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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: Romy The Cat's new Listening Room
Post Subject: Magic blanketPosted by jessie.dazzle on: 8/14/2010
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Romy wrote:
"...Then, juts for experiment I did what I hated to do – I covered the large 25” by 7” feet glass window behind the Macondo with soft, 4 layered, 1” think, fabric blinds (very cool blinds for acoustic purpose – and the come with the house!). All negative problem are instantly evaporated! The MF went to be saturated and super expressive..."
One day I hung a thick, wool blanket, centered on the wall behind my current system (which is similar to Romy's Macandos; see it here):
http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?postID=4898#4898
The impact was MASSIVE, and totally out of proportion to the simplicity of the act.
The blanket is not magic, but rather a piece of the puzzle that allowed all previous work to shine.
The resulting effect manifests itself in many ways, but the easiest of those to communicate would be how much louder I set the volume; it just never sounds too loud. The presentation is intimate, all-enveloping and, when appropriate, truly immense. Some credit must go to the lower-bass channels; with the addition of the attenuating blanket, I found it necessary to increase the output of these channels relative to the rest of the system. A familiar story; HF directly affecting perception of LF. I also went from 16 Ohm to 8 Ohm, and finally to 4 Ohm Fane drivers in the upper-bass horns (I found a freak custom-ordered pair of the 8Ms with 4 Ohm voice coils) thereby increasing the output of that channel.
"...This is very good and very bad. Very good is that I know the problem and I know the direction I need to do..But it is also very bad as I do not want to convert my living room into a dentist office and I absolutely love the view from my large windows and door between the speakers..."
I've always found it nearly impossible to make an "airy" room sound good, which is fine because I don't feel comfortable sitting in an airy space when listening to music; I'll take an English grandmother's living room any day.
On that subject, and for the amusement of all Goodsoundclub readers...
Once upon a time, in a land far far away, I converted a small room into what amounts to an anechoic chamber... Even without music, I loved being in this space. With music playing, eyes closed, lost in a trance, if anyone entered the room I could immediately detect the difference.
Try not to laugh too hard! Yes this is an example of sheer idiocy and room treatment taken too far, but I was ignorant and curious! These were my very early audio days.
Note window is also covered... At one point, even the floor was covered with foam.
(That's an old Krell KAV 500 wpc amp driving a pair of Danish JBLs... You gotta start somewhere!)
I include this image because it would be very possible to frame panels with this sort of treatment, upholstering them with acoustically transparent, light-colored fabric, thereby maintaining that "airy" feeling. The foam is also available in light colors.
I of course recommend going with the English grandmother's décor, and just getting that "airy" feeling by switching over to mentholated cigarettes!
As for your large glass doors, I know of no transparent attenuation devices; seems the best option is to use the blinds you mentioned.
jd*
(Romy, apologies, I accidentally uploaded a 10 meg version of this image to your server; I meant to send a copy having a resolution more appropriate for web viewing)Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site