6/1/05 - Saving the most difficult one far last, I’ve finally turned my attentions to the front ceiling panel. As this was too big to build and then mount, it needed to be built in place. To make it a one-person job, I’ve cut the nominal 4´ x 8´ sheet of OC SelectSound Black in half. Here I’m prepping the right half with contact adhesive.
6/1/05 - Glued in place.
6/1/05 - Both halves glued in place.
The observant will notice that I’ve covered the downlight holes. When it came down to cutting holes and trimming them, somehow they were just too much of a pain to reinstall. Fortunately, I’ve been able to install gimballed trim rings in the downlight visible in the upper right of this shot and two between the panel and the front wall; I have plenty of light and do not miss the ones I’ve "lost" at all.
6/3/05 - The GOM is stretched and stapled in place. I still need to trim the cloth, but mostly it is complete. Acoustically, it is definitely complete.
I’ve been watching certain movies all along through the process of adding these absorbers. By happenstance, I mounted the rear wall panel first and was absolutely blown away by the improvement in sound. The LCR staging and imaging improved dramatically, the surrounds all of a sudden integrated with the fronts and, unexpectedly, the upper bass fattened up nicely. As panels were installed, these improved even more. However, I’ll need to make some RT60 measurements as I now think the room is too dead.