10 years of system refinement down the pan.

[Sotosound]

Draping a blanket over the 46" plasma TV that sits between my speakers really improved imaging. The only issue is that it ruined the picture quality.

Seriously, however, I am considering asking a talented seamstress that we know to create a removable black cover for the TV from a fabric similar to that on our settees, i.e. nice-looking and colour-coordinated. This would only be used, however, when serious listening is on the menu.

 

[TIU]

Draping a blanket over the 46" plasma TV that sits between my speakers really improved imaging. The only issue is that it ruined the picture quality.

Seriously, however, I am considering asking a talented seamstress that we know to create a removable black cover for the TV from a fabric similar to that on our settees, i.e. nice-looking and colour-coordinated. This would only be used, however, when serious listening is on the menu.

Do you want it colour-coordinated or your other half?

 

[Sotosound]

A colour-coordinated other half might disappear when she sits down on the sofa.

"Where'd she go?"

 

[Sotosound]

Laugh or cry? Bemused bewilderment is about right, today we decided to put some curtains up, light weight, thought we could save a few pennies on the energy bills, what I hadn’t bargained for was sitting down to listen to a completely different system to the one I loved yesterday!
We all know that stuff makes a difference, I just can’t believe how much, it’s like all the energy and excitement has been sucked out and replaced with a flat sounding thing. The speaker that’s right near the curtain is now completely dominant over the one that isn’t, F’d it right up! 😂
What I’m going to do about it is precisely nothing, if everything goes to plan we’re out of this house - with any luck the country in the next 2 years.
I expect I’ll get used to it, may even grow to “get it” but one thing is for sure, the decor will definitely be decided before the system in the next house, lesson learned!

By the way, if 10 years of system refinement has indeed gone down the pan, should I lend you my plunger?

 

[TIU]

By the way, if 10 years of system refinement has indeed gone down the pan, should I lend you my plunger?

Draw the curtains as well as your own conclusions.
I never think of furnishings affecting sound presentation as it's a living room. If I had a dedicated music room I'd find out what the hell first reflection points are.

 

[rdale]

Draw the curtains as well as your own conclusions.
I never think of furnishings affecting sound presentation as it's a living room. If I had a dedicated music room I'd find out what the hell first reflection points are.

Why not add attractive acoustic panels to a living room? I was showing the latest iteration of my living room’s acoustic treatment to my sister and niece this morning, and they said how good looking the GIK Demi Tri-Traps that I had installed were, and how they improved the appearance of the room.

 

[Sotosound]

Draw the curtains as well as your own conclusions.
I never think of furnishings affecting sound presentation as it's a living room. If I had a dedicated music room I'd find out what the hell first reflection points are.

For me, room treatment means shampooing the carpet or redecorating.

We just have a living room, but having a carpet, two large sofas, curtains, lamps, and other 'objets pas d'art', some of the worse room effects such as those caused by a hard floor are avoided.

Can't do too much more other than to choose good kit, position the speakers correctly, and play some good music.

 

[MartinC]

I think it's really hard to be sure benefits of covering a TV aren't primarily psychological.

Thin fabric covers on TVs would only significantly absorb the highest frequencies, and if a TV is behind the speakers then the same frequencies won't be being radiated backwards to hit the screen. It would only be after high frequency sound had bounced around off other surfaces in the room that it would hit the TV to be potentially be absorbed, and such a late reflection wouldn't be likely to affect imaging I believe.

(It's possible to 'see' high frequency reflections in a type of measurement called the impulse response (or energy time curve), and placing a large acoustic absorber in from of my TV makes no noticeable difference to this.)

 

[Lawrence001]

I think it's really hard to be sure benefits of covering a TV aren't primarily psychological.

Thin fabric covers on TVs would only significantly absorb the highest frequencies, and if a TV is behind the speakers then the same frequencies won't be being radiated backwards to hit the screen. It would only be after high frequency sound had bounced around off other surfaces in the room that it would hit the TV to be potentially be absorbed, and such a late reflection wouldn't be likely to affect imaging I believe.

(It's possible to 'see' high frequency reflections in a type of measurement called the impulse response (or energy time curve), and placing a large acoustic absorber in from of my TV makes no noticeable difference to this.)

Most speakers have baffle edge diffraction unless designed to eliminate it, so the diffracted sound waves will reflect off the TV even if it's further back than the speakers.

 

[MartinC]

Most speakers have baffle edge diffraction unless designed to eliminate it, so the diffracted sound waves will reflect off the TV even if it's further back than the speakers.

True but any contribution is going to be pretty low amplitude compared with the forward radiated sound though I think? What gets diffracted is sound radiating at roughly 90 degrees to the forward direction and most tweeters will have an angular response that has significantly fallen off by this point. My speakers do have a curved edge to their front baffle so this will reduce the impact but I don't think it's the dominant reason I see no notable impact on the impulse response of an absorber in front of the TV.

 

[Sotosound]

I think it's really hard to be sure benefits of covering a TV aren't primarily psychological.

Thin fabric covers on TVs would only significantly absorb the highest frequencies, and if a TV is behind the speakers then the same frequencies won't be being radiated backwards to hit the screen. It would only be after high frequency sound had bounced around off other surfaces in the room that it would hit the TV to be potentially be absorbed, and such a late reflection wouldn't be likely to affect imaging I believe.

(It's possible to 'see' high frequency reflections in a type of measurement called the impulse response (or energy time curve), and placing a large acoustic absorber in from of my TV makes no noticeable difference to this.)

