Planar Speakers and Diffusors

Beautiful system Ozzy.

I ran planar for over thirty five years. Typically no absorption behind worked best for me. I had Apogee ribbons and they required an absorbing panel about six feet up, in the center above the speakers that was 9” high and three feet across. Otherwise painted drywall sounded best.

You speakers look exactly like updated and slightly larger Apogee Baby Grand.

ghdprentice,

Thank you for the comments. I guess the GIK diffusors interested me because they mention planar type speaker in the product description.

But I have searched, I can’t find any info from actual users of the product. And they are not exactly cheap.

ozzy

Nice system.  I notice you have a subwoofer tucked into a corner.  I do think diffusors would be good, if 3D, consider ceiling diffusion and absorption as well as combinations at the sides as well. 

Keep in mind that you might want to use those corner spaces for bass traps. Measure and consider your bass response and room modes first, and then decide on corner bass traps and then decide on the rest with the remaining space. 

Consider movable curtains in front of the TV.  Experiment with a blanket over the TV to see if you hear meaningful impact or not.

Thank you, Eric, for the advice.

From what I have discovered with the Clarisys Speakers is No absorption is better. With previous speakers, I did have Tube traps in the corners, and many Stillpoint Aperture’s, but with the Clarisys they lessened the liveliness and soundstage. So, I sold them.

The subs are in the corners (4 JL-F113) and have been calibrated individually. I think within my room sound good. The subs are crossed over at 40hz. while the Clarisys play full range.

ozzy

@ozzy what are you intending to change with diffusers?

From the setup pics, the main issues I’d predict are (1) proximity to the sidewalls (seems the company recommends more space between speaker x side boundaries?), (2) fully carpeted floor (might cause lopsided response for speakers that benefit from relatively lively rooms?) and (3) that huge tv.

I’m not sure you can address (1) or (2), or what kind of difference diffusers might render if (1) and (2) are even real issues at all.

Betting you’d do well to get some lightweight softwood blinds or other slats to hang over that tv. I suspect the front wall bounce may be extreme.

I've used planar type speakers for over 40 years, so I'm very aware of the issues with setup and room. Currently using Maggie 1.7i's in a 22' x 16' room with a 9' ceiling. generally it sounds very good. I also have a large(ish) TV (65") in between the speakers. The TV being there is a BIG influence on the sound stage and image focus. I have a very thick soft wool type blacket, doubled over, which I drape over the TV when critical listening, and when used the result is not subtle. I've demoed it several times to audiophile friends and they all hear the improvement it brings, instantly.

My theory is that the sound bounces off the wall behind me, then forward to the TV and then back to me, and the 'blanket' reduces that secondary reflection so one hears the direct sound from the speakers more prominently. It works, and very well, for me.

One Magix think is ever ever so slightly  a bit of absorption. I had a guy who had me hang a shear four inches off the wall behind the speakers  the material  what to be a shear with holes in it. And wanted enough  so I could change where there were more folds in it. The end results were just enough so the sound stage expanded and everything  cleared up just a bit more an increase in resolution.  I had a set of Maggie 3.3 back then and they were actively  biamped. Also had diffusion  behind the curtain and at the reflexion points plus behind the chair. The diffusion  panels were approximately  2 x4 feet. Had them all on stands about 16 inches high. At the first reflection  point had a small amount of suction in the diffusion  panels. In that room with that setup I personally  have never heard any system  come  close to the sound stage I had. I personally  like what I have now better but the wonderous sound stage was fun to show off. The tonal balance  was basically  perfect  what was missing  was the fun and beauty part.it was boring In comparison  to any of my current  setups. 

Regards 

@ozzy 

I know nothing of planar speakers as I never used any. However I can easily point to the gigantic TV screen between your speakers as a major reflection contributor. You need to at least cover it with some type of 100% wool covering while listening to your stereo. Diffusers behind the speakers would have a very small effect considering any reflection from the back wall will go straight back to the speakers as they are not angled/toed-in at all. The problem is compounded by the fact that you basically have no space between the TV and ceiling. It's in effect like a glass wall. Plus if you follow Gik's directions, I believe the Q7d are recommended for the back wall and back of sidewalls. I spent a fair amount of time and money on acoustic treatment so I learned a thing or two over the last 5 years. Best of luck with that beautiful audio equipment.

