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Does the first reflection point actually matter??

Hello my friends,

So please read the whole post before commenting. The question is nuanced.

First, as you probably know I’m a huge fan of the well treated room, and a fan boy of GIK acoustics as a result, so what I am _not_ arguing is against proper room treatment. I remember many years ago, perhaps in Audio magazine (dating myself?) the concept of treating the first reflection points came up, and it seems really logical, and quickly adopted. Mirrors, flashlights and lasers and paying the neighbor’s kid (because we don’t have real friends) to come and hold them while marking the wall became common.

However!! In my experience, I have not actually been able to tell the difference between panels on and off that first reflection point. Of course, I can hear the difference between panels and not, but after all these years, I want to ask if any of you personally know that the first reflection point really matters more than other similar locations. Were we scammed? By knowing I mean, did you experiment? Did you find it the night and day difference that was uttered, or was it a subtle thing, and if those panels were moved 6" off, would you hear it?


Best,


Erik
erik_squires

Showing 1 response by nonoise

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,547 posts
 
Listening in a somewhat near field fashion, I just concentrate on speaker placement and toe in. I’ll leave room treatment for another day if I ever get a dedicated, and proper sized room.

The sound is great and I’ve had two people who’s ears I trust over for some listening (Tony Minasian of Tonian Labs and Elliot Midwood of Acoustic Image) and they said it’s just fine the way it is.

Minor adjustments can and should be made, like when I mounted the TV to the wall. Doing that increased info in the center stage I didn’t know was missing. I knew it was a bit smeared but not MIA. The TV was originally about mid way between the speakers depth (front to back) when on the media stand and now is about 5" behind the rear most part of it and it made a big difference. Much more coherent.

All the best,
Nonoise
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