Beginner improvements for room acoustics; very helpful Darko video on reverb and RT60

That’s quite the swipe you take at Darko, calling him out as being in it just for the money and denigrating his character, but then, you’ve done it here as well. At least you’re consistent.

As for floor treatment, he covered that, saying that from what he’s read, experienced firsthand, and from the experts he spoke to, floor treatment doesn’t do as much as thought. He also addressed speaker distance. Did you just get a case of the heebie-jeebies watching his video and miss some of it?

All the best,
Nonoise

Yes, he glossed over distance and yes, he gives me the heebie jeebies. 

A lot of talk about the listening room... (already some herd feeling - imitation of the idea... trend... everyone is talking about it with a serious look)...
I'll tell you this: guys, if "carpet and furniture" is not enough in your case, then this is bad news ... There are VERY few who can really professionally take the correct measurements (skills and special equipment are needed) in the listening area, and after change the room and (or) adjust the music with the help of equalizers.

@djones51 Thanks for expanding on your comments. 

My experience with both absorption and diffusion massively changed the sound of my room. I'm presently in a space with a 6.5 foot ceiling, and putting absorption on the ceiling was a game changer in terms of dealing with very harsh highs. I do have an unusually low ceiling, but I think it's true that unless one has ceilings over 9 or 10 feet (with the average, mid-field listening distance), ceiling bounce is a thing that really induces first-reflection problems. If that's right, then Darko's final piece of advice -- to at least do something about one's ceiling -- seems uncontestable.

I know that all of this advice is dependent on the many specific factors involved. For my own part, I measured with REW's impulse graphs among others, and even used the "string method" to narrow down where the first and distal reflections were coming from. Then, I treated those areas. The result is a much wider, deeper, and articulate soundstage. People who come over to listen are usually amazed at what they hear, given the visual cues of the space.

Ceiling is the one thing you can’t do in a living room.