Bottom line you would be better off diffusing the back wall with the Q7ds imo.

Hi Ozzy,

I have been using Line source Dipoles (planars) since 1978. I owned Apogee Divas for 6 years. I currently use Sound Labs ESLs. 

You are headed in the right direction, but someone fed you the wrong information. 

Line source dipoles radiate sound in a "flat" figure 8 pattern. By "flat" I mean there is no sound radiated up or down. In your case the lines source characteristic ends at about 250 Hz. Middle C is 256 hz. For the best imaging you need sound absorption behind the speakers. You want to kill the back wave as much as possible. Diffusers are simply going to increase the number of early reflections, confusing the image more. I use 4" acoustic tile behind the speakers. It is very effective above 250 Hz and dirt cheap. It also looks cool if you get the pattern right. You can get it on Amazon.

At first you might think the sound has become duller, less air, whatever. But, if you are paying attention, voices now hang, well defined in space. Any hint if sibilance behind female voices is greatly reduced or gone altogether. Everything is in better focus. The third dimension becomes palpable. The glare is gone. If you take the tile down you will not believe what you had been listening too!

The problem below 250 Hz is much more difficult. As the wavelengths get longer they are harder to stop or deflect. The wavelength of 250 Hz is about 1 meter. 

Another issue with planar speakers, especially full range or two way types is they HATE making bass. They will do it but it distorts everything else the driver is doing and wastes a lot of power. You can lower distortion and increase your head room by as much as 10 dB by adding two subwoofers and a two way crossover with digital bass management. People think it is difficult to match subs to planars. Not true at all if you do it correctly. It is tougher, but it can be done to great effect. You have to cross up around 100 Hz with a very steep slope of at least 8th order and match the launch time of all the drivers. This can only be done digitally. it is like adding a turbocharger to your car. Two Martin Logan Balanced Force 212s and a DEQX Pre 4 processor would be amazing.

Planars do need to be toed in perhaps a bit more to get that sweet spot.  Mine are toed in so they cross a few inches in front of me.  Plus that eliminates them from directly reflecting off the wall in back of them.  Cannot tell you about diffusers, but I tried absorbers in back of them.  What that did was it took away the spacious sound of the dipoles and most of the soundstage as well.  

Thanks for the responses.

From what I understand, the Clarisys speakers are designed to reflect sound forward and behind the speakers. They use the back wall reflection as part of the open audio design. The Planar design does not radiate any information to the side walls. I have the speakers about 30" from the side wall because the bass seems a little stronger.

I have moved these 250 lb. speakers back/forward/ side to side/ toe in/no toe in and the present placement seems to be the best.

I have also found that the 85" TV screen to also help deflect and improve the openness. I have tried sound absorbers in front of the TV and it seems to restrict the soundstage.

The dealer, SunCoast Audio also advises using No absorption, and when they have them at shows they use some sort of reflective clear screen behind them to eliminate any absorption from drapes etc.

So, I don’t know if these speakers are a different animal than typical Planar speakers, but reflection or diffusion seems to be the way to go.

ozzy

Ozzy - thanks for this discussion - I have been a fan of planer speakers since 1982. I have stuck with Magnapan all these years. Got my Maggie 1.6qrs modified by Peter Gunn when I retired 3 years ago. They keep improving - I guess there is a real issue on Maggie panels when they moved from copper wire to aluminum wire. My Maggie 1.7is do not compete on vocal and horn ‘quality’ vs the modified 1.6qrs. I also have worried about the ‘flat screen TV’ between both systems and it’s affect on sound stage, imaging and sound quality in general. I am also over the Moon happy with The Swarm subs with my Modified 1.6qrs. I am considering some sound absorption panels or a ‘blanket’ over the TV screen during ‘serious listening ‘ sessions.

