The only problem I can see with the HSF stuff Randy is trying to get the things to blend with the room and decor, which I understand can be a problem in most home environments. Some folks like the bold 'engineered' look of these types of panels, which look great in some environments, personally I'm looking for something a little (lot) laid back.
On another note...
Last night while listening to music in 2 ch stereo I noticed the left front main seemed to have a little less volume than that of the right front main, maybe even a little (very minute) flatter sound and was thinking how I may need to recalibrate. Just in a matter of minutes my wife walked in and closed the plantation shutters that are on the window within the first reflection point of the left front speaker and I couldn't believe how the speaker came back to life ... I'm assuming the shutters, while open act as a diffuser on that particular speaker while the right main is getting full reflection from a solid wall.
Does absorbing panels, traps and diffusers tend to flatten the sound as these shutters seem to be doing? Also, sometimes I wonder if a little reverberation and reflection isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially in a pretty decent acoustic room ... which I believe *luckily* ours seems to be.
