A set of identical bookshelves was used as a control for the testing. These bookshelves were of standard issue to a dorm room, and their sturdy wood construction simulated an option that many individuals might use in absence of a speaker stand. In addition they measured 24" tall, only a 1.5" difference in height in comparison to height (a negligible height difference that a listener would not be able to detect).
The setup of the experiment was as follows: The subject was seated in a chair 6 feet directly in front of the speakers, facing the operation as to hinder their bias. In addition, they were told to cover their ears initally to prevent them from hearing which surface (the soft rubber or the hard wood) the speakers were placed on to further blind them. They were not told which stand configuration would be played first. They then listened to one track, closed their ears while the speakers were moved to their second configuration. After hearing the second track, they were asked to choose their preference, reasons for their choice, and their degree of certainty in their ability to differentiation (on a 1-10 scale). The following pictures show the setup used in the experiment.
This was performed twice. The first song played was Enya's "Caribbean Blue". This song was chosen on multiple recommendations from sources for its merit as a audio testing song. This is because of its high frequency range, and for its range in instrumentation. The second song played was of the user's choice. Many sources claimed that differentiation is most easily possible in a song that the user is intimately familiar with, as they are more aware of its subtle nuances.
After polling a sample of subjects, the following data was accrued. In total, a minimum of 15 subjects will be polled, but at this majority stage of the experiment the following shows preliminary results:
