Fireplace and room acoustic

Depends on how you have your speakers set up and the size of the fireplace. As mentioned the glass types can cause odd reflections and cause slap echo in your room even more if your back and side walls are not acoustically treated and are bare. If it's just a large opening behind that can also cause some uneven responses in the room in the mid to lower frequencies. Is your soundstage balanced when listening to a mono source?

My virtual system has an RPG fireplace which doubles as an acoustic treatment.

It would depend on the type of fireplace, i.e. is it covered with glass, is it open, etc. Also, the proximity of the speakers will also play a role. I don't think that there is going to be a unifying affect on room acoustics. I have a fireplace and I seem to be doing well with it.

You have been a member since '02, so I would think that you would have some kind of understanding of how things can effect room acoustics, so what has been your experience?

I dont think its a matter of what we think , its a matter of how do things sound in your room to you ? If a member chimes in and says that the fireplace is bad, are you going to remove the fireplace ?