Make speakers disappear. Simple, cheap

I'd prefer a properly treated room over some black paint, You could shut off the lights you know. 

I close my eyes

Beat me to it, @hilde45 

Best way to listen. Still dim the lights. 

Illuminating just the speakers tends to focus my attention on them as sound sources and works against soundstage imaging.

I agree with dimming all the lights or just closing my eyes.

Interesting idea and set up!  Thank you for sharing!!

When a system performs so superbly, even if your eyes are open and you have visual cues and a true 3-D experience? When a system makes you want to close your eyes to experience even more? 

That's when you know you are listening to a stellar system. 

Tom

Just do this simple trick!  It’s genius!!

I’m not painting my room black. Proper speaker setup will get your speakers to disappear. It might take you longer than painting your wall to adjust your speakers but it’s a necessity, along with treating your room which is also a must.

Before painting your wall black, do what other agon posters have done is drink alcohol, they indicated that makes their system sound better 

2 important questions:

what/which speakers?

whats your address?

my cousin Vinney will make them disappear. 

If I paint my back wall black, the wife will make me disappear , 😂 

I simply close the lights and go into a blissful listening state.🎶

I have white speakers.  Should I paint them black too?

Can I have speakers painted to match the walls instead??

I am thinking painting all equipment including rack to match the walls and make them ALL disappeared to make my wife happier.

Two things:

First:  Which marijuana dispensary do you use?  I've gotta get me some of that hooch!  I think that would do the trick without painting my walls black and doing all that other hoodoo mumbo jumbo.

Second:  Reminds me of what we did in college (i.e.  smoking hooch, shutting off the lights and turning on a blacklight).  Heck!  That made even the most modest two-channel system sound like a Mikey Fremer set-u.  One night, I think a couple of us saw God.

Make your speakers truly disappear? Put 'em at the curb on trash day with "FREE" marked on 'em.  See how fast they go! (Your neighborhood recyclers will thank you.)

Well, perhaps you're right. But I prefer to not have black walls and my wife would absolutely not permit it in a house in which grandchildren cavort, people come to visit and we go about doing our activities of daily living.

I have a. Nice. Modern style with white shelving and new silver stereo. But my great speakers are still large oak boxes. My wife and I have agreed to get them wrapped by a car wrapping shop - probably a brushed aluminum with a white trim. But any colour you can think of is available. Professionally done for about $300 is a lot less than any speaker.

Throw them out the window and use headphones 

😆😆😆

Well, I kinda like that Idea. Since I have two Pair of Vintage E/V Sentry III speakers.One is turned upside down on top of the other so the horns couple. Now that's a Stack on each side. They are in the corners of the living room which makes it a "1/4 space coupled environment which does cause an increase in sound pressure level, but what is worse is the reflection off of both corner walls.

Both Corners and both flat surfaces are treated with a Sonex type pyramid acoustic material which is Dark Charcoal color. I have an open center section drywall.  I might try hanging a piece dark Duventeen there just for S & Giggles.

What Me Worry? They said the Titanic could never sink. Oh Wait!!!! It Did.

@oregon  

2 important questions:

what/which speakers?

whats your address?

my cousin Vinney will make them disappear.   

I love posts like this. lol. And believe me, for the first 3 paragraphs I hated it. And then came the replies lol. 

Most people don't get it. Expected. 

Proffessional stage, set designers know very well how lighting and dark color can unleash the imagination. Las Vegas, Broadway, Disney set designers, all know these methods. Yes, it's a real thing.

It has NOTHING to do with the color of the speakers. It's about creating an illusion of a black abyss that makes the back wall MUCH deeper. This allows the listener to 'see' much deeper into the sound stage.

If you have a dedicated listening room but you can't change the color of the back wall?  Spend thousands of dollars on equiptment and then have a room of visual distraction makes NO sense.

Done properly it's looks very clean and dramatic and blends perfectly into the rest of the room.

A huge mistake I see frequently is a fireplace down low, with a big screen TV up above. Speakers left and right. NOTHING could be more distracting to the music experience.

You tell me...what is the main focal point in this room?  The fireplace? The TV above? The vibrant wall color? It's surely NOT the stereo image. There is NO place for the music performers image to appear! Is the singer standing in the fire???

Nothing could be more distracting and detrimental to the image than all this clutter.

These guys get it...

I agree with the concept and recognize the value of the idea. It works, as any who has tried it would appreciate. Unfortunately, for those of use who are married, the black background may not pass the Wife Acceptance Factor.

If I may? I rather agree with the OP's suggestion, if not necessarily their enthusiasm, about darkening the spaces around and behind 2ch speakers. For the most part I do tend to listen with my eyes closed during the day and in a darkened living room at night to aid in the mental sound stage. Then again, having cream colored Acoustat 1+1's the black paint idea might not work all that well for me. 

In our next home I do plan to finish my audio salon in muted/dark tones to set a tranquil, relaxed mood and compliment the B&W Matrix 800's I'll be setting up.

FWIW, I found this on Reddit some months back on how to fool the eye regarding a room's dimensions:

https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/tdxQMYjgHh

Hopefully someone will find it useful?

Happy listening.

Hang black velvet on the wall...

or just turn out the lights, but I may try reducing the clutter. The room could use that.

@musicfan2349  That's it!  "to aid in the mental sound stage".

The WAF factor is false. The room doesn't need to be all black and wierd. It can be done very tastefully using a pallete of colors. As you point out, you can add depth, coziness and a high level of sophistication that will take your listening experience to a new level. What wife wouldn't like that?

