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Acoustic treatment for windows and a piano

Hello all,

This is my first question after much lurking and a few thread replies. I appreciate everyone who contributes to this community - I’ve learned a lot from you. 

My listening room is 13.5’ wide and 16’ long. On the left side wall I have an upright piano (hard surfaces, reflective), with some acoustic tiles above the piano to dampen reflection. I have a big rug covering most of the hardwood floor, with a thick pad under it. The ceiling is typical bare drywall.  

On the right side wall I have two large glass windows, two separate window cases. I have typical wood Venetian blinds on each window section. 

My problem: Despite a lot of tweaking and positioning, my highs have amazing clarity but are still a bit harsh and fatiguing. I’m thinking I need to treat the windows, it’s likely I’m getting a lot of reflection off them and the hard wood blinds - but maybe the piano is a problem, too, or maybe I’ve reached the limits of my gear. 

Key system points: Rega RP8 TT with Hana SL; Tavish Vintage tube phono pre; Rega Elex-R integrated; Martin Logan Motion 40i speakers. I have good quality interconnects and speaker cable, and I have some sort of vibration control on every component. 

My questions:

1. Is the piano likely part of the problem? If so can I do anything with it? It’s a very nice piano that I play daily so it’s not going anywhere, and I really can’t rearrange the room due to layout. 

2. Are the windows likely part of the problem? If so, would you recommend drapes, acoustic blinds, or something else?

3. As I’ve improved my system, I’ve begun to suspect the amp is maxed out for sound quality. It feels like the speakers could give me a bit more with a better amp. Is it possible the harsh highs are from the amp alone? I’ve read the Elex-R amps can be lean in the highs, and that’s exactly what I’m experiencing. 

Thank you for any thoughts! 
phasemonger
erik_squires
16,678 posts
 
One thing to keep in mind is that you can often compensate for deficits in one side of the room by adding more to the other.

Of course, it's hard to get a good stereo image when your left and right are not balanced but if one side is too reflective and can't be fixed, such as with big bay windows you don't want to hide you can treat the opposite room with extra thick absorbers and diffusion.

And don't ever forget the ceiling.
secretguy
1,812 posts
 
Strings are already damped.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
You guys made me go check out my my piano, a 19th Century Mason-Hamlin upright. Anyway, the strings for the piano’s top eighteen keys are entirely undamped, and could conceivably resonate sympathetically. The strings for those keys, however, are under extreme tension. They did not respond one iota to my repeated shouts into the piano’s interior. In other words, I don’t think that, because it’s a musical instrument, the piano might be bolluxing up the stereo’s imaging. I do have to say, though, that any piano is a substantial piece of furniture, with a wealth of hard flat surfaces.
phasemonger OP
23 posts
 
Thanks edcyn, I’ll check to see if I have any undamped strings, and yell at them!
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,747 posts
 
I suspect that placing a weight on the damping pedal (if your's has one) might not be a good idea in the long run, thus the simple damping method I mentioned.

Long story (not bothering to tell it) is that hollow stringed instruments (especially pianos) have an effect on room acoustics.

Discovered this when making live recordings in large domestic rooms/basements (basic mono tape recorders, but really good microphones) in the mid 60's.

We had a Baldwin Acrosonic upright that was a very nice sounding piano (would even be so now if properly refurbished).

DeKay
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