Room Too Dead

As an experiment try covering sections of the drapes with plastic sheeting or poly tarps.

You could even try paper/Xmas wrap (anything that won't absorb much).

https://www.tarpsplus.com/products/white-poly-tarps?variant=39757140197538

DeKay

@dekay

+1

Thin plastic can reflect highs while still letting bass go through and get absorbed by underlying layers. You’ll need to get it distributed on opposite walls so the sound can bounce around again. By selectively livening up parts of the room you may be able to achieve a desirable effect where immediate early reflections are absorbed but later reflections can stay alive for a while and reach your ears to create some spacious ambience. If you can prevent early reflections from reaching your ears for the first 10 to 15 milliseconds and then have some ambience sustain after that in the room, that should sound really good. That corresponds to a path length of about 14 to 20 feet, so the sound from the first reflection should travel an additional 14 feet to your ear after the direct sound from the speaker arrives. Delayed reflections that cross your head at angles of 60 degrees or more are desirable to create maximum inter-aural difference. Reflections from straight ahead and behind  are less useful and should be deflected to the sides of the room.

Thin plastic can reflect highs while still letting bass go through and get absorbed by underlying layers.

Just to be clear, bass will not get “absorbed” in any way whatsoever by underlying layers of drapes — just some mids and highs will be attenuated and that’s it. Bass waves are waaaay too long to be affected at all by some fabric, so they’ll pass right through that uninhibited to your cement walls.

A heavily damped room is just fine..... IF  you can tow your speakers in toward your listening position.  When you are dampened everywhere, you lose your reflection and boundries.  So, to get a real idea of how well your speakers can throw a soundstage an image, they need to be towed in. 

If you speakers have natural peaks that are unpleasant, then it gets tough in a room that is highly damped. 

Room too dead?  No such thing.