One needs to careful not to over damp a room. Reflected sound may not be such a big issue because sound levels follow an inverse square law, even untreated walls absorb some portion of the sound that hits them and the Haas Effect allows the brain to suppress a large part of the reflected sound. Most of the domestically acceptable room treatments are not broad band and introduce a change in the tonal balance between the direct and reflected sound which the ear/brain tags as a hallmark of artificially produced sound. If soundstage info is your paramount listening concern, then it could make some sense to suppress first and second reflection points, but if proper tonal balance is more important, then heavily damping a typical home listening room is heading in the wrong direction.
Please don't construe my comments to be anti room treatments. Properly designed and installed broad band absorption systems can work wonders for the proper reproduction of sound. It's just that the best rooms I've been in for long term listening all have a combination of reflective and absorptive surfaces.
Please don't construe my comments to be anti room treatments. Properly designed and installed broad band absorption systems can work wonders for the proper reproduction of sound. It's just that the best rooms I've been in for long term listening all have a combination of reflective and absorptive surfaces.