Will painting an acoustic panel lower absorbency?

Thanks Sean and Clueless for your responses. I will read with great interest the links you provided, but the information you have already provided in your answers has convinced me to go in the direction I originally planned, which is to remove each panel, cover it with fabric, and reinstall.

I really appreciate your help.

Rives...thanks for the comment.

The results from adding the panels have been very good. I started by completely covering the front and back walls with the 2" thick panels. I then installed panels 2" thick on the 4' tall knee walls along the left and right side of the room. Finally, I added 1" thick panels on the sloping ceilings along the left and right sides of the room. At that point is where I may begun hearing some of the effects of over damping, but the sound is much better now than ever before.

As I remove and cover the panels, I will be doing so in such a way that I can remove some panels, listen to the results, and see if the removal of a few of these panels will "brighten" the sound somewhat. Although my stereo sounds much better than ever, a little "less dead" would be better.

Rives, thanks for your additional comments. I will take your advice and visit your listening room to see what else you have there that might be helpful. I've always had a decent quality stereo and/or home theatre in my home, but this is my first high end system with a dedicated listening room.

As I listen to various recordings, the "dead" effect we've discussed is much more pronounced on some discs or LP's than it is on others. On many recordings, I don't notice the dead effect at all. It may be that the problem is more directly related to the source material than I first thought. I am going to clock a number of hours listening to my current set up before I start making changes. I want to have a good reference point as I go forward.

It has been a couple of weeks since I looked at my original question and the responses you guys have provided. I thought that there would not be anymore responses but I see three have been added since my last visit. Thanks for the continued help.

I don't believe my room is too dead, although I will be soon experimenting with removing some of the fiberglass to see if I like a more lively sound. I have been adjusting the speaker and listening chair positions to be sure I'm getting the best sound out of what I currently have. Once I'm satisfied with this, I'll experiment again with the fiberglass panels.

This week I replaced my preamp and cd player power cords with Top Guns. The jury is still out on this addition. I already was using a Top Gun power block on everything except the amp, which has a CPCC Model 11.

I am taking my time on this project and am in no particular hurry to get finished. My listening room is upstairs and away from the main level in the house, so the fact it looks like a room that is under construction doesn't matter. I guess when you get right down to it, this could be a project that may never completely end. I am looking forward to using the links that Clueless provided and appreciate your providing them to me.

Jim