The way *I* understand it:-
Yes, seating distance from wall behind the listener does play a role in imaging & soundstaging.
The room will, usually, develop resonances between the centers of the wall behind the speakers & the wall behind the listener - i.e. along the center long dimension of the room. If left uncontrolled this will *likely* ruin your soundstaging & imaging. This could be fixed with some absorption directly behind the listener such as tube traps (what I got) or a low (3')LP shelf or book case. I found that it helps the most in the "warmth" region, which I understand to be the 100Hz - 300Hz region.
From my personal experience I found sitting 4' or more away from the back wall took out the back wall effects for me. My calc. show that 4' is 3.53mS if sound travels 1130ft/sec. So, it *appears* that the sound hitting the back wall, approx. seated ear level & higher, is not direct sound from the speakers & so it is weak signal. So, if one sits 4' away then the reflected signals off the back wall get attenuated enough by the time they reach your ear that they have very little effect.
I've seen some people use diffusion on the listener back wall off to the sides of the listener so as to improve hall/studio ambience. I personally haven't tried that as yet.
IMHO. FWIW. YMMV.
Yes, seating distance from wall behind the listener does play a role in imaging & soundstaging.
The room will, usually, develop resonances between the centers of the wall behind the speakers & the wall behind the listener - i.e. along the center long dimension of the room. If left uncontrolled this will *likely* ruin your soundstaging & imaging. This could be fixed with some absorption directly behind the listener such as tube traps (what I got) or a low (3')LP shelf or book case. I found that it helps the most in the "warmth" region, which I understand to be the 100Hz - 300Hz region.
From my personal experience I found sitting 4' or more away from the back wall took out the back wall effects for me. My calc. show that 4' is 3.53mS if sound travels 1130ft/sec. So, it *appears* that the sound hitting the back wall, approx. seated ear level & higher, is not direct sound from the speakers & so it is weak signal. So, if one sits 4' away then the reflected signals off the back wall get attenuated enough by the time they reach your ear that they have very little effect.
I've seen some people use diffusion on the listener back wall off to the sides of the listener so as to improve hall/studio ambience. I personally haven't tried that as yet.
IMHO. FWIW. YMMV.