Interaural Crosstalk And Loudspeaker Setup

Here the 3 main negative effects as described by Dr. Choueiri numerous articles :

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Effects of Crosstalk

1. Degraded Localization: Crosstalk interferes with the precise localization of sounds that occurs naturally due to slight differences in arrival time, amplitude, and tonality between the ears
    
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2. Tonal Distortion: Choueiri notes that crosstalk can severely impact tonal accuracy, stating "Tonally, it was a mess. A piano sounded like a xylophone."
    
3. Reduced Spatial Realism: The presence of crosstalk diminishes the spatial realism of recordings, preventing listeners from experiencing the full three-dimensional soundstage as intended.»https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/theoretica-applied-physics-bacch-sp-adio-stereo-purifier/

I have never seen or heard of the setup you describe with a baffle between the speakers but I have experimented with several electronic gizmos that are designed to address this issue.

My favorite is a discontinued product called a BSG QOL processor. This unit goes between the preamp and the amp and it adds a significant illusion of depth to the soundstage. One of the nicest things about it is that you don't have to have your head in a vice to get the effect. I use it all the time - it makes virtually everything sound better. I bought a second one in case it fails. It got good reviews in Stereophile and TAS. They come up ocassionally on the used market and sell for a few hundred dollars (it retailed for $4K new).

I also have a Carver C-9. It works well to add depth and detail to the soundstage but you have to set it up carefully and you have to have your head locked into position to get the effect.

I also have a Black Ice FOZ SSX sound stage enhancer hooked up to my desktop system and it works very well. I tried it on my main rig and I didn't like it nearly as well as the BSG. Black Ice also makes a cross-talk reduction device that I haven't heard.

The newest kid on the block is the BAACH Spatial Audio system. I haven't heard this yet but I'm looking forward to checking it out. From the reviews it sounds similar to the Carver unit in that you have to calibrate your head position exactly in the setup. That would be a deal killer for me but I would like to hear it anyway.

I installed the BACCH system a few months ago.  The head positioning is not critical if you buy the head tracking camera option.  It's simply addictive.

Can't live without it.

The one single thing that bothers me most about interaural crosstalk is the cancellation dip that occurs at the ears for the phantom center. For a typical 60 degree triangle this first dip occurs around 2 kHz, which is about as bad a place for a dip that you could ask for, taking the crispness and articulation out of center panned vocals and instruments.

If you push the speakers closer together you can push the first cancelation frequency up higher. That's good, but then the stereo effect is also minimized. If  you push the speakers wider apart, that will push the first cancel down below 1 kHz, which I found is also good, as the upper frequencies will not get comb filtered as severely because of improved head shadowing. 

Lately I've been listening with about a 110 degree triangle and find this very satisfying in terms of giving a crisp, clear sounding center image. I get the impression that for me, late reflections can fill in below 1 kHz with less perceptible loss in clarity and presence than up at 2 kHz. 

I've also tried various crosstalk reduction methods, including a 3 speaker array that I dreamed up. They work, but seem to always come with a side effect or two. I haven't tried BACCH, but I tried a competitor product that sounded excellent. It didn't overly widen the soundstage while also producing an excellent tone and clarity for the phantom center. My main issue with it was latency from the processing. The other was that it needed the speakers to be closer together, and my room layout works better when the speakers are spaced wide apart, which to my ears sounds about as good overall. 

The best I've heard is from using a physical barrier. It's exceptionally clean and pure sounding, creating . I also think the arrangement ends up improving room acoustics considerably because it ends up dividing the whole room's early reflections into more exclusively left speaker reflections on the left side of the room, and right speaker reflections on the right side of the room.

Mechanical separation of speakers is not for everybody but it works for me too....