Tube traps in corners, in the conventional rectangular/square rooms=Tighter focused/more palpable center imaging and on recordings with hard L/R panned material, the instruments are also better fleshed out/more palpable outside the boundaries of speakers. Has anyone heard speakers projecting images that appear to break the physical boundaries of the room both L/R and beyond the front listening wall? You never will without treated corners.
When I was a college student and could not afford tube traps, I asked a female friend to sew me a “sleeve” of material that I then stuffed with acoustic speaker filling and pinned it to the corners of the room, floor to ceiling with matching triangular “pillows” for wall/ceiling corners. Huge improvement in coherence and focus. Artificial plants on stands in strategic places to tame early reflections did the trick. It was a very good sounding room with very little $$$ expenditure.
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