Ceilings Count Too

Just a quick update on my acoustic treatment project.  In a previous episode, I had built 5 panels.  Until this weekend, I had only hung 4 of them.  I postponed hanging the last one because I had to do something with the ceiling light fixture that was almost directly over my listening position.

This weekend, I went to the Home Despot and picked up a few knick-knacks to finish the project.  These were a hanging lamp, some wood-screw eyelets, some hooks and drywall anchors.

First, I took out the existing ceiling light fixture, and replaced it with the hanging lamp (which incidentally was chosen because it was cheap at $30 not because I have any delusions about my interior design skillz).  I deliberately did not cut the length of the cord down, instead ran it over to a hook I anchored in the ceiling a few feet to the left.  Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious, I did this work with the power off.

With the light out of the way, I set myself to the problem of hanging the panel from the ceiling.  I had been mulling on the problem for a while but still only had a fuzzy idea about how this was going to work.  First, I drilled some pilot holes into the panel boards close to the corners and screwed in 4 eyelets.

Now, I had no confidence that I'd be able to put four hooks into the ceiling in exactly the right spot for these four eyelets.  It is one thing to be exacting with something on a workbench, it's quite another to be exacting while standing on a chair, driving anchors into drywall over your head while trying not to knock anything over (see I wasn't going to dismantle the studio again for this).  Anyway, I put four drywall anchors into the ceiling at around the right spots and put the hooks into the anchors.

Next, I took some wire (of the sort you find on the back of picture frames) and, consulting the interubez for knot tying lessons,  I made four pieces with loops on either end (about 10cm long).  One end loop on the eyelet, the other end to be hooked onto the ceiling hooks.

Can I hear the difference?  That would be a resounding yes.  Countless times have I read the words, "tighter sound" and wondered that actually meant.  Now I know.  Tighter is exactly the right adjective.