Mijostyn - I am a retired Chemist - not an Electrical Engineer - how do I cut off my Maggie’s at 100 hertz and let The Swarm take care of all the base requirements for my system?

tom8999,

To cut off the frequencies below 100hz and send them to your subs, you will need some type of electronic crossover.

In the past I have owned the JL CR-1, but I eventually sold it because it wasn’t as transparent as I wanted.

ozzy

This is a recent post from the Audio Sharks Forum by SunCoast Audio about the Clarisys speakers.

"Clarisys are panels, dipoles, so the sound is coming out the front and back. It doesn’t care what’s on the side walls as its radiation pattern is unlike a box speaker or Omni. With Clarisys, unlike some of it’s competitors (or what some claim to be full ribbon - which are really Mylar in the bass), from the lowest note to the highest note, the driver material is identical. This creates a very coherent sound. The entire frequency range is one material."

ozzy

ozzy OP

7,161 posts

03-27-2024 at 06:14am

This is a recent post from the Audio Sharks Forum by SunCoast Audio about the Clarisys speakers.

"Clarisys are panels, dipoles, so the sound is coming out the front and back. It doesn’t care what’s on the side walls as its radiation pattern is unlike a box speaker or Omni. With Clarisys, unlike some of it’s competitors (or what some claim to be full ribbon - which are really Mylar in the bass), from the lowest note to the highest note, the driver material is identical. This creates a very coherent sound. The entire frequency range is one material."

I intend no offense to SunCoast Audio as I don’t know them and have no conflict of interest, but that quote reads more like dealer promo than tutorial physics-based guidance.

The Clarysis company website claims live rooms with walls of concrete or similar to be ideal, so your drywall @ozzy probably matters, and possibly not in an ideal way.
My own speakers aren’t planar but do behave similarly in some ways. One meter behind them is a full-wall window, about 14’ x 8’ of glass. Being able to play with a bank of wood blinds the same size gives interesting results that vary in favorability depending on the person listening, but no one has favored fully exposed glass. That’s why I suggested trying something a bit less reflective than glass (tv) and a bit more diffusive than a flat plane (of said glass). Wouldn’t cost you much to try.

A potential issue I see in the way these speakers are designed (basically one driver mechanism for all frequencies? Cool! And, hmmm…) is how they manage to balance the whole bandwidth at MLP distance. It’s known the +/- 3dB ratings given for speakers don’t always hold strong outside of the 1m measuring pocket, so if Clarysis are “down” meaningfully in part(s) of the lower frequencies then the benefit of using solid walls (concrete or the like, as recommended by the manufacturer) should be at least in part to reinforce the bass via strong room gain. If that scenario reflects (pun!) reality, then an active crossover and higher-crossed subwoofers might be more beneficial than they presently seem.
Main critique should be, nifty as this design is, the company doesn’t give enough info about their frequency-dependent behavior for consumers in typical North American homes to have much to work with, empirically speaking. At least not for the prices on these models (IMO). Perhaps I’m missing something.
The speakers are made in Vietnam - if testing is also done there, I wonder if it’s in a fully concrete building as is common in SE / E Asia. I expect my system (which is highly dependent on room interaction) would probably need considerable adjustment if moved from its present all-concrete-boundaries into a drywall-above-slab residence. American homes seem asymmetrical nightmares, structurally/boundary-wise (for sound waves), in this regard. Speakers that play with the room to such an extent as Clarysis suggests might be even more sensitive to these factors. Obviously the room boundaries can’t be changed, but worth considering rather than only making assumptions based on what’s inside the room?

You might also try laying down some large panels of wood on the floor between / in front of the speakers, to see what a more symmetric pair of vertical boundaries (bare ceiling and fooor) accomplishes. Just a thought in line with much of what I tried during setup for a similar sound. BIG sound is such good fun.

@ozzy That is incorrect. The back wall reflection is their one big weakness. The design is so successful because it limits reflection from everywhere else except the back wall. Instead of having to worry about four walls, the floor and the ceiling you only have to worry about the front and rear walls. Line sources also project sound better. 

