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Need opinions on ceiling reflections

All,I have a soffit that is running length-wise on the LEFT side of the ceiling (picture in my system). The ceiling is 8' and the soffit part drops down about 1'. The speakers and sound panels are positioned with a precision of 1/8th of an inch and it sounds amazing - especially on the RIGHT side. The music appears to come from way back and way outside the RIGHT speaker and you can actually "look" that images of various instruments playing in those empty spaces. But I have a heard time "seeing" those images on the LEFT side speaker. I have a feeling that this issue happens because the reflection point on the left side ceiling is a foot lower than the one on the right side ceiling. I was planning of getting some acoustic foam and attach it to the ceiling using T-pins (since it is a textured ceiling and foam tapes will not work). I assumed that this will absorb the reflections and could work on restoring the proper timing/clarity on left side.

Could you guys weigh in and let me know your thoughts? Please feel free to let me know if I am off and the issue is completely different.
128x128milpai
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
All you have to do is treat the ceiling with foam acoustic tile in a symmetrical fashion. Very inexpensive. Go to thefoamfactory and check out prices. 
Another way to deal with the problem is get speakers that do not send sound up, horns and line source speakers. Speakers like Magnepans and ESL do not send sound up or down and require much less work with the room, just some deadening directly behind the speaker.
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,051 posts
 
I would avoid foam. I bought OC 703 and covered in fabric to see how it would help. My ceilings are 6.5' so it helped a lot. 

Couple thoughts on your situation:

Visual symmetry and audio symmetry will differ. Be bold about experimenting with asymmetrical placement and toe in.

Try getting a sense of reflection differences with a calibrated string. Using this method, you will learn where the most damaging reflections are happening and this can guide both speaker placement and treatment placement. The crucial reflections are from about 4-10 ms or so, depending on your room's dimensions. Conquer them and your soundstage imaging will be made more definite and appropriately located.

Buy a measurement mic and download REW. Measure each side (L and R) independently. Look not just at frequency results but at the impulse responses. You should be able to see the differences in the room reflections. This is involved but doable and very effective. What you teach yourself will be useful for the future.
milpai's avatar
milpai OP
2,420 posts
 
Gentlemen, Thank You for the various suggestions. I will start looking into getting the Owens Corning 703. Thinking of 2' X 2' X 2".
@noromance the idea of symmetry is nice. But like I said, the RIGHT side has absolutely no issue. So I don't want to touch something that is working fine.😀
@mijostyn currently I have no plans to change the speakers.
@hild45, I had taken a look at ATS site yesterday. And I see that you have their OC 703 panel. What did you use on the one panel that is flush mounted on the ceiling?
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,051 posts
 
@milpai  My wife sewed a pillowcase for a panel with a good acoustically-friendly fabric. It fits tightly but there is a bit of slack. I stapled it to the ceiling. There are mounting brackets and nicer ways to do things, but since I needed to see if it would work and how it would sound, I started in with a prototype-first mindset. 
milpai's avatar
milpai OP
2,420 posts
 
Thanks @hilde45.
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