Question about front wall behind SDA’s

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I expect these speakers expect (or prefer) a blank/solid wall devoid of any obstructions. Had them set up this way in my large dedicated room at the old house. Now I can do that on my short wall but will be a little shy of the desired minimum width and sidewall clearance.
My long wall will have recessed shelves housing a couple dozen pieces of gear, possibly acting as some rudimentary diffraction/diffusion.
How much do you think this can affect or distract from the intended image creation?

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  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,369
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    Original SDA models or the L800s?

    If it's the original type, the imaging shouldn't be affected much if any but the bass reinforcement might be thrown off enough to make them sound unbalanced overall. Most likely going to take moving them around to find the best sound out of them. Even a few inches in placement changes may make a noticeable difference.
  • Inscrutabl0915
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    These are SDA-SRS2
    I could probably make sliding doors behind them if needed a solid surface ... maybe just experiment standing up some plywood or Sheetrock behind them ... sorta defeats the purpose of the display shelves tho.
    Also my listening position will be fairly tight to the back wall and have to deal with those reflections, whereas I can be out in the room if I use the short wall.
    I’m not terribly confident I can recapture most of their previous magic in this compromised room ... sigh ...
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,559
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    From your description, in my mind it will be equivalent to basically having your speakers 12" off the back of a solid wall. I agree to just trying them and if you find them lacking bass that may be the reason
  • Inscrutabl0915
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    Well, it has taken me forever to get the time to do anything upstairs. I had Sonus Faber Venere 2.0’s in the system, but miss the next octave too much, so moved them out and put the Polks on the short wall where I was already set up. As expected, not enough width the get the same soundstage and imaging I had in my previous larger room, but not as bad as feared and still the improvement over the SF’s in the most lacking area. Gonna enjoy them for a while where now positioned. Will take some time and help to rearrange to be able to play with the long wall ... may be able to replace the tweeters first (still have the stack SL2000’s and have the RDO 194-1’s in my cart and Midwest).