Another room treatment convert

I made my first voyage into room treatment today with setting up five 2' x 4' x 2" 2.5# density panels (ATS Acoustics) in my listening room-balcony. The balcony is 13.5 x 16 x 8 feet with my back toward the balcony rail overlooking the great room below(no wall behind me, just a vaulted ceiling).

Impressive & positive difference compared to the sound of the system previously...which was already pretty good. The sound is tighter & more defined(articulate) from top to bottom. For less than $300 bucks I'd give the investment "two thumbs way up". I'll be ordering a couple more 2 x 2 panels to finish things off. Then DIY bass traps are next once the raw materials arrive.

Speakers are Snell Type A's on the long wall. Tube CDP & pre with a DNA-1 amp. The wide dispersion of the speakers & size of the room resulted in first reflection issues & some flutter echo from the mostly empty walls. I also have a narrow window on center behind the speakers & this gave me some glare, particularly with vocals. No more. MUCH better.

If anyone is sizing up that next power cord, set of matched tubes, pair of speaker cables, or audio rack, and you haven't addressed room treatment, I'd go for the room treatment first. Minimal investment for such a significant improvement.

It might too bold to say that many of the standard system tweaks or upgrades may be premature (or misguided) without room treatment being addressed...but given the impact I'm hearing I have to believe it's at least partially true.