hear things I've never heard before!", or, "These new speakers are fantastic!". They're not fantastic, of course .... they're just different, and the brain concentrates on that .... for a while.

This happens to everyone, so don't worry about it. Your brain will slowly become accustomed to the new "standard", and then you won't even remember the Vandersteens. (This stage, BTW, is where many people say that the speakers are "burning in". The speakers aren't ..... our brain is. )

Enjoy!

Jim

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

maybe she said that cuz the speakers sound less in the kitchen xD

 

[moonlight rainbow dream]

Yes, I've experienced this too... I can think of a couple of explanations:

1) more bass extension and more bass output => more sound is making it into neighbouring rooms, because doors and walls are really good at blocking high and mid frequencies and suck at blocking bass

2) good off-axis performance and/or wider dispersion speakers => more and/or more accurate sound is reflecting around the house

3) lower distortion speaker => you can turn it up without the sound deteriorating; so you might be listening at higher levels than previously, without you noticing it

 

[julian_hughes]

Mrs squeedle has hijacked this poor guy's account. Mods please take action. Meanwhile I have arranged a swatting.

 

[posvibes]

It's amazing how many relationships that woman has been in, all over the world and for a very, very long time.

 

[GD Fan]

New speakers are always worth celebrating!

A new kitchen or a new wife, those are both probably more expensive.

 

[ta240]

At a fairly high end audio shop a friend and I got a demo of a good system one time in a room that seemed to be properly treated and one thing that both of us noticed is as we walked around the rest of the store the music coming out of that room still sounded really good.
I'd think all of the things that MRD mentioned above would play into that.

Now, of course new cables or magic lotion won't cause any of that.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

At a fairly high end audio shop a friend and I got a demo of a good system one time in a room that seemed to be properly treated and one thing that both of us noticed is as we walked around the rest of the store the music coming out of that room still sounded really good.
I'd think all of the things that MRD mentioned above would play into that.

Now, of course new cables or magic lotion won't cause any of that.

Now if you apply the magic lotion to the wife you might be in for a surprise.

 

[voodooless]

Has anyone other than fabled kitchen-bound audiophile wives experienced this phenomenon?

Absolutely. When I exchanged my living room Genelecs for the Sennheiser Ambeo Max, the sound in the kitchen was notably better. Clearly the more diffuse sound field had it easier to propagate to other rooms. My wife was indeed the first to notice it

 

[restorer-john]

Now if you apply the magic lotion to the wife you might be in for a surprise.

 

[goat76]

Next time the wife is yelling from the kitchen saying it sounds good from there too, get the hint, she may need help making dinner.

 

[ZolaIII]

Well my listening room is on the floor and mid of stairway towards it whose a sweet spot. Before it whose more noticeable with worser speakers and less effort put to contain refractions down to the possible extent (I still have to do/try cuple of things regarding that).

 

[mmi]

I’ve long found that saying patriarchal and slyly misogynistic

 

[JakeK]

My wife generally hates any sound escaping from the listening room as it may interfere with watching the TV. Heaven forbid that Beethoven should interfere with an episode of homes under the hammer! Any new equipment that enters the house is given a suspicious look before the box is even open.

 

[Snoopy]

My wife generally hates any sound escaping from the listening room as it may interfere with watching the TV. Heaven forbid that Beethoven should interfere with an episode of homes under the hammer! Any new equipment that enters the house is given a suspicious look before the box is even open.

Im doing 90% of my music listening with headphones these days.

 

[fpitas]

I’ve long found that saying patriarchal and slyly misogynistic

I disagree. It's blatantly misogynistic.

 

[LTig]

It happened to me in the 90's when I put 4 small Sicomin plates under the feet of my Thorens TD115. My wife came out of the kitchen and asked what I had done because the sound had improved ...

 

[Rednaxela]

I had the opposite last week. My latest EQ changes were hurting her ears and she asked me turn it off. From the kitchen.

Can’t help it. No misogyny. She was 100% right.