I've done a horrible thing and looked at too many theaters with wall panels and I've fallen in love. So now I'm looking and realizing that I can't afford to buy GOM fabric like all the other cool theaters. Even the Dazian Expo cloth that I've seen mentioned as an alternative appears to be available as clearance only and in a few colors. Has anyone had success with other types of fabric in their theaters? I really can't stand to live with this horribly dark wood paneling in the theater/basement much longer.

Acoustically transparent fabrics are only required for covering speakers. Any fabric that isn't reflective will work to cover walls (fire concerns aside).

The Janus line from Dazian is about half the price of GOM. It is fire resistant and acoustically neutral. There are more exciting colors than in the expo line.

Acoustically transparent fabrics are only required for covering speakers. Any fabric that isn't reflective will work to cover walls (fire concerns aside).


What really??? How could I have been reading for so long and have completely missed that! So if im treating first reflection points with linacoustic, i just need something thats acoustically neutral?

Ok, so if thats the case. Whats the best bang for your buck fabric out there to cover the linacoustic? I just need a flat black.

I used speaker cloth from JoAnn. It's normally $10.99/yard but they have a 50% off coupon in the paper almost every weekend. I got it for $5.49/yard at 58" wide, which is wide enough for the width of two panels.

It looks like this when they're finished:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/drinpsmith/leftpanels.jpg

-drin

What really??? How could I have been reading for so long and have completely missed that! So if im treating first reflection points with linacoustic, i just need something thats acoustically neutral?


Think of fabric falling into 3 categories. Acoustically transparent (neutral), Absorbing, and Reflecting.

You stick something that is absorbing in front of an absorbing acoustical panel and you get a double benefit effect.

What you don't want is something that is reflective. I haven't finished my coffee so I can't think of a reflective fabric right now.

Think of fabric falling into 3 categories. Acoustically transparent (neutral), Absorbing, and Reflecting.

You stick something that is absorbing in front of an absorbing acoustical panel and you get a double benefit effect.

What you don't want is something that is reflective. I haven't finished my coffee so I can't think of a reflective fabric right now.

Chinz, polished cotton, Satin, taffeta, those would all be very reflective. Any really tight weave cloth.
I used stretch velvet with lycra in it and it is when stretched very transparent. and it looks very rich. Most large weave upholstery fabrics would work as well.
Now fire safety is another matter entirely.

depends on the color you want, and fire safety of course, but partsexpress has good grill cloth for cheap. i'm thinking of buying their black along with white and maybe dyeing the white. still up in the air though.

@judsonp

I ordered some samples of the Janus line it looks like a pretty good deal for the price. Have you used this personally?

Muslin from JoAnn Fabrics runs from about $1 to about $4 per yard. It comes in white, off white, brown and black. You can easily dye the white if you want.

Just remember that any fabric you use should be fire resistent or treated to be so.

Bryan

@bpape

My wife suggested the same thing since she's into sewing and crafts. Does Joann Fabrics sell fire resistant material? What kind of additional cost should I expect to make a material fire resistant?

@judsonp

I ordered some samples of the Janus line it looks like a pretty good deal for the price. Have you used this personally?

Havix,

I have the sample card but haven't purchased any yet.

Judson

I originally used Muslin and disliked the look so bad, I ripped my panels down. Muslin looks like Bed sheets.

I was then told I could use Felt for broadband absorption. I purchased Felt from Joann's and thought I was done. I've since learned that Felt is NOT good to use as it reflects frequencies above 3 or 4khz. Both of those responses came from folks who are 'The Gurus of Acoustic Treatments' on this forum (see the Sticky and do a search under my screen name. You will see the major debate between two of these folks as well as a link to the thread where another guru told me it was ok to use. Be careful in what you use because you get mixed information even on a thread with so many talented and intelligent people. You are safe with Muslin, and it's cheap. But, I find it ugly. Other than that, I'd go with Speaker Cloth if you want Black, or GOM if you want another color. I tried to save money, but I've done my panels twice now (once with Muslin, and once with Felt). Now that I've learned Felt is NOT good to use, it appears I'll be stripping them again and going with what I was trying to bypass up front.........GOM!!!!

Many will (are) telling you the same thing I heard "Pick a fabric that won't reflect". That's all well and good, but you need to know WHICH fabrics won't reflect. WHICH are neutral and WHICH absorb. Unless some of the gurus get into another debate and someone passes along some data sheets of multiple fabrics, the safe bet is Dazien, Speaker Cloth, Muslin or GOM.

With all that said, I'm like the OP and would like to know of some other cheaper fabric choices than GOM. If there are none that are proven to NOT be reflective, I will bite the bullet and go with GOM. I definitely hear a difference in my room (in a negative way) with the Felt over the Muslin.

LOL muslin IS bedsheets!

Havix,

I forgot to mention that Tom used Muslin and coated it with a fire-proofing spray. You can find his info in the La Cinema Rockhurst thread.

Judson