Room acoustics - yet again

O.K. I have an emergency here..... I just went by the new house I am having built. The room is 17'wide x 15' deep with cathedral ceilings. The carpet was laid yesterday and I thought that would tame things down a bit. BUT it got WORSE. Now if I stand in the the center of the room and clap my hands the slap echoe rings for at least another second!!! Although it rings in a nice little image in the center of the front wall, you can almost walk into it. Will the blinds, couch, and entertainment center cut down on this much? Should I allready have some treatments in hand when moving in? Having the ceiling lowered is not an option. HELP.....

Nomoney - yes, drapes, blinds and furniture will help enormously ! Before doing anything, wait until all furniture etc are in place. If you still have slap-echo, consider hanging stuff on the walls (I had a small oriental prayer rug one time). Actually, I found out that cathedral ceilings is actually a blessing - you don't have to worry about reflections from the ceiling too much. My problem is that my ceiling only goes half-way to the room, then drops down. This causes a placing problem for my speakers.

Thanks for the tips guys...

Thanks for sharing your experience, Subaruguru. My speakers are sealed cabinets and do well in a near-field setup. The software referenced above was only $50. For that much it won't have to do much to provide a decent ROI. Unlike you I have no WAF to consider, so can setup where ever sounds best (which is the current plan!).

Interestingly, after doing the usual over analysis of the situation my conclusion is similar to yours. While this new room is 'irregularly' shaped, that does not mean it isn't somewhat 'symmetrical'. My hunch is it's characteristics largely balance out. For example, the 'L'-shaped living room area is open on both ends. The kitchen is on one end, the hallway to the bedrooms on the other. There is also a small office area that adjoins the bedroom end of the space that has double doors that can be opened or closed depending on which works better.

In fact, 'space' was a key consideration in picking this place (it took 3 months of searching to find it). Now, for the first time, there will be adequate space between, behind AND beside the speakers. They'll actually have room to breathe. Can't wait! The only thing left is to actually do it. Everything else is just part of the challenge.

Ikarus, Thanks. I am hoping that is how it turns out. I might go ahead and try to have some things on hand to try and tame it down if needed. You know you can not go to sleep after moving into another house without the the stereo at least starting to sound right.

Yeah.. I know. I also know the feeling : 'leave the damn boxes where they are ! You can sort out pots and pans later ! Give me a hand with the speakers !' :)