I am going to have a 9'8" wide 2.37 SMX AT screen and have been toying around w/ different placement points for my left and right speakers. I originally was going to have them on either side of the screen so the sound wouldn't get messed up going through the left and right masking, but I know having them close to the side walls can be bad. In my 1st arrangemen the speakers would be 10" from the side walls (15.5' room width).

If I place them all behind the screen the total width would only be 8.5' center to center for the L R speakers which would be a much smaller soundstage. I don't know which would be better. Any comments?

If I do put all of them behind the screen, what should I use for masking? black GOM or black speaker cloth? Would the sound be affected by going through both the screen and the masking?

I have all three speakers behind my 9'7" AT screen. For masking, I have wood frames painted flat black covered with black Dazian. When I first used the masking panels, I thought I could hear a difference, so I blind tested whether I could hear any difference; blind testing showed that I heard no difference.

Thanks for the reply. I think I am leaning towards having all (3) speakers behind the screen. If my speakers are not in the kick outs on the side I could go with rigid masking panels like you described. My original plan was to just make some drapes that wouldn't take up much depth, but I think fixed panels are the better route to go.