[duluth5]

Hello All,


Please help settle an issue with my wife (organist).


We have a 7.1 theater in our basement. Our basement is one long rectangle shape. On one end is the theater with the screen against the wall. The other end is a free space.


I think it would be a great idea to have a heavy curtain towards the back of the theater space to block any light and somehow improve the sound.


She thinks there would be better sound if we leave the back end open.


What do you think? Maybe she thinks the curtain would be ugly and just don't want the curtain?


Thanks for your help!

 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Sound reflecting off the back wall will meet the initial wave at various degrees of phase, depending on the frequency and distance from the wall, causing peaks and dips in the response, even outright cancellation when they meet 180 degrees out of phase. The number one enemy of good sound is hard, flat reflective surfaces. That's why if you go to Carnegie Hall or any Broadway theater there are no hard, flat reflective surfaces.

An organist really should know this.

 

[duluth5]

Since our basement is really long (the entire length of the house), I would think the reflection from the end of the basement would be very weak.


Do you think adding a curtain, which I assume would absorb or scatter the sound, help the sound?


Thanks. Just trying to learn as much as I can.

BTW, my wife may be determining her opinion more on how the curtain affect the decor of the basement.

 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]



Quote:
Originally Posted by duluth5  /t/1523931/room-question#post_24519956


Since our basement is really long (the entire length of the house), I would think the reflection from the end of the basement would be very weak.

Do you think adding a curtain, which I assume would absorb or scatter the sound, help the sound?

The reflected wave will be a lot weaker at the LP than close to the wall, but it will be there. It may not sound that much better with a curtain, but that depends on what acoustic treatments you have in the rest of the room, if any.

Quote:
BTW, my wife may be determining her opinion more on how the curtain affect the decor of the basement.

It's genetic.