Storage of other speakers in the room, shorting them while not in use? Myth or true?

Haven't had any problems since I've started duck taping over my television speakers when using my stereo.  Kind of thought everyone was doing this.

Thanks to all for your comments, some of them are really funny, keep the coming! While there is a possibility of an improvement by shorting or completing the circuit of unused speakers in a same room, I ask, how much it cost to do it? , it probably cost cents to put a wire or speaker jumper to do so, if we compare it to how much we spend on footers, exotic cables, NOS tubes, acoustic diffusers etc...Might as well try it when the new speakers come.

Never heard of the "shorting" solution....but Ivor - the founder of Linn --  would not allow any other speakers in a room that his speakers were being demo'd in.  He claimed that you couldn't get an accurate representation of his speakers with others resonating in the same room.

I'm sure they no longer have that requirement -- but that was the case in the "old days". 

Better to remove the speakers altogether - you get two effects from the presence of another speaker. One is the drivers will act as passive radiators to one degree or another - depends on the size and proximity as well as the volume of the driver cavity. The other effect is from the enclosure - think of a Helmholtz resonator. This can especially affect the bass depending on your speaker design (ported, folded line, etc.). 

There are of course lots of variables to the degree and type of effects - speaker design, proximity, and room placement to name the main ones.

I got a real chuckle out of the aforementioned article by Bill Sommerwerck in the Stereophile magazine in which he mentions a reviewer's  "One Speaker Room" devoid of any other speaker including a telephone.  When he pointed out that the reviewer had a low coffee table directly in front of the listening position which would act as a reflective surface, it reminded me of another typical listening error.  Listening while wearing eyeglasses is the same as placing a reflective surface just inches from your ears.  I noticed it when I switched from eyeglasses to contact lenses.  What a crazy, but interesting, hobby !