You may not be limited to colors, but you are limited to weave and weight if you dont want the sound to be affected. And the stretch of a fabric affects how easily and neatly it can be used to recover the panels.
I had my Tympanis recovered at the factory, and was asked to send samples of the cloth -- a loosely weaved Belgian linen in a neutral shade that was my wife's request for keeping the Tympanis.
Two simple tests are to blow through the cloth (resistance is bad) or to run water from the tap through the cloth.
In this case, the water is supposed to stream straight through without bending.
My cloth passed these tests, but in the end, the factory did not want to use the material because there was not sufficient stretch to it.
I had to beg Mr Winey a bit because I spent $500.00 on the fabric. The lack of stretch caused the cloth to sag a bit in places but in the end they were accomodating.
In summary, there is more than color to consider.
I had my Tympanis recovered at the factory, and was asked to send samples of the cloth -- a loosely weaved Belgian linen in a neutral shade that was my wife's request for keeping the Tympanis.
Two simple tests are to blow through the cloth (resistance is bad) or to run water from the tap through the cloth.
In this case, the water is supposed to stream straight through without bending.
My cloth passed these tests, but in the end, the factory did not want to use the material because there was not sufficient stretch to it.
I had to beg Mr Winey a bit because I spent $500.00 on the fabric. The lack of stretch caused the cloth to sag a bit in places but in the end they were accomodating.
In summary, there is more than color to consider.