Stepping into realm of room treatments

[itschris]

I think it's time that I start seriously looking into some room treatments. My family room setup is not a all conducive to good accoustics. I have glass, granite, an open side, and tall walls front and back.

Now that I've settled in and have got to "know" my system, I'm starting to notice some of the issue. One in particular is the back wall. The couch is pretty much up against the wall and I'm getting a lot of reflections.

I was looking at the Aurolex SpaceArray. One it looks kinda cool and that's actually important because it has to look good because I can't hide it in any way. Can you paint those, or would that totally ruin the performance?

 

[jamie2112]

If you paint them it WILL totally affect their performance. The paint would be absorbed into the foam or whatever material is used and defeat the purpose of having the tiles in the first place. There are many kinds and styles of treatments out there so you should be able to find one that fits your decor..

 

[Adam]

Jamie, the Space Arrays are solid wood. Would your comments still apply?

Thanks.

 

[jamie2112]

No Adam if they are wood I "wood" say no... but if they are already treated with some kind of absorbing material then I would say yes painting them would affect the sound. I really was talking about "and should have stated before" that the advice I was suggesting was for foam based traps.Sorry bout that Adam

 

[jamie2112]

I would check with the distributer about wood treatments before painting as there has to be some kind of treatment I would imagine...plain wood or fiberboard? I guess it depends on how it was intended to be used according to the manf....

 

[itschris]

THanks guys, I was thinking about having a grid of about 6 or 8 of them on the back wall. I'm trying to find something that'll 1st work, 2nd, look good... maybe even kinda like art, and 3rd... somewhat affordable.

Most of the panel I've seen just wouldn't pass the wife test. I moved an 4 panel oil painting on that wall and it did seem to make a difference. I'm not sure what exactly, but thiings do sound different though I have yet to really sit and listen. The painting is a bit small for the wall, it's 4 2x2 canvases. I'm thinking about looking for two more substantail canvas painting for that wall maybe 5x4 each. I'm assuming that has to be better than a bare wall.

I'm also thinking that fixing one problem may just bring to light or even magnify another, however. I notice a lot of setups have treatments behind the speakers. Does the fact that I have bi-polar speakers (Def Tech 7002's) change the way I would handle that?

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Just do what I did to pass the WAF. I promised her I would remove the panels anytime we had guests over. I showed her how easily the panels could be removed and how a nice canvas can be placed right on the mounts behind the speakers and a painting can go to the side walls.

...then I actually never move them when guest come over...

 

[jamie2112]

Just do what I did to pass the WAF. I promised her I would remove the panels anytime we had guests over. I showed her how easily the panels could be removed and how a nice canvas can be placed right on the mounts behind the speakers and a painting can go to the side walls.

...then I actually never move them when guest come over...

There you go Greg You got it figured out.........just say yes...