Is room treatment a science?

Yes, room treatment it is a science.  Do yourself a huge favor, and download REW software and learn how to use it and interpret the data.   Start by optimizing the position of your speakers and listening position, then begin to add treatments addressing first reflection points, slap echo etc.  Sometimes, you can get surprising improvements by careful positioning of room treatments other than the listening position.  

You can do a certain amount without measuring, but it can be slow progress.   Most of us can discern small differences for the better or worse by ear.  But after a while, it can get to be mind boggling to keep track of.  There are so many variables.   I like graphs that I can archive along with notes on listening impressions associated with a given room configuration.  I can tell you my room is orders of magnitude better than when I started, and I never would have gotten where I am now without REW.  If you invest a little time and effort you won't be sorry.

Millercarbon wrote, "That Geddes book is a gold mine! If only I had known - and it had come out a dozen years earlier!"

Yes it is a gold mine, under-appreciated probably because it has "Home Theater" in the title.

I’ve been in Earl’s home theater room several times (mostly listening to two-channel). It is one of only two systems I have experienced which can pull this off: It can play so loud that you literally have to shout into the ear of the person next to you in order to be heard, but the sound is so clean that it doesn’t hurt your ears! This actually makes it kinda dangerous, as the SPL can be much higher than you realize. The only other system I heard which could pull this off was over ten times the cost.   The combination of natural timbre, smoothness, imaging precision, and spaciousness in his room is amazing.   And his bass is pretty good too! 

Duke

Yes.

rhodes, well, both. (4mil$, 2000 butts in seats....generally not totally filled).....

When one enters that sphere, the acousticians start with scale models and 'mini-mics', trying to define where to start.

When the actual structure is nearly done is when the science butts into the art.  There's been spaces that looked great 'on paper' that sucked in reality and triggered major 'change orders' and compromises.

Sound in a given space, large or small, is generally a compromise.  In a home, unless one has built for the intended space, there will be trade-offs....and even with the 'built space'....MC alludes to that; he began with 'x', but lives with 'z' happily...

I'm approaching having to 'make that deal' in the near future.

But, for the time being, I just 'run what I've brung'...or have. *S*

It is a science and it’s not all about absorption. If you have corners, if you have 1st reflection points, then you will need treatments. If you have bass issues, after you have tried positioning the speakers with no cure, your corner absorption pieces will need to be fairly large, small panels only deal with higher frequencies. Also, diffusers can be both a diffuser and an absorber. IMO, work with GIK or ASC or both to get a good idea on what’s needed. Also, watch the Dennis foley YouTube videos on this subject, these guys are the experts