Shunyata Research

[David A]

Looks like all bets are off 
I have had the window open the last few days and it does make a difference but the room is still too empty at the moment. We've ordered new bigger furniture and we still have to hang pictures on the walls so hopefully I can get it to sound reasonable. I've set the speakers up so they cross just in front of me and that has reduced some of the reflections reaching my ears as loud or almost as loud as the original sound so we're making small improvements. But it's still a long way from perfect.

Pim,

Thanks for the photo, it makes it a lot easier to understand your reflection problem.

Cathedral ceilings can be an issue because you can end up with 2 first reflections from each speaker, one from each side of the slope. It's hard to guess angles from the photo but moving your chair position forward or backward a bit may help reduce any problem from that source by putting the chair in a position where the combination of speaker placement and ceiling angle means that there can't be a first reflection to the listening position. Another issue is that large expanse of bare wooden floor. I'd definitely recommend a rug between the speakers and the listening position.

I can only see the right side of the room in the photo since the left side is behind the photographer. I'm assuming that the left wall is going to be closer to the listening position than the right. That means that the first reflection paths from the right wall is going to be longer than the first reflection paths from the left wall so the left wall first reflections, one from the left speaker and one from the right speaker, are going to be more of an issue than the first reflections from the right wall (the shorter the path, the higher in level the reflection will be relative to the direct sound) so if the left wall is closer I'd pay attention to reflections from it before worrying about the right wall (if the right wall is closer, deal with it first). The right wall looks to be a lot further away from the listening position than the speakers so the reflections from it won't be as strong relative to the direct sound as they would be in a smaller room and that's a plus.

We're getting way off topic for a Shunyata thread so if you want to discuss this a bit more please PM me.