Absolutely, Eric. Room acoustics do matter...the smaller the room, the larger part they play. At first glance though, the 'pillow project' seems to skate on the edge of WAF and how ones' spouse might react. There's alternatives...borrowing an indoor laundry drying rack and tossing a heavy blanket over it could work just as well and might prove a bit more portable. Not to mention variable in its' 'profile'.
'Omni fan' that I am, room reflections from a pair can make or break the illusion that they create, in some ways much greater than a direct radiating speaker pair. The same hard vs. damping issues exist, but are exhibited in a different way. If one has the luxury of a dedicated space for ones' audio, it becomes a little easier to adjust and control. If not, and the system has to coexist with the normal trappings of a household, or a space of odd dimensions, similar issues rear up. The 'best average' is what one hopes to accomplish....
Creating a 'dead zone' between speakers is an interesting experiment to perform....a 'negative' version of the center channel one sees in AV systems. Breaking the 'merge' of the speaker pairs' 'center' imaging, playing with the effect just because one can just to see what happens can be very instructive.
My personal approach is to 'ignore the room' to some degree. I'm running front and rear omnis, creating a sound field that I can control what happens in the center. Room reflections tend to be overwhelmed by the direct radiation within. An odd approach, perhaps, but it does interesting (to me) effects to imaging that can be controlled to some degree....
My 'experiment in progress'...that, and concocting a really nice DIY Walsh. *G* We all have our goals....;) Everyone's got one....mine's just...different.
