All sound appears to come from the same distance as the loudspeakers. There is no sense of being enveloped by the sound. This is highly artificial because in a live venue, reflections arrive with a range of time delays and with a specific tonal balance. To enjoy a similar sensation in the home, the proper soundfield must be recreated at the listener's ears. Surround sound technologies are quite powerful in reproducing a feel for the original acoustic because they literally surround the listener with front and rear speakers.
Reflections convey both distance and spatiality information to the auditory system.
Their major finding was that lateral reflections, delayed by at least 10 ms were crucial to obtaining a desirable spatial impression. Ceiling reflections were not as effective, but appeared to elevate the perceived image. This argues for diffusive side walls and wall treatments such as RPG gratings. CBAE does this by generating a unique soundfield at the listening seat, in terms of both the tonal balance and time signature of reflected energy. CBAE designs delay room reflections in the critical upper midrange by at least 10 ms relative to the direct sound, while producing a uniform power response up to a frequency of about 1 kHz.