# Sound Treatment of Stone Fireplace?



## studiodog (May 17, 2009)

Hi folks,

My HT build is still in relative infancy - the drywall is hitting the studs today - so I'm looking forward to getting into the meat of the setup, including sound treatments. I'm fairly up to speed on basic acoustic, having run a home recording studio for a few years now. My main concern for treating the HT is a large stone fireplace in the space - couldn't move it, so have to deal with it......

The fireplace, a rather imposing field-stone monolith, is situated along the right-hand wall of the HT space (as viewed from seating position), starting about 4 ft from the top right corner of the room and extending approximately 6-7 feet down the wall, and floor to ceiling. 

My thought is that the stonework is almost guaranteed to be a huge reflection point for the surround sound (lucky me!), but aesthetically I can harldy cover the entire thing with absorber panels. The Wife Acceptance Factor on that would be in the negative numbers........:yikes:

Has anyone here dealt with a similar situation? Any experience or advice is much appreciated.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Welcome to The Shack! 

Do you use the fireplace or is it just there? 

Would having some panels on stands that can be placed and removed be an option?

Bryan


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## studiodog (May 17, 2009)

hi Bryan. The fireplace is not currently used, but that may change once the reno is over - the HT is part and parcel of a larger basement reno including wet bar, family room/HT and home gym, and once we're actually in the space it's possible that the FP could be put back in service, although obviously not while watching movies (light from the fire would irritate the projector!). 

Mobile panels on stands might just be the way to go, especially if I can work in some storage space for them while the HT is not active..... Thanks for the idea! I also wondered about propping a panel or two on a mantle shelf, although lagging something like that into a stone fireplace is a bit of a trick in itself! 

Determining how many panels and where to ultimately place them will have to wait on the construction being finished, of course....


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Leaning a couple would be fine. 

If you want a hanger that would hold them but provide for easy up/down, it shouldn't be a problem to sink a sleeve into the mortar between stones and hang panels on a wire like a picture frame.

Bryan


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