Sound diffusers are best used to kill echos, but again they only work well at higher frequencies. Bass traps are a total and complete waste of money. Four subwoofers is the best solution for bass problems. 

Analog crossovers, as you noticed are insufficient. The crossover has to be digital to do everything it needs to do. The problem is now you need four DAC channels instead of two. The MiniDSP crossover is excellent except for those DACs. You can use a MiniDSP SHD Studio and two stereo DACs, but that is going to cost $6 K. The DEQX Pre 4 is way more powerful than the MiniDSP, has fabulous room control functions and great digital bass management. It also Streams and has a MM phono stage designed by Dynavector. I own the Pre 8 which is the same unit with a 4 way crossover. You can triamp your speakers and run subwoofers. I just got a pair of step up transformers. Once I build the complete MC transformer I will comment on the phono stage. It will be a bit as I am still waiting for the Permalloy shielding. 

mijostyn,benanders

Thank you for your comments they are welcome and interesting but seem to be off track from my original question.

I have learned that keeping my system simple is the best way. I no longer have a dac, preamp, etc. The signal goes from my Lumin X1 to my mono blocks- Clarisys speakers, which have internal crossovers for the treble ribbons and the midrange/woofers ribbon.

I guess each type/brand of speakers has its own set up values and to me, the Clarisys speakers play best with minimum room treatments. BTW, my ceilings and walls are all internally insulated and covered with double 5/8" drywall. The floor is concrete covered by carpet with no padding.

I am interested in diffusors because from what I have researched they are supposed to make the soundstage even larger. But I don’t know if that would be a plus, thus my initial post and question.

ozzy

@ozzy, I like your approach of diffusing rather than absorbing the backwave. Ime the backwave energy of a good full-range dipole can be very beneficial, but you want to preserve its spectral content rather than degrading it by using absorption, which will remove the shorter wavelengths moreso than the longer ones.

When you say that you want "to make the soundstage even larger", that can imply different things. Strong early same-side-wall reflections tend to widen the soundstage, but dipoles have a null to the side so that may not be practical. Greater soundstage depth and/or an increased sense of immersion in the acoustic environment on the recording is imo more likely to be feasible with appropriate frontwall treatment.

I think you said your speakers are about 30" from the side walls. How much distance between the backs of your speakers and the wall behind them? Ime this distance plays a significant role in perception because it strongly influences the time delay between the first arrival sound and the strong onset of reflections.

You mentioned that Clarisys uses a reflector behind their speakers at audio shows. Imo that makes a lot of sense. Have you heard them at audio shows? If so, what did you think? And, what do they suggest for your situation?

I might be able to make some general suggestions based on your responses to these questions, but imo making specific acoustic treatment recommendations is something that I’ve learned to leave to the pros because they can make a MUCH bigger improvement than I can. If you don’t have anyone in mind I recommend Jeff Hedback of Hedback Designed Acoustics, he’s a multi-award-winning studio designer who also does home audio, and he’s still affordable. He works remotely.

Duke

dipole speaker dealer for 25 years, multidirectional speaker manufacturer for 16 years

audiokinesis,

Thank you for your response. To answer the questions posed:

The speakers are 60" from the front wall, 30" from sidewall, no toe in. I have never heard these speakers prior to purchasing them. They have a very wide soundstage. Unless the music comes directly from the left or right channel you cannot hear the speakers individually.

SunCoast has advised using large plants behind them for diffusion (on the cheap side).  I am always looking for ideas to improve, thus my question.

ozzy

@ozzy brush this by the guys at GIK if you haven’t yet.
This is tricky and no two listening rooms are the same. Send pics and dimensions to GIK. Their recommendations for me were spot on. 

I have tried to connect with GIK, and they say I must make an appointment to actually talk to them, in about a month from now! 

ozzy

No 💩! Wow

Still worth it though in my opinion. I wouldn’t rush.
How about asking speaker manufacturer for their thoughts?

