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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
angela100 OP
435 posts
 
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
dbrambrink
2 posts
 
-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
angela100 OP
435 posts
 
thanks, D! I went out to their site. So would I be looking at fabrics that are labeled "directional" as opposed to "non directional"?
theaudiotweak
2,774 posts
 
The TV is whats interfering with the sound. The fabric could only make it better! You must be experiencing severe reflections off the the TV in between your speakers . If you do build a frame of wood and cloth try taming reflections on the insides with wool or fiberglass. This should improve clarity, focus, diction and overall frequency balance.Also I would not put any speaker directly on top of any TV. This speaker will only continue to re-excite the higly resonant makeup of TV's, namely glass and plastic. Try using a platform or better yet Audiopoints.
bishopwill
369 posts
 
Hi Angela. I grappled with a similar problem with my HT setup. Finally, I pushed the TV and associated equipment all the way back against the wall and pulled the speakers further out into the room so as to minimize reflections off the TV. The center speaker went back, too, so a little delay tweaking was in order. The combination worked wonders! I'm not one of those folks who wants a huge video image so moving the choob further away was no big sacrifice. Even watching HT, the sound is lots more important to me than seeing the actors near life-size.

Good luck with it and let us know what you settle on.

will
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