# Covering my rear!!!



## Guest (Oct 30, 2007)

Hello everyone

My dedicated HT is in the basement which is perfect except for the fact that i don't have 4 closed walls. Behind the seating, I've got the stairs and stair well leading to the ground floor which I believe is causing sound to disperse too rapidly(I'm losing sound? if that's possible). It was suggested that I close off that area right behind the seating with curtains (velvet that is!). My system is 7.1 and the rear surrounds are on stands just in front of the stairs. I've just installed 96 square feet of acoustic panels (room size W11 X L22 X H7,5)and bass traps (foam) in 2 corners. The ceiling is acoustic tiles and carpeted floors.I'm afraid i'll make the room sound dead if I do this.

What do you think? Any other ideas? Has anyone ever tried this?

Thanks

ERic :T


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

I would agree that a velvet curtain is not a good idea. With carpet, a drop ceiling, and foam bass absorbtion, you're already skewed toward too much high frequency only absorbtion. The curtain will only make it worse and do basically nothing below 500Hz.

What specific issues are you having? Maybe I can help in a different way.

Bryan


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## Guest (Oct 31, 2007)

I'll take pictures and post them. You'll have a better idea of what i'm talking about. I guess my problem is dispersion behind the listening area, I dont think i'm getting much

Thanks for the response

Eric


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

soquij said:


> I've just installed 96 square feet of acoustic panels (room size W11 X L22 X H7,5)and bass traps (foam) in 2 corners.


How thick, and what brand?

Foam is generally "okay" at mid and high frequencies, but it's not great for bass traps. yeah, I know they call them "bass traps," but even the better brands are ineffective below a few hundred Hz.

--Ethan


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Have you thought of putting some sort of door at the bottom of the stairs? A pocket door is ideal and wont take up any space. A picture of the problem area would help allot to help us give you some other ideas.


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