I need to be wowed

One thing I noticed looking at your room photos was not only the front wall height of your ceiling, but the angle at which it comes back down toward the listening position. If I am seeing it correctly, the angle is approaching something like 45 degees, with the height at the back wall being close to normal 8 ft. This means the first reflection point for the sound off the ceiling is almost over your head, instead of half the distance between the listener and the speaker, as with a normal flat ceiling. This in turn implies of much shallower degree of off-axis positioning of the reflection point relative to the speaker's higher-frequency drivers, which could be affecting the spectral content of the reflection. Since speakers are voiced to sound correct with conventional ceilings - insofar as their dispersion roll-off characteristics will affect the perceived balance of direct/reflected sound - I am theorizing that your ceiling configuration could be unduly brightening the resulting tonal balance. If true, this would point toward some kind of acoustical treatment for your ceiling first-reflection point as a remedy. I may be in over my head with this idea (bad pun!), but it seems to make sense, so maybe consulting with someone qualified in acoustic design before doing anything would be indicated. Good luck!

Yes...that 22' slopes down to 9' behind the listener couch wall..(me being the listener)
..thank you for explaining that..it makes more sense to me now what happens to sound and why I apparantly have such a big problem...
..ceiling treatment would be aesthetically fine for me to utilize if it'd help....

Audiokinesis...I will try that Sunday and report back....thank you!:)

Three very simple letter is the answer to your prayers....

A T C

They are from England, they've mainly only done professional sound until recently (they're in 60% of the recording studios, including Sony and Todd AO). They are finally here in the states, and they won the Stereophile system of the year for 2001. I just bought 3 of the ATC 100's for the front of my home theater. They are internally TRI-amped, so sell the amps and put the money into the best ATC's that you can afford... Check out their website for yourself:

www.atc.gb.net

When I first heard them, it's a WHOLE new ballgame in terms of performance level. They are you going to knock the tar out of the American market... Mark my words...
I turned another guy from here onto them. He wrote me an EMail the other day graciously thanking him for the lead.
All I can say is trust me, you must listen. Nothing too forward, the sound is sooo accurate, and a GIANT soundstage with the most amazing imaging. Do your research, demo them here in Denver (I'll send out contact info) and all I ask for is an email of thanks....

Here's some recommendations based on your budget range:
ATC powered 10's $2500/pr
ATC powered 20's $8700/pr
ATC powered 50's $13000/pr
ATC powered 100's $14600/pr
ATC powered 150's $25500/pr

At the CES show this year, Sony SACD booth had 5 ATC 150's for their demo of their new SACD 5.1 surround format. I've never heard better. This is NOT a sales job, I get No money for any type of endorsement, I'm a petroleum engineering manager and I'm trying to help other audiophiles get into the speakers that Stereophile and I agree are the most amazing in the world!

IF you can afford it, get into the powered 20's or powered 20 towers, it's the real breakover point. But at $2500/pr, the 10's are the BEST value for the money in that price range.

It's funny how some folks consider the terms "2K budget" and "new to me" to be such relative concepts....If you can figure out (or somebody can suggest) a way to get a quilt to stay put on the ceiling temporarily without marring the paint, you could do the experiment in acoustic treatment I mentioned above for yourself....