I have the unfortunate situation of having to share my listening room with the rest of my household and, in particular, the television. Our tv sits directly between my speakers and back about 2 feet (maybe 2 1/2'). Recent events had me replacing our old 27" CRT television with a more modern 32" LCD. I had a great deal of fear that the 32" having more surface space was going to cause more problems with its reflective surface. The change in sound from my stereo as a result of this recent change is nothing short of astounding. The soundstage depth grew by several feet. The sound was much bigger, airier, and more spacious than before. It had little effect on soundstage width, but it increased the size of the images. Imaging was much more solid and better defined in three dimensional space. There was a tremendous increase in detail, from the subtle nuances of voice inflection to the sound of fingers on the guitar strings to the palms pounding on the skins of the bongos, and I could hear into the music so much more than before. Even the tonality seemed more "right". And, yes the improvement was so dramatic that even the wife noticed.
I'm not sure what accounts for the improvements. Perhaps the screens from the LCD tvs are less reflective than the CRTs. Perhaps the larger sized width of the LCD tv is less intrusive on sound than the larger height of the CRT. Or, perhaps the density of a CRT (think how deep and heavy these old CRTs are) plays a larger role in its effect on acoustics than the light and nimble LCD. I don't know why the change in sound is so dramatic, but I am open to thoughts and ideas.
Eventhough the overall effect that the tv has had on the sound in my room is positive, there have been some tradeoffs. There is a very slight degree of hardness in the sound, as if the transients and attack of instruments are a bit too agressive. This hardness was present before I changed the tvs, but is more noticeable now. I always thought the hardness was the result of a large bay window that sits off to the side of the left speaker directly at the first reflection point. The hard sound can be diminished or tempered by opening one of the panels of the bay window (which is approximately at that first reflection point). Since the change in televisions is allowing me to hear details in the music that were otherwised masked, I'm guessing that I may also be hearing problems that already existed better as well. However, opening the window does not seem to temper the hardness problem as much as it used to so I'm wondering if there is a degree to which the new tv is also creating some problems or, perhaps, excaserbating those problems rather than just revealing one's that already existed.
Ideally, it would be great to be rid of the tv altogether, but that is not going to happen so long as I have to share the room with the rest of my family. Nonetheless, the improvement in sound from the new television has been a pleasant surprise.
