# Can a canvas painting become an acoustic panel?



## Sthpaul

Hi Shackers
I have been an avid reader of your forums for some time and decided it was time to join in.
I've recently acquired REW V5.0 and all required testing gismos and about to begin playing with room acoustics.
Even without testing I have already made some DIY bass traps for the room front corners and am having trouble in that the wife appreciation levels have been measured quite low already.
I have a question, we have some canvas art work (paintings) which already hang in the room ( one on right hand side wall and one large one on the front wall behind the speakers) and was wondering if I insert 50mm thick insulation behind them would this assist in reducing reflections, reverb etc. I understand that the painted canvas itself might limit higher frequency absorption and because they are effectively laying hard against the wall not the optimum for low frequencies.. but before I go to the trouble of cutting insulation to size thought it was worth getting your opinions. Maybe the question is.. can a canvas painting provide a means to conceal an acoustic panel? and what applications can it assist with?, ie best on the wall behind the speakers, useful for first reflection etc.
Incidentally the insulation I have available is 50mm thick 48kg/m3 polyester or 32kg/m2 glasswool.
Thanks


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## bpape

You are correct in your assumption that the canvas and oils will limit higher frequency absorption. It will still allow upper bass through midrange absorption somewhat though. If WAF is low, it's certainly better than nothing.

Bryan


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## Owen Bartley

Taking your idea one step further, if you really needed acoustically transparent artwork, check out this thread at AVS where the member had his poster art printed on (largely) acoustically transparent material and framed them. You could possibly have your canvas paintings printed in this way, which would let you keep the artwork and still improve the sound. I know they still aren't completely transparent, but as far as I could tell they're the a good compromise. If the added cost and effort isn't worth the incremental improvement you might see, then you might as well just try insulating the existing paintings, it sure can't hurt!

link


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## rab-byte

I believe using water based pigments will allow for full range panels. If you have a projector or slide projector you could simply trace your small format into a larger one.


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