Would a Fabric Room Divider Interfere with sound?


ok, I want to spruce up my HT and the TV with the center channel laying on it and the speakers on the side may be ok to audiophiles, but it is not much to look at from a room aesthetic point of view.

I have a Toshiba 40” projection TV with an Innersound ribbon (not out yet) center channel lying on top of the TV, a pair of Innersound ISIS sitting to either side.
I was thinking about making some kind of cloth partition thingy to sit in front of this with an opening just for the TV monitor to show through. I figured that I could make a simple frame and stretch some cool fabric across to “cover it all up”. My gut tells me “NO! You’ll screw up the sound of those gorgeous ISIS!” (or is it ISISES? anyway...), but I have no scientific point of view to base that on. Is my gut right? Is there anything else that I could do to “bring it all together” that wouldn’t interfere with the sound?
I’m serious, guys, so please help!
-aj
angela100
Hi Angela: I tried something similar in the past (just two channel, not HT) with my old Ls3/5a'a and the subs. It did not sound right to me (mainly in the HF's). I used finished silk stretched on (1" x 1") panel frames and can't imagine that the skimpy frames themselves had much to do with the HF's. Maybe silk was the wrong fabric? We tried some metallic sheers on the glass patio doors and surprisingly enough they worked well blocking the first reflection point on that wall (you could see through these curtains) which means that thin is not necessarily transparent for our application. You know how I hate to look @ the gear myself, but so far I have not been able to hide the speakers (just everything else:-). Maybe consider using a nice old wardrobe (for the TV and maybe the center channel) to @ least get those out-of-sight when they are not in use? Kind of a different angle on the situation, but it might work out depending on the style of your room.
If your choice of fabric was grille cloth and the grilles were removed from the speakers it should work. You never know, you might get lucky and find fabric (for the non-speaker portion) that looks like the grille cloth you selected in order to keep costs down.

Happy listening,
Patrick
p.s. Let us know what happens with the project.
Lug's idea sounds possibly realistic; the only way you're really gonna know however is to experiment, as is the case with so many of our sonic exploits. However, my gut says the same thing that yours does Ang.
GGTA, bob! anyway, to clarify, these are ESL's - no "grill" cloth and the TV is a projection with a 4 ft center channel plopped on top, so grill cloth and cabinets don't apply.
I am thinking about making a frame that fits around the TV only that the center channel fits in and just enclosing around the TV and center channel, leaving the ISIS sitting along beside... I need to watch a few more episodes of trading spaces to get a full idea.... hell, that's what got me into this mess to begin with... :) -aj
-A-
"Guilford of Maine" sells acousticaly transparent material which would work well for what you are hoping to achieve. Make the framework out of wood, staple "Wedgy", 30# roofing felt, or a neoprene rubber to any floor mount frame members in order to isolate them from the floor. Use 2 1/2" screws rather than nails to mount to the floor
You can get material samples from GOM at www.GuilfordofMaine.com/samplecenter