[PLMONROE]

I have been reading quite a bit about acoustics the past weeks because I may need to consider rearranging my sound room.  I have come across conflicting opinions on the detrimental effects of placing objects between speakers which puzzle me. I presently have a six foot high equipment rack centered between mine but three or four feet back of them. I may need to move the speakers further back which would place the equipment rack almost on a line with them. Is this bad and if so how bad? Some readings say it has no detrimental effect (at least so long as the obstruction does not protrude in front of the speakers), others say any obstruction more than a foot or so high has the propensity to destroy imaging. This shouldn't be rocket science! Which way is it please?

[bpape]

Not only can it mess up imaging (in terms of apparent depth), it can also (if relatively solid) act just like a wall and change the SBIR (Speaker Boundary Interference Response).  SBIR is basically a sawtooth type bass response caused by the spherical wavefront of the bass frequencies coming off the surface behind them and coming back and mixing with the direct waves of the woofer - Constructive interference for some depending on wavelength vs. distance (peak in response) and Destructive interference for others again depending on wavelegth (dip or null in response).

Bryan

[Ethan Winer]

Is this bad and if so how bad?

Just to add to Bryan's always good advice, it's very easy to tell if an object harms imaging by placing an absorber panel in front and/or to the sides while you listen. I tried that with my big RPTV and found that adding absorption made no difference. But it might make a difference in your setup, and this is an easy way to tell.

--Ethan

[gooberdude]

i've always found some benefit in having no obstructions directly between my speakers, but my L/R serves as the TV room too.   My TV & eqquipment rack sit about 4' behind but directly inbetween my speakers...

when doing some critical listening, i keep a cotton towel over the screen of a 32" CRT tv.

back when i had a huge RPTV in a large wood cabinet (old school big screen) the TV cabinet acted as a large resonating woofer.   you could feel & hear the vibes inside it when music was on.  removing it was a good thing, and that was back when i had Bose floorstanders...

[stereocilia]

Personally, I have found that keeping things from between the speakers helps imaging in most setups, especially if they protrude in front of the plane like you said.  (It also looks cooler.)

 But, in my setup I've decided that optimizing for distances from speakers to walls, distance between speakers, and distance to the listener have a much larger effect.  Again, this is personal preference, but I find that filling a larger volume of the sound-field is better that keeping reflective surfaces really far away. In fact, I even have a 7" square support post for my house in the sound stage!  It's a big problem, for sure, but solving it makes even bigger problems.  IMO if it solves more problems than it creates then go for it.