Does having an object inbetween the speakers bad?

A slight twist...not sure if it's different, but as long as the topic is up...

I've been thinking about a new arrangement for my system that would have the speakers a foot (no more) off the long wall(15 feet). The speakers are designed to have their backs close to the wall, 6-12 inches. In between the speakers would be a six-panel oriental screen that's around 6.5 tp 7 feet wide when set up in the normal mild zig-zag. The screen would be as close to the wall as possible, sort of like this -->

................................................
....|spker|...../ \ / \ / \.....|spker|....

The screen panels are 15 inches wide, anyone that seen a series of these panels can imagine what they might look like when setup in a shallow zig-zag(shallower than the characters above). I know there's nothing like the real thing and testing it, but the topic is up so...

In my case, the speakers front edge needs to be at least 10" in front of my 64" rptv or the sound is deadened. Soundstage doesn't change much. Say a prayer and move the speakers out if you've got the WAF.

It's really not that easy to answer and depends on if the rack is between, but behind the speakers, or between and foreward of the speakers. The horizontal dispersion of most moving coil speakers is frequency dependent and the interaction of the stand and the unique dispersion pattern of your speakers may be giving you some problems at certain frequencies. Try moving the stand back, or even foreward, a small amount, the interaction may change more than you think.

Thanks everyone for the response.

Unfortunately, since I have been banished from my study (the wife turned it into a playroom for my kids) I do not have a lot of flexibility in terms of speaker placement. I cannot move the speakers that far from the front the audio rack. I think the best I can do is to have the front of the speakers about 1 ft in front of the audio rack. I will try this tonight and see what happens.

audtiotomb: I actually just bought some Acoustic Zen interconnects today (Silver and Matrix Ref) after auditioning them. You are right, they do seem to improve my imaging especially with regards to female vocals. I get a better holographic image now.

Tboooe, from my experience trying different interconnects will greatly enhance a good system, increasing transparency etc but will not transform an inferior one. I try to select gear that is known to offer a large three dimensional soundstage. Unfortunately I have had gear in the distant past that only offered a 2D sound in the same room. The culprit can be just the preamp, power amp, or both. Replacing this undesireable gear was a revelation for me. By no means am I suggesting your gear is inferior but you would have to come to your own conclusions maybe after trying everything else including some of the above suggestions.