Speakers behind wall of TVs?? What the ...?
Ok, let me preface by saying I know this sounds stupid and no audiophile would ever do this. But most people aren't audiophiles and they make choices based on what is more important to them than music.
SO,.... A friend who is huge into sports and maybe wagering asked me for suggestions. He is completely inflexible on the layout of the room, so it is what it is. Just wondering if anything he can do under these terrible conditions will help with music sound quality.
Okay, here goes. So have you been to the Vegas sportsbooks like at MGM Grand or Mandalay Bay or Venetian or others I'm forgetting? Think "wall of TVs," all playing football games or baseball games or whatnot. That's what he has set up in his basement. Currently I think 8 or 9 screens ranging from 75" down to 42", but they are like 3x3 across his entire basement width, such that the speakers are actually necessarily placed behind the wall of TVs, because there is nowhere else for them to go. Like I said, not an audiophile setup.
There is no room for the speakers to be in front of the TVs to the side without obscurring the screens, which is a non-starter for him. Of course I asked that. Screens are Samsung or LG or Sony latest 4k models - thin but not transparent to the sound (not sure what the word is for "sound passing through??" did a search but couldn't find).
Okay, that's great. So what to do? Putting aside that it will be impossible to do a competent music setup in this environment, which I told him and suggested he forget it for the basement and just build a music-only system on the main level (and he might do that down the road), he said, yeah but I like to sometimes listen to tunes while I'm watching 10 games, and if there is any way to get it to sound better, I'd try it. For sources he uses TT and streamer/dac. The limitations are the AVR but way more so the speaker placement behind, ya, the wall of TVs.
Okay. Well then. He's currently using a $2k AVR (Yamaha I think) that has room correction so he can actually get some compensation for his hideous layout, small consolation as that may be. He's using 20 year old B&W speakers (CDM-NT towers, the biggest ones (9?)) and a PSB subwoofer and also B&W surrounds and center, but anyway.
My thoughts were, with this god awful arrangement it really isn't going to help much to add better amplification, because the room correction he is already getting wouldn't exist with a higher quality amp, and, well, there is still the fact that any speakers are firing into a wall of TVs.....so maybe save your money and stick with the hi-end AVR.
But what about speakers? I was thinking maybe some Kef R series with their reputation for wide dispersion of sound might make the best of the terrible situation behind the TVs and improve a bit on his B&Ws?? Or is it a complete lost cause and just forget about it?
