Bridgman, you said: "that's why the general recommendation is absorption on the back wall and diffusion on the front."
i was surprised at reading this; i always did the diffusion on the back wall and the absorption on the front one.
in fact, i use both absorption AND diffusion on the front wall, but only diffusion on the back wall.
sitting at the MLP, balance between direct and reflected sound is very good, but if i move my head forward, then the sound balance is more towards direct sound and less reflected sound.
when i move back some 1-2 ft. then it's as if i was sitting in the middle of the concert hall, instead of the front, with good amounts of reflected sound.
the effect is very similar to what happens when you move from a front seat to one in the middle of the concert hall.
hope this helps. :-)
