Installing Acoustic Panel Ceiling Cloud Around a Light Fixture

[Briz]

I have an odd shaped room. I've worked out 38% for my listening position, and up to this point I've had those next-to-useless acoustic foam wedges above my listening position. I did this temporarily because I'm trying to figure out how & where to install acoustic ceiling clouds. The small circular dome light (approximately 12", or 30.48cm wide) just barely overlaps the rear of my listening position, and my ceiling is 10' or 3.05m.

After much debate, I'd prefer not to remove the light fixture. I have two GIK 244 Broadband Panels (24" W × 48" L × 5.25" D, or 60.96cm W × 121.92cm L × 13.34cm D).

My question is this: If a sliver of the fixture's rim (maybe 3", or 7.62cm) were above your listening position, would you mount the clouds as close to the light fixture as possible? Would you split the clouds and have roughly a 12" or 30.48cm gap between the clouds? Create a V shape? Or, something else?

I hope this makes sense. Thanks in advance for your input and advice.

[Briz]

I don't know if this helps, but here's an image from Google Drive. For reference, the wedges are 12" × 12". Additionally the light isn't centered in the middle of the room (odd placement). I recently moved and this, unfortunately, is what I'll have to make due with until I finish building a larger space sometime next year.

Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-2IE2r ... p=drivesdk

[Drew Stephenson]

Bearing in mind the mirror point on the ceiling is going to be in front of you, not directly overhead, I'd focus on getting that bit covered as well as possible then work around that.

[Briz]

Bearing in mind the mirror point on the ceiling is going to be in front of you, not directly overhead, I'd focus on getting that bit covered as well as possible then work around that.

To help visualize, are you saying that I should install the clouds as close to overhead as possible and in a way that covers the desk area too? That would give me 16sqft (4.88 m^2) of coverage that extends almost overhead and out over my small desk.

[Sam Spoons]

As Drew says, the main cloud panel should be at the mirror point* rather than directly overhead which, if your speakers are at head hight, would be close enough to halfway between the listening position and the speakers. You may need more panels at other places in the room but, for a mixing environment, mirror points are the place to start.

* The Mirror Point is the point where the speakers would be visible in a mirror placed on the wall/ceiling.

[Briz]

As Drew says, the main cloud panel should be at the mirror point* rather than directly overhead which, if your speakers are at head hight, would be close enough to halfway between the listening position and the speakers. You may need more panels at other places in the room but, for a mixing environment, mirror points are the place to start.

* The Mirror Point is the point where the speakers would be visible in a mirror placed on the wall/ceiling.

Understood. Thank you. I used mirror points for my first reflection treatment and my rear wall treatment. I'll grab a ladder, a friend, and a mirror to double check my overhead again.

[Hugh Robjohns]

What they^ said, regarding position.

As for the lighting, I installed downlighters in the cloud itself, and wired them into the ceiling rose. So the light switch on the wall turns on the downlighters.

Alternatively you could use LED drops around the outside of cloud and wire their psu into the ceiling rose...

[Martin Walker]

When I wanted to install a hanging ceiling cloud that clashed with the current position of a light fitting, I just installed a longer light cable from the ceiling rose, clipped this extended light cable to the ceiling (invisible above the cloud), then added a new light fitting just beyond the front edge of the cloud.

Totally invisible, and easy to reverse if the room ever changes function