Synergistic Research HFT's


Not to open up a can of worms but I am reaching out to people who actually have tried the SR HFT's or Black Box.  I am building a new house and my two channel room is my great room / kitchen.  The dimensions are 20'W x 40'L with 16' cathedral ceilings.  This is not the best 2 channel room but it worked well in my last house.  So the question I have are there any tweaks that I should be considering to improve the overall sound performance?   I know the obvious answer is Acoustical Panels but that won't fly in my house.  I already have all of the Perfect Path Technologies products for my system.  I already have SR Blue Duplex's but might change to the orange.  So now I am looking at what I can do to improve the sound in that kind of room without Acoustical panels.  The rest of my system includes:  Canary Audio Grand Reference 2 mono amps, C1800 Pre-Amp, InaKustic 3500P Conditioner, Lumin X-1 Dac/Streamer.  My cables are all upgrades also.  I have been looking at the SR HFT's and Black Box.  Comments?  
willgolf
HFTs are awesome. See my full length review, around here somewhere. They have a sort of systematic way of adding them but I know from experience they can be done any way and any order you like. 

When you look into them you will see there are a few different types. Each one is tuned and really does work best in the locations they suggest. That said if you are in a situation where the ceiling is very high or a side or back wall is very far away (or non-existent) then obviously they aren't going to work as well like that. 

So what I would do is get the speaker kits. These for sure will work and no matter where you set the speakers up. Also the speaker kit comes with I think 3 different types. 

What I would do is experiment with those on the walls and/or ceiling first. SR gives a free 30 day trial but if you can avoid even having to mail back with a little testing so much the better. It will also give you some idea how effective they are. Then after you've played around on the walls put them on the speakers.

I will tell you right now its crazy how good they are. And I have all the PPT stuff too so when I say crazy good I know crazy good! 

Another one is ECT. These are different in where they go but almost exactly the same in the sort of improvement they bring- lower noise, greater detail and dynamics, less grain and glare, deeper more layered and precise sound field. None of it quite as good as PPT but pretty darn good nonetheless!

I wouldn't bother with Orange. Sending PM for better option.
I am surprised the “snake oil” naysayers who have never tried these products haven’t jumped all over this. I started out with one set of  5 HFT’s and noticed an improvement in soundstage depth and width. I followed the instructions for level 1. I purchased 5 more and installed according to level 2 instructions. Another noticeable improvement with one caveat; sometimes I would get some very noticeable inner air pressure. I spoke to my contact at the Cable Company and he said other customers had also mentioned that effect but it went away using 5 more installed following level 3 instructions. I now have a full complement including ECT’s, Wide Angle & speaker kits supplemented with the newest Atmosphere system with the additional slave module. In my opinion the best bang for the buck are the HFT’s but get at least 3 sets of 5.  
One of my new neighbors who works for a marketing company with a sound room was amazed the first time she walked into my stereo room which has a wall of windows on one long side, marble floors sans carpeting and drywall clapped her hands and asked me “what is going on in here, this room should have a clap echo”, I pointed to the HFT’s on the ceiling and walls and explained how they worked and she said “I have to get my guys in here.”
You waste you time and money pursuing such tweaks. Put your time and money into the things that actually affect the sound directly, the power and signal paths.  :) 
Have you considered that room tuning panels, which are efficacious, can be made more artful? You can get them custom made with prints of your choice on the fabric, and can even frame them to appear like artwork. If you had not hear of it, I suggest you check it out. I believe there was a company I saw several years ago that would let you put your image on the fabric. I am guessing that with today's tech it wouldn't be that hard to get a printer that does fabric to put whatever image you wanted on it. 
If you are handy this would not be a difficult task, and could be an agreeable compromise solution if the roadblock is aesthetics.  :)