# Wrapping QRD panels w/ fabric?



## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

I built some QRD N7 panels for my room and would rather cover them with black fabric to match my absorption panels. As long as I use a breathable fabric would this have alot of negative affects on the performance values? My "diffusion" range is 750hz - 4khz. How much of a negative would this produce?

These are the panels I want to wrap.


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

Most fabric is pretty neutral acoustically, and you have to go out of your way to find fabrics that are either specifically transparent or specifically absorbative. My guess (and this is just a guess) is that you could probably use just about any off-the-shelf fabric (From someplace like JoAnn's) and cover your QRD's without having any audible effect on their function. Maybe you'd be able to calculate or even measure an effect, but I'm betting that's a pretty thin "maybe". I'm also thinking that your suggestion to use a "breathable" fabric is right on the money. The more open a weave you use, the smaller the fabric's effect on passing waves. 

If you want to be sure, PE sells grill cloth whose purpose is acoustic transparency. Seems unlikely that it would match your absorbtion panels though, unless you used the same stuff for the whole project. That's probably a lot more expensive though.


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

Wrapping them should only affect the higher frequencies so it depends on how much you need these to work in that area.
(The amount of reflection will depend on the thickness and density of the fabric)
Do you have a specific problem, and if so, at what frequency. Or are they just an additional general room treatment.


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