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how can I make the back wall transparent?

If this is the wrong place for this topic please move it

My listening room is 11.5 x 15 and my speakers are 3.5 ft from the back wall.

I have spent considerable effort tweaking stuff, to the point where the system sounds very spacious and deep, BUT it still does not sound as spacious as systems with 6-8 ft of free space behind the speakers.

Is there any aesthetically pleasing wall treatment available that would give me that depth without moving the speakers

Taking the wall down is not an option:-)
williewonka
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williewonka OP
3,067 posts
 

LR57 - RE:

"I was also wondering if I could use vinyl as a type of crown moulding behind me."

Do you mean the hard vinyl crown moulding?

I think Hard vinyl will probably scatter sound waves - a type of dispersion - but that could also be beneficial. Wood may be better though.

I also wondered if crown moulding could be effective - if you try it let us all know please

I have seen polystyrene crown moulding, which may react similar to vinyl given it's elastic properties? After all, polystyrene is used for soundproofing also.

I also looked up some acoustic specialist sites and one recommend "treating"  the ceiling corners of the room first, then move down the vertical corners of the room and lastly, if there was still an issue, look at wall panels - but they were using acoustic foam to treat  a home recording studio.

They did caution about using too much treatment, which can deaden the entire room and make the presentation quite dull.

I guess the profile of the crown moulding (concave vs convex) also plays a role ?

  • concave - would that cause the sound to be focussed close to the ceiling?  So that may not be desirable - standing waves?
  • Convex - that would probably disperse the sound - but I do not know if that would cause any issues somewhere else in the room

Another material - I just remembered a wall treatment my father used (in the UK) primarily for heating/insulation purposes - Polystyrene wall insulation (similar to wall paper). You use a paste to bond it to the wall just like wall paper - it's available on the web - e.g.

http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/warmaline-wall-veneer---914-x-500mm-072492

You could then paper over it with a textured wall paper - like...

https://www.grahambrown.com/uk/product/18500/brush

And then paint to match the rest of the room - practically invisible!

And you've treated the entire wall, but it's more work than one piece of crown moulding.

A little crazy I know, but then - what about this hobby is NOT crazy :-)

Regards...

williewonka OP
3,067 posts
 

OK - the roller blind is now installed!

There are two kinds of vinyl that can be selected for the blind I purchased...

  1. Single colour - which is just a single sheet of very thin vinyl
  2. Dual colour - This type of vinyl is made from two different coloured layers of vinyl welded onto a cotton middle layer.

I purchased the dual colour and the size was 92" x 78".

The original sheet I tried was 72" x 24 and was at least twice the thickness of the vinyl on the roller blind I purchased.

Both were mounted about 1" from the ceiling.

Since I was pretty familiar with the sound of the room with the  72 x 24 sheet in position, I set the roller blind to drop down around the 24" mark
  1. as far as I could remember, the sound was pretty much identical
  2. I then dropped the blind to around 4 feet and noticed a slight change - improved imaging.
  3. Finally I dropped the blind to cover the window completely, at which point I really noticed significantly more depth to the image and a little more width with improved clarity and a more even bass reproduction

Perhaps the extra width of the roller blind provided some additional benefits, but it appeared that when both blinds were set to 24" the thickness of the first piece of vinyl I tried did not appear to offer any additional benefits over the thinner vinyl on the roller blind - i.e. in my room at least.

It would appear the vinyl is a pretty good material when it comes to absorbing sound waves.

The roller blind works very well  my room, since it covers the window behind my listening chair (framed with drapes on both sides) and looks very tidy when rolled up - very high on the WAF !

So that's it! - no plans for a remote controlled motorized option ;-)

Hope you find it useful

Regards...



lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,393 posts
 
Nicely done, williewonka. Sounds like it matches the decor of the room as well.

When I referred to a "type of crown moulding, " I was wondering if there was a way to use a strip of thick vinyl near the ceiling where typical crown moulding is always placed. That's an open area for high frequency wave reflection.
I've been reading that MLV is used in sound proofing, and I need either absorption or diffusion.

I may experiment with some fabric across the ceiling area first, just to see what it looks like.
williewonka OP
3,067 posts
 

LR57 - As stated in an earlier post - selecting the right material is key - vinyl is definitely best for this purpose 

But I think I know where you are going with this :-)

Take a look at my  DIY Vinyl Crown Moulding - last component entry on my "System"

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/3760

I have not tried this, but I think it might work very well - especially with 1/8" MLV

If MLV is too heavy you could used vinyl upholstery material - the ends may be an issue, but...

  • you could cut a Styrofoam form at each end to glue it to and then caulk to finish

Let me  know how it turns out.

 Regards... :-)))

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