Would a Fabric Room Divider Interfere with sound?

Hi AJ; I'm no expert either, but it seems to me that any cloth in front of the speakers is going to absorb the high frequencies to some extent and likely make the sound/music less dynamic. As I'm sure you know, many audiophiles take the grill cloths off their speakers when listening, and claim better dynamics, more immediacy, and a generally more "live" sound.

Vandersteen recommends leaving the grill covers on their V5s though, and states that the speakers were designed to be used with the hoods on, and that the grill cloth material is "sonically transparent". I have found that to be the case with my V5s. This is maybe a perspective to look at it from.

But if you're bent on doing it, maybe you could look into this "sonic transparency" business. Good Luck, and Cheers. Craig

Hi Angela: I tried something similar in the past (just two channel, not HT) with my old Ls3/5a'a and the subs. It did not sound right to me (mainly in the HF's). I used finished silk stretched on (1" x 1") panel frames and can't imagine that the skimpy frames themselves had much to do with the HF's. Maybe silk was the wrong fabric? We tried some metallic sheers on the glass patio doors and surprisingly enough they worked well blocking the first reflection point on that wall (you could see through these curtains) which means that thin is not necessarily transparent for our application. You know how I hate to look @ the gear myself, but so far I have not been able to hide the speakers (just everything else:-). Maybe consider using a nice old wardrobe (for the TV and maybe the center channel) to @ least get those out-of-sight when they are not in use? Kind of a different angle on the situation, but it might work out depending on the style of your room.

If your choice of fabric was grille cloth and the grilles were removed from the speakers it should work. You never know, you might get lucky and find fabric (for the non-speaker portion) that looks like the grille cloth you selected in order to keep costs down.

Happy listening,
Patrick
p.s. Let us know what happens with the project.

Lug's idea sounds possibly realistic; the only way you're really gonna know however is to experiment, as is the case with so many of our sonic exploits. However, my gut says the same thing that yours does Ang.

GGTA, bob! anyway, to clarify, these are ESL's - no "grill" cloth and the TV is a projection with a 4 ft center channel plopped on top, so grill cloth and cabinets don't apply.
I am thinking about making a frame that fits around the TV only that the center channel fits in and just enclosing around the TV and center channel, leaving the ISIS sitting along beside... I need to watch a few more episodes of trading spaces to get a full idea.... hell, that's what got me into this mess to begin with... :) -aj

-A-
"Guilford of Maine" sells acousticaly transparent material which would work well for what you are hoping to achieve. Make the framework out of wood, staple "Wedgy", 30# roofing felt, or a neoprene rubber to any floor mount frame members in order to isolate them from the floor. Use 2 1/2" screws rather than nails to mount to the floor
You can get material samples from GOM at www.GuilfordofMaine.com/samplecenter

thanks, D! I went out to their site. So would I be looking at fabrics that are labeled "directional" as opposed to "non directional"?

The TV is whats interfering with the sound. The fabric could only make it better! You must be experiencing severe reflections off the the TV in between your speakers . If you do build a frame of wood and cloth try taming reflections on the insides with wool or fiberglass. This should improve clarity, focus, diction and overall frequency balance.Also I would not put any speaker directly on top of any TV. This speaker will only continue to re-excite the higly resonant makeup of TV's, namely glass and plastic. Try using a platform or better yet Audiopoints.

Hi Angela. I grappled with a similar problem with my HT setup. Finally, I pushed the TV and associated equipment all the way back against the wall and pulled the speakers further out into the room so as to minimize reflections off the TV. The center speaker went back, too, so a little delay tweaking was in order. The combination worked wonders! I'm not one of those folks who wants a huge video image so moving the choob further away was no big sacrifice. Even watching HT, the sound is lots more important to me than seeing the actors near life-size.

Good luck with it and let us know what you settle on.

will