Wilson Audio WATT Series 7 - Manual (Page 47)

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Let us now go to figure 12, to see the benefits in performance which can be achieved
by modest acoustical treatment of the room. With the speakers in the same location as in
figure 11, we note the addition of tube traps in the corners of the listening room, as well as
foam or Sonex panels placed between and behind the speakers, against the back wall, as
well as along the wall behind the listener and over to the side next to the listener. The tube
traps can be seen to smooth out the performance of the upper bass and lower midrange,
while at the same time not compromising low frequency extension. Slap echo is controlled
by the sound absorbing panel on the wall behind the speakers in the center of the sound
stage and by the two panels on the back wall behind the listener. These two room treat-
ments, namely tube traps and judicious placement of sound absorptive panels, can elevate
the sonic performance of virtually any speaker system in a typical domestic listening room.
Should the listening position be as far from the speakers as possible, even up against
a back wall? Figure 12, position B shows the effect of being seated near a back wall, some
distance from the speaker. We can see a dramatic increase in upper bass and mid bass out-
put of the system, actually due to standing wave reinforcement near the back wall, as well
as the expected high frequency roll off resulting in the longer air path of the sound to the
listener.
It should be noted that, in comparison to other speaker systems, even this compro-
mised level of sound staging performance and resolution of low level detail still represents
very good performance indeed.
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