Also…If the problem doesn’t really exist I would advise against trying to solve it. 

You got a fantastic question from Duke - what does the speaker manufacturer recommend ? i would email them photos and a dimension sketch.

Personlly, i like wood Quadratic Residue diffusers and a you might consider a combination diffuser / absorber on slides to cover the TV. Core Audio Designs make a lovely version. A blanket… is a start but is NOT remotely broad band or linear….

Thanks, guys, for the help.

GIK did send me an email based on the pictures I sent them of my room, but their suggestions were all over the map. A one-to one conversation needs to be scheduled and they say they are booked out for the next month. Plus, it took many days before they even responded to a question via their website or email. So, I guess working with them is out.

The dealer suggests diffusors behind the speakers or nothing else. No sound absorbing material. The speaker designer also attends the shows with the dealer, so I think they are on the same page as to room treatments. Believe me I had a whole room full of Tube Traps, Stillpoint Apertures and they deadened the sound. So, I sold them all.

I would like to try something, (I guess I am bored?)

Quadratic Residue diffusers? What is the difference in performance between them and the slat type diffusors?

ozzy

@ozzy you should also look into ATS Acoustic's QRD diffusers.  They're similar to GIK's, but they're a better value (lower cost per square foot of wall coverage).  They will also custom make them in any height you want for a minimal upcharge.

Another option are GIK's polycylindrical diffusers (they call them Polyfusors).  They will give you a little bit of bass trapping since they're filled with insulation.  I just installed a pair of these behind my Maggies. 

Have you measured the room?  You may wan to start with bass traps.  I just installed floor to ceiling traps in three of my corners and the result was jaw dropping.  Bass traps should not dull the sound if you get the type that reflect mids and highs.  Getting the bass decay times under control is the first order of business imo.

ketchup,

Thanks,

My room is 17 X 26 X 8. Center to center speaker is 138" they are 60" from the front wall and 30" from the sidewall, and I sit 144" from the speakers.

I have 4 JL-F-113 subs in the corners that are calibrated to the room and crossed over at 45hz.

I just visited the ATS website, and their prices are comparable to GIK. All the different types of diffusors are confusing.

ozzy

Hi @ozzy, 60 inches distance from the wall behind them is exactly what I would recommend.  More would be nice, but 60 inches will do the job very well.

I use often fake Ficus trees for diffusion.  A real diffusion panel would be superior, but unfortunately I don't know which one to recommend.

Duke

ozzy,

what do you think of the michi amplifier, I'm upgrading to the new SIM audio 861 I don't know how close the michi will be to that one but it's 22,000 US.

ozzy,

what do you think of the michi amplifier, I'm upgrading to the new SIM audio 861 I don't know how close the michi will be to that one but it's 22,000 US.

audiokinesis,

I have considered the fake plants. However, I still have alot of cabling behind the speakers, so the real estate is limited.

ozzy

magnuman,

I have a separate thread about the Michi 8’s under "Members Review".

Audiogon Discussion Forum

Check it out.

ozzy

@ozzy - It’s interesting that you get the best sound with the speakers 60" from the front wall. That’s exactly what the Cardas calculator for dipoles recommends for your room dimensions (well, 59.28" to be exact).

Try the diffusers, and let us know what you hear.  Generally speaking, I've read here and elsewhere that absorption is better on the front wall (behind the planars).  I have tried everything from nothing at all, to slight absorption, to full absorption (but never diffusion), on the front wall. 

The absorption does change the character of the sound, but I would describe it as more precise, more detailed, with better imaging.  Without absorption, there is quite a bit of sound that bounces off the front wall, and distorts the precise soundstage.  But it does sound "brighter" without absorption, so if your system sounds dull, then perhaps, no absorption will be better, although perhaps the musical imaging will be slightly more blurred.  

Experiment with your ears, and find out what's best for your system and your room.

drbond

Thank you for your comments.

I think the claim to fame for these Clarisys speakers is their wide-open soundstage, anything that inhibits that will change the design.

