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Enclosing a room - curtains? Help please

468 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by settopguy, May 6, 2002

RedTalon

Discussion Starter · May 3, 2002

I have a 16'x16' dedicated HT room which has two entryways to the rest of the house. When in the HT seating, an opening is off to the front left which enters into the kitchen and another is in the center rear that opens up to a hallway and the rest of the house. I'm currently searching for options on "enclosing" the room. I'm under the impression that I will get better results (in sound and video!) when I get this done. I've seen a few posts mentioning "heavy curtains". Can anyone provide direct links to exactly what curtains could be used in this situation? Unfortunatly I can't have any incredibly permanent, ie: plaster up the rear wall.

Am I wrong assuming I am loosing a lot of bass, or better yet, overall sound, when I have two openings like this in my room?

Any other ideas, etc are welcome.

Thanks for the help!

Sorry if this is a repetative topic. Didn't do too much forum searching on this before posting.

-Matt

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settopguy

· #2 · May 3, 2002

Curtains probably will never be as good as an actual wall at blocking sound, especially bass. Curtains are more for appearance than sound properties. They may help stop reflections of high and midrange frequency sound within the room.

So if your room is truly dedicated to home theater you should consider building walls and doors to separate the home theater from the rest of the house. Not only that, but the construction of a dedicated home theater room is quite different from an ordinary room. Multiple layers on the walls and ceilings are typcially used to minimize sound transmission to other parts of the house, and to minimize sound reflections within the room.

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RedTalon

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 4, 2002

Thanks for the reply,

I'll rephrase the question:

I'm looking for good curtains for my HT room. I understand doors/solid walls are the best option, but as I stated in the first post, nothing that permanent is possible, so I'm looking for the best alternative and something less obtrusive as a door in the middle of the house.

Any recommendations on good heavy curtains that dampen echo and block light are appreciated.

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settopguy

· #4 · May 6, 2002

There are a few things to consider:

1. Should the curtains limit light reflection? (That may be an issue if they are the front or side of the room where there could be light coming from the screen)

2. How well the curtains absorb/block sound?

3. fire resistance

Some people use velvet, but I think it is expensive, and usually shiny.

Ideally you want something with a tight weave and/or deep knap. Again velvet would fit that description. Perhaps you could use another material like wool with multiple layers.

Clearly burlap would be poor since it is a loose weave and is light weight.

I think felt is better at not reflecting light, so if you were worried about light relections you could have a outer curtain made of felt.

I mention fire resistance because most curtain materials burn easily. Wool tends to burn slowly. Fiberglass doesn't burn at normal temperatures, but I don't think people make curtains from it anymore.

I think with curtains you could muffle the sound, but low frequences and some other frequences will likely get through.

Search this web site. One guy was selling curtain fabric he got from an old theater.

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