FYI... it's not just color that makes the magic happen.The lighting level, direction and the color temperature(Kelvin) of the bulbs are also extremely important. In fact, lighting is the probably the most over looked design flaw in most homes and can take you home to a new level when done properly.  

I'm with Hilde.  Close your eyes, maybe a touch of bourbon or whatever.  70% of the time, it works everytime.

Good idea worth a try. My setup is the opposite though.

To distract my eyes from speakers, 5' tall Magnepans, I have a small multicolor rotating "party light" on floor behind stereo cabinet. It reflects on front wall and ceiling creating a visual depth and movement. All other lights off in room. Wife and I get silly and dance sometimes which makes it fun.

For the deep listening times, Ill just close my eyes, turn on Ecandles or turn off room lights.

The depth and soundstage affects seem to be more a result of the recordings than room visuals.

There's something more impressive about speakers that disappear despite visual distractions. When you can stare right at either speaker and it just seems impossible to you that any of the sound you are hearing could be coming from them, it's a truly captivating illusion. Unfortunately it doesn't always mean that the sound quality is great overall. 

I like to turn the light off and watch the sunset happening between my speakers.

Diffusion panels on the wall behind the speakers work much better than any visual trick to try to fool your brain. 

I don't seem to have any problems fully realizing a deep, wide, layered soundstage, whether I can seem my speakers or wall, or with the lights on or off.

I seem to be pretty unaffected by the placebo effect with regards to audio.

You need to create the 'canvas' for the image to appear.The back wall behind the speakers should be flat black and as dark as possible. NO lights on the center back wall. My favorite is a matte dark black fabric that also aids in reducing reflections off the sheetrock.

You want to create the illusion that there is NO back wall. Just a deep, dark abyss from which the instruments will magically appear.

@gdaddy1 

I completely ignored your post when I read that initial comment, because you mentioned about "fabric", "dark abyss", etc. But....

FYI... it's not just color that makes the magic happen.The lighting level, direction and the color temperature(Kelvin) of the bulbs are also extremely important. In fact, lighting is the probably the most over looked design flaw in most homes and can take you home to a new level when done properly. 

...this is where you nailed it. It's all about lighting/ambience! I am 100% with you on this. Flat lighting just kills the "audio experience". The "somber" the lighting is, your eyes will focus less and your ears will focus more and that is how our senses compensate.

@milpai knowing your proclivity for ambience…

Good question — indirectly, yes, red light can be beneficial for the audio listening experience, but not because it changes sound quality. It influences your perception, mood, and focus, which are important in critical or immersive listening. Here’s how:

🎵

Potential Benefits of Red Light in Listening Rooms

1. Reduced Visual Distraction
   • Red light is low on the spectrum and tends to create a soft, less stimulating environment.
   • This allows you to focus more on sound rather than what you see, similar to dimming the lights in a theater.
2. Relaxation & Mood
   • Warm colors like red and amber can promote a sense of warmth, intimacy, and relaxation.
   • Relaxed listeners often report greater engagement with music and improved emotional connection.
3. Eye Comfort at Night
   • Red light minimally disrupts night vision and circadian rhythm compared to blue/white light.
   • If you listen to music late in the evening, red lighting won’t stimulate your brain into thinking it’s daytime, keeping you in a more natural listening state.
4. Aesthetic & Atmosphere
   • The right ambience enhances the subjective experience of listening.
   • Many audiophiles and music lovers curate their room lighting for mood — red light is a common choice for jazz, electronic, ambient, or intimate acoustic music.

@simonmoon Diffusion panels on the wall behind the speakers work much better than any visual trick to try to fool your brain. 

Diffusion panels are for just that, diffusion. They are visually very busy and actually detract from the soundstage illusion.

Let's ask the question... as audiophiles aren't we attempting to re-create the musical experience as realistically as possible? To be able to not only hear the singer but 'see' the singer standing there in the soundstage?  Or should the singer image be standing in your fireplace? Or the small space between your speakers and the wall?

Properly blackening the wall disappears. This makes a much deeper soundstage that extendes well beyond the back wall. You can 'see' an entire orchestra in the 'Abyss'.

Yes, it's taking advantage of tricks you can play on the human brain and the effect makes for an amazing upgrade.

@milpai 

Lighting is important but the blackness of the wall is the most important...by far!

The fabric I'm talking about is the blackest fabric made. It's my favorite. It's light absorbing "black Musou'. Like a black velvet but freaky black. They make a Musou paint also. It's NOT your everyday black paint!! It has a 99.9% light absorption. You will lose ALL depth perception it's SO black.This is used by photographers and stage designers for full black out. Your wall disappears into a black hole. It really has a 'wow factor' it's so black.

Watch this video... "the worlds blackest room' the guy looks like he's floating in mid air. Total light absorbtion!! The walls disappear and the effect is amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6q54q2iam8

Is a very darkly tanned giant head of Elvis on black velvet second-best? 

Maybe a Cheetah? 

This is one silly-arsed concept!!!!

I got one! Double Moshe Dayan's! (that means eye-patches). 

Lighting is important but the blackness of the wall is the most important...by far!

Lets agree to disagree on this one @gdaddy1. In my room, my lighting is such that you can get all the "sound stage" that was meant to be in the music. My setup and the related equipment can easily handle that. Maybe you should check your speaker setup to make sure that you get the sound stage without any special paint/fabric?

I would definitely like to see your system which shows this black paint you are discussing here.

@gdaddy1 

If you think having a black wall behind the speakers is more important than room treatment, you have a few things to learn about high end audio.

Paint the entire room.....

Dude really, have you heard of room treatments.  

good idea, but why not just listen with the lights off and blackout curtains closed?

Dimming the lights with a tube amp is cool.