To try any type of diffusor unit(s) would cost about $1000 to cover about a 4-foot area.

And most mount differently. I would need to put a hole(s) in the wall to mount them. I’m not opposed to it, but there are several different diffusor types, along with different sizes. So, I would prefer to have more knowledge, before entering the path of wall Swiss cheese and trial and error.

ozzy

ketchup,

I guess my ear tune to my room is pretty good! LOL

At least according to Cardas.

ozzy

audiokinesis

2,704 posts

03-28-2024 at 11:26am 

… making specific acoustic treatment recommendations is something that I’ve learned to leave to the pros because they can make a MUCH bigger improvement than I can. If you don’t have anyone in mind I recommend Jeff Hedback of Hedback Designed Acoustics, he’s a multi-award-winning studio designer who also does home audio, and he’s still affordable. He works remotely.

Duke

dipole speaker dealer for 25 years, multidirectional speaker manufacturer for 16 years

This seems like highly sage advice. The outfit to advise needs familiarity with this kind of speaker behavior. It’s a fairly new brand and it’s unclear what kind(s) of room(s) they’re tested for. Rear reflectors in hotel demos suggests concrete/other solid structures being the design’s preferred residence. I am well aware that in my own case, not using a treatment specialist but receiving input from several after the fact, I surely got lucky more than I got things right by actually knowing enough myself 😉

Real research is designing, trying, alternating, all preferably in the presence of proper controls. Preparatory stages necessitate digesting a lot of modeling and/ or mathematical white papers (admittedly interesting to me, but with equations often over my head). Real research can only very rarely if ever be had by reading product web pages or fora descriptions about things like diffusers. Specialists can be special assets in this area! So yeah, my long and somewhat abrasive way of saying I agree with @audiokinesis 

ozzy OP

7,170 posts

03-28-2024 at 12:15am 

mijostyn,benanders

Thank you for your comments they are welcome and interesting but seem to be off track from my original question.

…

Clarisys speakers play best with minimum room treatments. BTW, my ceilings and walls are all internally insulated and covered with double 5/8" drywall. The floor is concrete covered by carpet with no padding.

I am interested in diffusors because from what I have researched they are supposed to make the soundstage even larger. But I don’t know if that would be a plus, thus my initial post and question.

ozzy

Not off track - I think you misunderstood me @ozzy  - I suggested some form of diffuser (complex-surface reflector) over the tv. Others recommended blankets; I wouldn’t tend to agree with that in your case. That’s why I recommended something rigid but basic, like blinds, that could be poised non-permanently and adjusted experimentally. It seems very unlikely that you will get a satisfactory result from buying a prefabricated diffuser product without trying more basic approaches first (and/or taking input from a qualified acoustician on treatments for your specific setup). 

I also recommended UNtreating your floor just to see what effect it has - laying down some large panels of wood to make the vertical room boundaries more alike. Many people carpet the floor, but very few give parallel treatment to the ceiling. Perhaps this would have no effect, but conversely it could have considerable effect. And laying down some large thin wood panels on the floor would be much more temporary and cheap than… carpeting the ceiling! 😆

If wood panels on the floor reduce your enjoyment, that might tell you something about your fully exposed ceiling. Or not…

While you wait to find or connect with the relevant treatment specialist, there are many amateur mods you can do on the cheap, non-permanently, to help yourself learn what works best. Bear in mind, again, I agree that bass absorbers may not be effective solutions in your case especially if you want to increase soundstage. The issue with your walls/ceilings is that they already work more like low bass traps than not, in a sense, by letting lowest frequencies pass through. Concrete or steel-walled rooms would not have this “issue” and it might be an unavoidable shortcoming for your speakers if they need those manufacturer-recommended concrete boundaries for reinforcing frequencies between ~45 - 60/80/whatever Hz they cover, that’s not being calibrated for room boundary frequency-dependent permeability. All stuff that hopefully the specialist can discuss if you aren’t in a position to try higher-frequency (digital) bass management. Diffusers might make a difference in higher frequencies, but for lower bass the room boundaries or signal processing (lack thereof) might matter more when it comes to conveying soundstage per the recording/master of choice.

