My situation is somewhat similar to yours, J. Chip, in that my right speaker is about 3’ from its side wall and the left speaker is next to nothing thats in the way. My speakers are 7’ apart and I sit 8’ back from the front plane. And, my room is smaller than yours as well.
My head is also practically against the rear wall and yet, it all sounds good, save for the imaging on the right that can be a touch more forward than the rest of the soundstage. It’s never been a problem once I got used to it and it’s rare as only extreme, right image placements tend to come forward (about 1-2’ forward of the speaker plane: its all in the mix).
My speakers aren’t toed in that much as well and the phantom imaging disappears when I do toe them in, but then the highs hit a little too hard.
It’s always something. 😄
Being that close to the rear wall, I find that first wavefront negates any reflections since its in the near field. Part of the Haas effect is that if the reflected sound arrives less than 40ms after the primary sound, you’ll just perceive it as one sound. Our brains are very good at filtering out reflections, especially in a small room like mine. If possible, maybe you can move your speakers a bit further out into the room and have no need for acoustic treatment at all.
I have nothing behind me but have been thinking of maybe, someday, putting up some spruce sound boards like these: http://www.mother-of-tone.com/acoustic_panel.htm behind me as well as behind the speakers.
All the best,
Nonoise
My head is also practically against the rear wall and yet, it all sounds good, save for the imaging on the right that can be a touch more forward than the rest of the soundstage. It’s never been a problem once I got used to it and it’s rare as only extreme, right image placements tend to come forward (about 1-2’ forward of the speaker plane: its all in the mix).
My speakers aren’t toed in that much as well and the phantom imaging disappears when I do toe them in, but then the highs hit a little too hard.
It’s always something. 😄
Being that close to the rear wall, I find that first wavefront negates any reflections since its in the near field. Part of the Haas effect is that if the reflected sound arrives less than 40ms after the primary sound, you’ll just perceive it as one sound. Our brains are very good at filtering out reflections, especially in a small room like mine. If possible, maybe you can move your speakers a bit further out into the room and have no need for acoustic treatment at all.
I have nothing behind me but have been thinking of maybe, someday, putting up some spruce sound boards like these: http://www.mother-of-tone.com/acoustic_panel.htm behind me as well as behind the speakers.
All the best,
Nonoise