I have to differ with Alan on this one, my experience since I've incorporated bass traps and acoustic panels using Owens Corning 703 have GREATLY improved the sound/imaging of what I used to think was unbelievable with no absorption with my Axioms.
First Reflections can reduce clarity and imaging of your music source. This is true for floor/ceiling/wall locations of first reflections arriving at your ears after the direct path. When a direct sound is accompanied by an echo that arrives within 20 milliseconds or less, the ear is unable to distinguish the echo as a separate sound source. These reflections obscure fine detail and make it difficult to pinpoint the source of the sound or musical instrument.
The goal should be to create an RFZ (reflection free zone) by treating those first reflection points and improving clarity, imaging. Another benefit of creating RFZ's, is the reduction of "comb filtering". Comb filtering is a result of a source and it's reflections combine in the air. The result is some freq's will be boosted, while others will be reduced based on the different arrival times.
This information holds true for BOTH recording studios and home theater environments, which is opposite of what many will tell you. Just my 2cents.
Here is a graph that shows how much improved the freq response can be in the mid/high freq areas with/without first reflection panels.
