If the speakers are 3 feet from the back wall, would it help to put an acoustic panel behind the speaker to reduce smearing, or are the reflections integral to the OB experience?
It wouldn't hurt to experiment with something to break up the back way (like a diffuser) and some acoustic panels as well.
My room has heavy treatment on the rear wall (behind the speakers) because of the many other speakers that I use in that room and it doesn't seem to hurt these any.
It may be more ideal to trap the corners of the room only and use a diffuser type material between the speakers.
When you say 3 feet, do you mean 3 feet to the front of the speaker or 3 feet clear space behind the speaker?
The P-Audio driver is the concern. The low frequency wavelengths from the subs are quite long and less of an issue from a reflections standpoint. Keep in mind though that you are pushing air from one side of the room to the other side of the room. That doesn't work as effectively if the speakers are near the rear wall.
These look interesting for my new, very small, listening room. I put a couple of 1.5X3 ft Echo Busters behind the speakers, but the room is 10.5X11' and will need some extreme room treatment if I keep my Joseph RM33Si speakers. I have a bass peak of +10dB at 50Hz and there are strange peaks and suckouts in the treble and midrange I didn't see in my old room. I was trying to simplify the system so I don't want to add a crossover and equalizer if I can avoid it.
I'm assuming the OB woofer design will kill some of these problems. I'm hoping to avoid expensive tube traps. I'm guessing the listening distance will be less than 6' with the speakers 3' from the wall.
The frequency response plot looks good. Have you done a CSD waterfall plot on the OB speaker yet? One of the nice things about the Joseph is the quiet cabinet and clean waterfall plot.