Ozzy, Duke and Mijostyn - thank you all for the discussions about planer speakers and optimizing the room acoustics to improve the System’s sound performance. I have started my own investigations on improving my own listening room, and you guys have definitely helped me look in what I think are some positive areas for this improvement. 
 

Thanks again.

Tom8999

Update:

If you guys check out my system page, you will see that behind the Clarisys speakers I do have installed some plastic diffusors that I purchased from Amazon. I think they cost $62 for a package of 12.

Anyway, today, based on this thread and comments I removed them. From what I now hear there is a more unified deep soundstage.

So, based on this, I no longer think diffusors behind the Clarisys speakers to be a positive thing.

ozzy

@ozzy 

Thanks for sharing your experience.  Next, you may want to try adding absorption panels behind the speakers.  Start with a few, and see what you think:  perhaps you will find the imaging more precise, and the sound less bright.  Whether that's a desirable characteristic for your system will have to be determined by yourself.  There are many places that sell sound absorption panels.  

I started off just placing absorption panels directly behind both speakers, and I appreciated the sonic improvement, so I placed absorption panels on the entire back wall (with bass traps in the corners).  It does make the sound quality less bright, but more detailed.  It might dull the sound too much for some systems.  

@drbond, by “back wall” are you speaking of the wall behind your speakers (in front of you as you listen)? 
 

@kykat 

Yes, thanks for catching that!

In that last post, I typed: "I placed absorption panels on the entire back wall (with bass traps in the corners)."

I should have typed "on the entire front wall" (behind the speakers).  
 

drbond,

I do have some 4-foot absorbent type panels that I could place behind the speakers against the wall temporary. But I think I started out this way...

ozzy

drbond, thanks for the clarification! I thought thats what you meant but wanted to verify.

So, I just tried the absorbent panels behind my Clarisys speakers, and they did provide more of center image that was nice but at the expense of the deeper soundstage from the rear wall reflection.

ozzy

While the TV would need to be addressed separately, I'd focus, to start with, on just the front wall alone and go ONLY with some form of quadratic diffusion. Vertically oriented at that. That's really important because that is what is going to help bolster and clarify the center image in particular. On their own, your dipole speakers will throw most of their energy into the area more or less directly behind each speaker, leaving the center image unreinforced (...unless you were to penalize the stage width by moving the speakers closer together, of course). 

But vertically arranged quad diffusors will 'fan out' the rear projection horizontally (as horizontal diffusors spread the reflected sound vertically, it just depends on which problem you're trying to solve). 

That 'flashlight beam' pattern the speakers inherently have (as most dipoles do), will be spread out more evenly across the entire width of the stage, including both the center image and also even the rear corners of the stage, while 'reducing' the buildup directly behind the speakers at the same time. Everything should even out considerably more.

Just don't settle for 'randomized' diffusors that spread equally in all directions or you'll lose out on the opportunity to 'steer' the sound where it will do the most good.

After that project is successful, then you can turn your attention to the side walls...if needed at all, or regardless of what type of solution that might require on its own.

The DC3 Multifuser works great on the wall behind my planars, stacked three high on each side:

I use QRD diffusers behind in my system Magnepan 3.7 and GR Research triple 12” subwoofers.  You can see in my system page.  I have been very happy with the results.  I recommend it.

Great speaker/sub combo @mscetal! As you are new here, you probably don't know that I have for years been recommending the GR Research/Rythmik Audio OB/Dipole Sub for use with planar loudspeakers. I made the double-woofer version, in W-frames rather than H.

I have Maggies on each side of a 65 inch TV, no absorption behind either, but a couple plants as diffusers. For critical listening, I worked up a screen of sorts made of Geo textile fabric that I drape over my television. I had the wife sew a slot/pocket on one of the long ends and inserted a dowel into it to match the length of the TV. That sits just over the top edge of the television and the rest just drapes down and hangs freely. When done listening I simply roll it up and tuck it into a closet.