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Speakers with no rear wall, better or worse sound?

I have been in a debate about speaker placement. I was proposing that having speakers in the middle of a long space (~30 foot long room) would be preferred over having speakers about 3 to 4 feet from a wall behind the speakers. I would think that having little to no wall reflections of sound from behind the speaker would be preferable. The wall behind the speakers is currently about 14 feet back. Another opinion suggested that we should build a wall 4 feet behind the speakers to get the best sound. I was thinking that the reflected sound from this new sound would mix with the speakers' direct sound and erode the quality. Other views? We were considering some renovations and I do not want to go through a significant change to our home and erode sound quality.
hickory

Showing 1 response by drew_eckhardt

drew_eckhardt
394 posts
 
Different. Maybe better. 4 feet is too close to be optimum for many speakers - 5 feet, 6 feet, more is often better.

You'll push the front-wall reflections out in time which helps sound-stage depth, drop the front wall reflection intensity which may improve timbre because frequency response isn't as uniform at extreme off-axis angles, have less bass (which can be good or bad depending on how the speaker's baffle step was designed to compensate for wall proximity), move the SBIR null lower in frequency and diminish it (good), and energize room modes differently (which can be good or bad depending on where the speakers and listener rare).
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