My dedicated HT room is a seperate structure.
The most descriptive term for it would be a "Quonset Hut". It is of metal construction & indeed has a barrell shaped ceiling.

Dimensions are 34' X 22'.

The entire structure was insulated in a white spray on material. This has been dry walled up to 9' on the side walls, the ceiling however is still uncovered. It has ribs about every 60" apart.

Goal:
In short to get darker!! I wish to cover all this insulation but am usure how to go about it. I also would like an option that would have acoustical benefits if possible. Secondarily I would like it to be aesthetically pleasing.

Your thoughts & ideas are appreciated.

One quick thought is to check and see if there is a black spray on acoustical/foam treatment that can go right on the white stuff.

Whatever this insulation is it tends to come off in clumps after a really good Texas Thunderstorm.

Painting would be the last option for many reasons. This stuff would inhale anything you sprayed on it until it gained weight. I highly doubt you would ever be successfull in getting very dark like this either. If you did survive these first 2 pitfalls you would only accelerate the problem I described above. The project would be never ending.

How much curvature can one get out of drywall in a 60" width?

A cheap fabric solution may be garden weed control fabric Currently some really nice & heavy Draper Black velour covers the throw distance of the PJ's to the screen. The remainder is still original white.

BigMouth,
Your HT looks really really nice!!

Mark,
Can you post a picture of the ceiling. I am a little confused about what you are describing. I bet it will spark some ideas.
Thanks,

Not sure how many words a compressed picture is worth but I will give it a try.
Let me see if I can gather up some available PC talent & get them posted.

The prior owner used this space as a photography studio.
The good news is that he used 20A & larger electrical.

Here are some pics.
This is in the pre-Draper velour period.

Damon
so were all the walls finished before you moved into it? Stiil hard to get a idea of how to treat the ceiling with those pictures

Sorry but those will be the best pics I can get for now.
Vertical walls had been drywalled before I arrived on the scene.

Screen end was finished out to celing height.
The opposite end is unfinished spray on insulation like the roof.

Why not just frame in the upper area, and drywall?

Sure looks like a great space, with plenty of room.

Is a blend (or stack) going in there?

Drywall is available in 1/8" thickness and I've used this thickness to (easily) form a 16" radius curve. You'd want several layers built up, to prevent any flexing, or perhaps use a thin plywood panel as backing. I'd even be tempted to try 1/4" drywall for a 60" radius curve.

The room looks great, but the ceiling looks awful (no offense). Is that a common way to finish rooms there? It would not be a small project, but I would frame it in and build a new ceiling...maybe a foot below the existing ceiling. Fortunately you have a lot of head room.

Another option would be to cover it with fabric, but I thing it would be about the same amount of work at a new drywall ceiling. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

I agree with Ted. That ceiling is an acoustical nightmare - sorry. The concave shape is going to act like a lens and focus sound at the center of the room. Dropping a hard ceiling below it and insulating part of the cavity above will take care of multiple problems.

Bryan

I think i would try to turn it into as much of a "normal" space as possible by putting up some framing and drywall.

Looking at the pictures it isn't clear if there is much of a top plate available to rest a ceiling truss system on. If there is I would consider putting in some kind of a roof/ceiling truss system that took advantage of the height but brought it down a bit.

Maybe a modified scissors truss with a middle flat portion added.

http://www.askthebuilder.com/artman212/uploads/1/truss.jpg

That fact that the insulation comes down in clumps after a storm bothers me and what ever you put up is going to be plagued by that problem (it will get worse) forever. Fixing the ceiling so it doesn't leak has to be your first priority before worrying about getting it darker.

What is that big cross brace? is that required to hold the two side walls together or was that added to anchor a dividing wall?

Ted has it right. That room is getting ready for a blend system.

Odd thing is that as it stands now I think it is a pretty good room acoustically.
Insulation (though it be white!) sounds better than drywall!!

Barrell vaulted ceilings are a much better acoustical alternative than a 9' or 10' traditional flat ceiling.

Boy, that ceiling insulation looks nasty. I vote for Biggie's solution.

The whole "it tends to come off in clumps after a really good Texas Thunderstorm" scenerio is troubling on a couple of fronts. Any falling debris would collect on top of any new celing treatment you install AND the dust it creates can't be good to breath.

If it were me, I'd remove the ceiling insulation completely and replace it with something more stable before installing any thing else up there.

I'm not sure that this building is typical of anything.

Need to back up a tad here. What I meant to say about the little I know about acoustics is that the worst room you can have is a traditional rectangular shaped space with parallel walls.

It does seem fully up to the task of holding the weight required for two Vision 1 CRT's.

Sorry - but I would disagree about the barrel being better than a flat ceiling. Concave surfaces of any sort are the last thing you want in any room where you're concerned about acoustics.

If you want to eliminate PARALLEL surfaces, you can do the peak as shown previously or you can slope the ceiling so it's lower in front and higher in the back.

Bryan

If you are with GIK then I am well aware that you know much more about acoustics than I.

So far there has been only 2 channel systems in the room.
This space seems to have a very low "Q".