Your Listening chair

Let me clarify:A car like (retractable and relatively compact)head rest is no brainer, you have best of both worlds-support and nonintrusive to sound. I have not seen any chairs made with that kind. I am saying if the chair has high and wide back, providing you the head rest but at the same time blocking the real wall reflections, which might be good for overall sound quality.

The headrest causes the early reflections you mention, particularly if it extends on either side of your head just past the ears. If you can modify the size of the headrest so that it supports the back of your head only, you can eliminate the sound problem. If not, you will have to lean forward in the chair to reduce the reflections. Time for a real listening chair ??

Don't overlook the importance of getting your ears to the right height, especially in the nearfield. This will depend on your particular speakers, of course, but a general rule is to get your ear between the midrange and tweeter. I just raised my chair (by putting clay bricks under the feet) and was very happy with the improvement in sound. It's actually more comfortable, too. This is almost as significant as speaker placement.

I sit in a low-backed old turn of the century chair, because it's a Victorian living room. I had used a more comfortable, higher backed chair, but that screwed up the sound, as others are noting. This is a quandry, particularly if the music relaxes you into falling asleep as discussed in another thread (yeah, I sometimes fall asleep listening too). The most comfortable chair I ever sat in listening to music was one of those Backsaver zero-gravity recliners which my local dealer had for a while in his store, which had a wide headrest so it wasn't the greatest for serious listening but was heaven to sit back in and let the music wash over you.

I have used many chairs for listening over the past 25 years. My favorites are the J-16 Rocker by Hans J. Wegner, a 1944 design, and the classic lounge chair with ottoman by Charles Eames, and early 50's design.