@audiodidact
My suggestion is what a few have already suggested: get the tried and true easy and cheap diffusion: fake ficus trees- they would cover up those wires nicely and add some sonic benefits.
 
|
I spoke with Wendell at Magneplanar. He told me that in 40+ years he has never (and Wendel emphasized "never" 3x!) heard absorption behind a Magnepan speaker sound right, regardless of many individual situations. Wendel was emphatic: Only diffusion or nothing behind Maggies. Absorption may be on back wall and good at sidewall first-reflection points.
Don't forget you have 2 first-reflec. points on each sidewall. 1 from right spkr and 2nd from left spkr, and Vice-versa. Good luck
|
If you're talking about wanting a good sound stage for watching movies/TV, you need absorption on your front wall, not diffusion. You're just getting immediate reflections if you don't, which can really muddy things up. Absorption at first reflection points also helps. Diffusion is usually best utilized on the side and rear walls, as well as the ceiling.
|
Thanks All, for the helpful input, advice,etc. The sound I am currently getting is very good, soundstage-wise, with good center imaging. It's the wiring coming out of the wall I want to cover-up with the acoustic panels, and because these are dipole speakers, I defaulted to diffusion vs absorption panels. But I will try testing absorption vs diffusion to check if I gain or lose in the proposition, and I will report the findings here. As for the distance from the from wall, the Maggies are actually about 5ft,4" out. Again, thanks! You all are the best for taking the time to help out.
|
@audiodidact:
I made the mistake of not looking at your Audiogon virtual system before suggesting the Vicoustic Multifusers. 3’ has long been considered the common wisdom for the minimum distance between planar loudspeakers and the wall behind them. Actually 5’ is much better, due to the speed of sound and the issue of the rear wave wall reflection arriving back at the planar panel and interacting with the panel’s front wave in a deleterious manner.
The rear wave should reach the listener’s ears at least 10ms (milliseconds) later than the front wave for those two sounds to be heard separately. Anything less, and the rear wave is instead perceived as a "smearing" of the front wave. Sound travels at approximately 1’ per ms, so a 5’ distance affords a 10ms delay between front and rear waves reaching the listener’s ears. 5ms from the rear wave to the wall, 5 more ms for the rear wave reflection to arrive back at the planar loudspeaker, thus a 10ms separation between the two at the listening position. Simple physics!
If at all possible, move your Maggies further away from the wall behind them. If you can, diffusion works great. If you can’t, perhaps absorption is the better choice.
|
I have 1.7i's and have found in my room absorption on the front wall and diffusion on the back wall work well to maintain imaging while providing a sense of spaciousness. Maggie's radiate little to the sides, so I have found side wall reflections not to be a significant issue. YMMV.
|
|
@audiodidact
I have a similar setup with 1.6's but with a little more room to the sides of a 50" plasma to the side walls which are at a 45 degree angle from the back wall. When I had a 24" CRT on a table in the middle I had very good sound staging. I tried absorptive panels on the back wall and it just killed everything so I put them at a first reflection point on one far sidewall. To my surprise, it tamed that 100 hz's or so bass node that Maggies seem to produce. When I put the plasma on the table about 2' from the back wall it kind of messed up the soundstage. When I hung it on the back wall I got 90% of the sound staging back compared to the CRT. Good enough. I write this because I've always wondered if diffusion on the back wall next to the plasma would improve the soundstage even more. I'll try to follow this thread and see what you learned.
Jim S.
|
+1 for @larryi ‘s comment. I have a wall-hung plasma tv between my speakers (which are placed about 3 feet in front of the wall) and my imaging is precise with a great sense of 3-D instrument location. The tv does not seem to affect the imaging (the tv was not always there).
|
Doing this will be a trial and error experiment. I have used Maggies for about 30 years and have been through more changes than I wanted. These dipoles are tricky as for room treatment, just a small change in treatment will produce great effect. So take your time, listen for a few days or so before making another change. Nobody has the same room as you.
|
A hard reflecting surface, like your OLED screen centered between the speakers is not necessarily a bad thing. This often actually helps to create a sense of focus or solidity of the center image. You can try covering it up with something like a comforter to see if that helps; if it does not, don't worry about it. You can also try diffusion on the rest of the wall behind the speaker, but that too may no be necessary. There are commercial panels made by companies like GIK that may improve the sound and can be covered to your liking visually (including blowups of photos that you like), but before spending that kind of money, you could try othe decorative "treatments" like large potted plants (real or fake).
Good luck on your endeavors.
|
I read somewhere that having a tv between your speakers is no worse than drywall or windows or wood. I’ve tried absorption covering the tv but it just sounded like the center image became diffuse, flat and dull. Uncovered sounds lively and open and no smearing of the image.
I have a bunch of GIK alpha panels and corner traps and some commercial wood diffuser. I’ve been moving them around the room for a few years and found that, in my room, a 2’ X 2’ diffuser behind each speaker (ear level) and absorption panels in the rear (of the room) and in a (wet) bar area of the room works best. The wet bar makes my room a fat “L” shape. I had a nasty bump between 80hz and 125hz. Loading up the bar area with absorption panels + corner traps solved the problem. Any absorption on the front wall sucks the life out of my Maggies and too much diffusion (front wall) makes it sound phasey and weird. I experimented with placement until I found what sounds “right” to my ears. BTW, my GIK Alpha panels are equipped with scatter plates and the corner traps have range limiter facias.
|
@audiodidact
First thing first. What part of the sound are you trying to improve? Clarity, bass, soundstage, depth? That will tell us what direction to go.
|
With the amount of toe in you have are the speakers even firing directly to each side of the tv to make any treatment effective? I also agree with the above posts that some absorption would be in order. Good luck!
|
I would first put some sort of absorbent material back there, like the aforementioned blankets or even towels (temporarily) to see if lessening the reflective sound might be an actual improvement. It sounds like your Maggies are pretty close to the wall if your TV is right there with them. Planars or stats are usually happier farther out in the room. Figuring that out could tell you what you put on the frames you're talking about building, hard, soft, or diffusing like Vicoustic. Putting some kind of tapestry up, you could just lift them to get to your cables. Sounds like your electronics are below the screen.
|
You might consider putting a blanket or quilt over your flat screen when you’re listening as well as some diffusion. Book shelves & CD racks can work in a pinch as diffusers.
All the best.
|
You have a very reflective (bright) room as it is. Are you sure you want more diffusion? If you haven’t already done so, try covering the cabling behind the speakers with blankets and then noting the results of the sound absorption. I'd even cover the screen when not in use. If this is not to your liking, then try diffusion. Best of luck.
|
Adding room treatments without measuring the room performance is not a great idea.
|
@bdp24
Thanks so much! I’ll look into them right away.
|
Vicoustic Multifuser DC2 or DC3. Comes in a box of six, each diffuser measuring just under 24" square. A stack of three behind each Maggie (or any other dipole planar) works great at diffusing the rear wave of each panel. Place where the rear wave meets the wall behind each panel.
|