I think that it's easy to be sure if a person knows how to listen and how to know whether or not they're experiencing expectation bias.

The danger of citing expectation bias as the reason for a perceived change in sound is that it can be applied to anything and everything and could, in the end, undermine everything to do with audio.

We need to be able to trust our ears.

 

[MartinC]

I think that it's easy to be sure if a person knows how to listen and how to know whether or not they're experiencing expectation bias.

The danger of citing expectation bias as the reason for a perceived change in sound is that it can be applied to anything and everything and could, in the end, undermine everything to do with audio.

We need to be able to trust our ears.

Not wanting something to be true can't be used as an argument that it isn't, sadly.

I do generally think TVs between speakers are much less of an issue than is often portrayed, and given how decent sound can improve TV/movies/gaming I do like to encourage a more open mind on this. Everyone should absolutely do what they enjoy most though 🙂.

 

[rdale]

Not wanting something to be true can't be used as an argument that it isn't, sadly.

I do generally think TVs between speakers are much less of an issue than is often portrayed, and given how decent sound can improve TV/movies/gaming I do like to encourage a more open mind on this. Everyone should absolutely do what they enjoy most though 🙂.

I think the problem is that you are putting the tv in the centre behind the speakers just where the best place to put some diffusers is. As most people haven’t heard the effect of diffusers they don’t actually know what they’re missing. Putting a blanket or whatever over the tv doesn’t sound as though it would be particularly effective and would probably deaden the treble if it did anything at all.

 

[Sotosound]

Not wanting something to be true can't be used as an argument that it isn't, sadly.

I do generally think TVs between speakers are much less of an issue than is often portrayed, and given how decent sound can improve TV/movies/gaming I do like to encourage a more open mind on this. Everyone should absolutely do what they enjoy most though 🙂.

Agreed about not wanting when the actuality is true. However, some things are true while others are not true, so it really doesn't matter as, in the end, it depends whether or not any specific thing being discussed is true or not.

I'd suggest that you can either trust or mistrust what I say that I can hear and that's a decision for you to make. As for me, I trust myself and that's all that matters to me.

 

[nomore landings]

My tv is mounted just above tweeter height, which are @ 90 cms forward. Tried hanging a cover, but no discernible difference. The GIK bass traps, however, are very influential on the room acoustics and a tall rubber plant diffuses hf on its way to the primary reflection point in a bay window.

Hi OP,
have you tried increasing toe in to enhance the treble? Also will change the reflected sound waves. Cannot do this with DALIs, but might be ok for you.

 

[Hifimad1]

Laugh or cry? Bemused bewilderment is about right, today we decided to put some curtains up, light weight, thought we could save a few pennies on the energy bills, what I hadn’t bargained for was sitting down to listen to a completely different system to the one I loved yesterday!
We all know that stuff makes a difference, I just can’t believe how much, it’s like all the energy and excitement has been sucked out and replaced with a flat sounding thing. The speaker that’s right near the curtain is now completely dominant over the one that isn’t, F’d it right up! 😂
What I’m going to do about it is precisely nothing, if everything goes to plan we’re out of this house - with any luck the country in the next 2 years.
I expect I’ll get used to it, may even grow to “get it” but one thing is for sure, the decor will definitely be decided before the system in the next house, lesson learned!

I wouldn’t be without my full length curtains behind the speakers as they make a huge difference ( for the better).Of course it will sound different but it should ultimately be better. I think you just need to give yourself some time to adjust to the new sound and you will probably like it more in the coming days…

 

[Sotosound]

Our TV is stood on a Panasonic Home Theatre TV stand, and the tweeters on my speakers sit at roughly the same height as the middle of the screen.

I found that moving the TV back a few inches towards the window helped imaging a bit, but the thick throw helped it a lot more.

It would be interesting to see how @Tazman46 gets on over the next few days if he'd be kind enough to let us know.

 

[MartinC]

I think the problem is that you are putting the tv in the centre behind the speakers just where the best place to put some diffusers is. As most people haven’t heard the effect of diffusers they don’t actually know what they’re missing. Putting a blanket or whatever over the tv doesn’t sound as though it would be particularly effective and would probably deaden the treble if it did anything at all.

Why would between the speakers be the best place for diffusers?

 

[rdale]

Why would between the speakers be the best place for diffusers?

Because it sounds good? It is certainly common practice to site diffusers there, and the rear wall is also a good place to put diffusers. The subjective effect is to increase the resolution and dynamics, and it sounds similar to a substantial amp upgrade for a lot less money.

 

[Tazman46]

Our TV is stood on a Panasonic Home Theatre TV stand, and the tweeters on my speakers sit at roughly the same height as the middle of the screen.

I found that moving the TV back a few inches towards the window helped imaging a bit, but the thick throw helped it a lot more.

It would be interesting to see how @Tazman46 gets on over the next few days if he'd be kind enough to let us know.

Just catching up on all your replies, you‘re a witty lot 😃. The outcome is a bit dull unfortunately. I tried different toe in, curtains to the left in various states of open but nothing worked. I expect there will be a few replies which say the set up is less than ideal anyway and I agree but it’s a domestic compromise which I can live with (the right speaker slides out the way of the tv when not in use!)
What you can’t see is there is a curtain across the entire wall on the room to the right which has deadened that room and shifted the sound field left. Curtains open, blinds closed brings back the highs but better than before, (I think probably the curtains have tamed the occasionally over exuberant treble), what I couldn’t do was get rid of the imbalance so heaven forbid, Line Straight has been turned off and I used the balance control to sort it 😳, back in love again 👍🏻.