Early Reflections Can Disrupt Good Imaging

[OJ Bartley]

When we built our current HT...we found that the front wall being given absorptive treatment, along with the first reflection panels made a HUGE difference in Soundstage, and spaciousness.

Yes, you often hear it said that a lot of spaciousness can come from the front wall being left partly reflective, but all I can hear from that is poor imaging. Get your spaciousness elsewhere, later reflections, mainly from the rear of the room.

I've been doing some reading on the usual treatment strategies for HT rooms, and I think though the standard used to be something like a layer or two of Linacoustic or similar over the whole wall, that strategy seems to be changing to include more reflection or diffusion. I'm not sure what this differing approach does, and I'm still working on what to do in our house, but it would be great to see measured results between the two, and hear direct experiences with both.

As of today, I'm still likely planning to treat the whole wall, but I'm open to hearing about the different strategies.

 

[Tonto]

It's my understanding that whole wall absorption on the front, with diffusion behind the speakers if giving the best results. You need a minimum of 4 ft for diffusion to work, and most of us have more than that. So diffusion up front should make a significant improvement. It would be nice to see before and after measurements.