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Anyone have experience with ceiling treatments?

I have a moderately sized living room (14' wide x 22' long x 8'3"high) which doubles as my listening room. Over the past couple of years I have experimented with room treatments (echo busters, standing panels, heavy fabric, etc) with quite a bit of success, I think. The room treatments have had a lot to do with my two-channel audio system's surprising ability to throw an expansive soundstage with solid dimensional imaging while at the same time maintaining a high degree of tonal neutrality and playing totally "out of the box." I say surprising because I use horn speakers which are quite large (not huge) relative to the room.

The one thing that is sorely missing is image height - or soundstage height - to be more precise.

Nothing I've done has allowed me to capture or even come close to capturing the tremendous sense of volume and vertical space that I hear in systems (not necessarily better than mine, if as good) situated in rooms with high ceilings (12' and up). Put another way, the sound from my system in my room goes wide and pretty darn deep, but it just does not "rise" like the sound from other systems in high ceiling rooms. So it seems to me that one important aspect of recreating space has been lost to me.

For a while now I have been pondering whether I might be able to create artificial room height by treating my ceiling with sound absorbent or sound scattering materials. I even thought of buying some wall panels and installing them on my ceiling. But I have held back from doing so because it won't be easy, and so I should first find out if there's anyone out there who has actually done something like this? Will treating the ceiling work - that is - create a sense of room height that doesn't really exist? If so, how far does one have to go in treating the ceiling to get a noticeable result?

I know I can't, so I won't tear up and try to rebuild my ceiling (wife has much to say about what I do). I can't so I won't put up anything that looks really funky, like the foam skyline absorbers, because the room is still my living room after all. But I would be willing (if wife is also willing) to fasten some tastefully upholstered sound absorbent panels to my ceiling, or do something else "tasteful".

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Opinions?

Thanks,
Ron Yee "Oahuan"
oahuan
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slipknot1
1,423 posts
 
I had my room done by Rives http://www.rivesaudio.com One of the things we did was use Quest Acoustical Interiors Ceiling Clouds. They are made from Owens-Corning 703 fiberglass and are 2ftx4ftx1in each. I have 7 of them mounted on my ceiling in two rows: 1 row of 4 and 1 row of three. Two of the 7 are diffusor panels and the other 5 are absorbers. My ceiling is a sloping ceiling, going from 10 ft to 8 ft. My loudspeakers are on the long wall with the 10 ft height above, listening position is located under the 8 ft section 3 ft out from the other long wall about 8.5 ft from the speakers. I also have RPG Variscreens located in the corners behind the listening position and the Quest AI absorber wall panels on the side walls (same size as ceiling clouds). The Ceiling Clouds have made a huge difference in the quality of playback, helping to tighten up things, eliminate echo, create a more even diffusion. The Quest products are around 130.00 for each panel and if covered in a material that matches your ceiling, at 1 inch thick they disappear into the ceiling. If you take a look at my virtual system you can get an idea of how things look.

Absorber panels probably won't help with the sense of space you seek, but perhaps diffusors may. Rives Audio is the best in the business at this sort of thing. Richard Bird of Rives is a joy to work with and has really done wonders in my room. The best value upgrade I have ever done. It makes my modest system really shine.
sgr's avatar
sgr
689 posts
 
I use Auralex diffusors on my ceiling to great effect. They have three different sizes. I use the Metrofusors. My dedicated room is in the basement with low ceilings adding the Metrofusors made my room sound like a hall with 10-12 foot ceilings. Experienced listeners have commented that this is the first basement room that does not sound like a basement. The guys at Auralex will be glad to be consultants and you can send them info about your room and they will make recommendations. Rives Audio is also very experienced with these matters and will help if you don't want to figure this out yourself.
Hope this helps.
Sgr
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