One area of "innovation" (dirty word in masonry) that I see is where lodges can hold a degree in different locations. For example some lodges can hold a degree in a cave, on a battleship, in the alamo. Now I think these are cool and in no way detract from the uniformity and solemnity of the degree. So this makes me think there is some creative diversity from lodge to lodge that still keeps the words of the ritual constant.
Some areas where Texas is lacking... when I travel out of state, I see lodge rooms with real winding staircases, however I think there may be a prohibition against building any more those of new Texas lodges (maybe wrong on that). Also when I attend a lodge building that has a non-used organ. I was asking if its ever used (or if any lodge for that matter in Texas uses music because I would like to see how that is used) and I was told there is a grand lodge prohibition against using music. Not sure if that is true or not. In my college fraternity, we used some recorded music in a few places where our candidate was blindfolded to set the mood or increase the drama. When I went through that in college, i assure you it was very cool.
But back on the CoR discussion. On why the Texas grand lodge is reluctant to use of chamber of reflections... I am not sure if this enhancement is any more of a innovation than allowing lodges to hold degrees in caves or battleships. However, on one point, it could be that the CoR is just too darn spooky. Maybe it scares candidates into getting up and walking out before they even go into the official 1st degree where the master of ceremonies does his traditional stuff. Maybe they get the idea that blue lodge is some kind of satanic cult when they see a skeleton head. Could that be the resistance to the whole idea?
I think the CoR is successfully used in Europe and South America and perhaps other parts of US (Louisiana?),maybe in parts of Canada. I knew a little about CoR from internet searching even before I was initiated into the 1st degree, and I was disappointed that my Texas lodge did not have a CoR. I hear from another lodge in Texas that did it for a while, that their candidates thought the experience was pretty cool and was a good enhancement to the solemnity of the occasion. When you consider all the stuff they do in Scottish Rite, having a simple CoR in the blue lodge is only a very small taste of that type of stuff. There is a tremendous amount of visual symbolism in the CoR and before you bring a candidate to light in the real degree, the CoR is like creating a polar opposite so they can pause, reflect, and get serious while they are "in the dark" (literally, physically).