Okay, here goes….
Along with the upcoming audition of killer components later this year, I am been contemplating an equally killer listening room…here is where I would like some feedback.
A number of years ago I met a fascinating gentleman named Pascal who has an audio company in Canada. He has some very fine lines of audio gear and he was in Austin at my friend’s high end store as part of a major open house. Pascal had some rather startling opinions on room treatments, as in he had a total disdain for all of the commercially available room treatment products, from RPG to ACT, you name it. He even went as far to claim that the entire acoustical room treatment industry was a sham and had fooled numerous individuals.
What he revealed to us all was that he was a STRONG proponent of totally natural and organic methods of room treatments. He liked things like walls covered with old world style Italian plasters, porous rock (like limestone), using thin wooden frames to hold cotton batting and muslin to hang on the walls like a picture. He felt that wall to wall wool carpeting was the best and that any type of synthetic materials (like carpeting) would be detrimental to quality sound. He even advocated lining the ceilings with cotton muslin, though I wondered how many people would like their listening room to look like a Bedouin yurt. He also did not like slabs and stated that the best method for the flooring was pier & beam construction, with a layer of cork between the multiple 5/8” sheets of floorboards.
I would like to know what people think about this. I like some of his ideas as the last thing I want is for my room to look like a recording studio. There are a few of the commercially available products I do not like the look of…..at all! I remember his admonitions against synthetic fabrics, but looking at the wide selection of acoustically transparent fabrics that are out there I find that they are all 100% polyester, a fabric that is as synthetic as one can get. I just wonder if there is such a thing as acoustically transparent cotton muslin.
Any thoughts or opinions are most welcome!!
Cheers,
Along with the upcoming audition of killer components later this year, I am been contemplating an equally killer listening room…here is where I would like some feedback.
A number of years ago I met a fascinating gentleman named Pascal who has an audio company in Canada. He has some very fine lines of audio gear and he was in Austin at my friend’s high end store as part of a major open house. Pascal had some rather startling opinions on room treatments, as in he had a total disdain for all of the commercially available room treatment products, from RPG to ACT, you name it. He even went as far to claim that the entire acoustical room treatment industry was a sham and had fooled numerous individuals.
What he revealed to us all was that he was a STRONG proponent of totally natural and organic methods of room treatments. He liked things like walls covered with old world style Italian plasters, porous rock (like limestone), using thin wooden frames to hold cotton batting and muslin to hang on the walls like a picture. He felt that wall to wall wool carpeting was the best and that any type of synthetic materials (like carpeting) would be detrimental to quality sound. He even advocated lining the ceilings with cotton muslin, though I wondered how many people would like their listening room to look like a Bedouin yurt. He also did not like slabs and stated that the best method for the flooring was pier & beam construction, with a layer of cork between the multiple 5/8” sheets of floorboards.
I would like to know what people think about this. I like some of his ideas as the last thing I want is for my room to look like a recording studio. There are a few of the commercially available products I do not like the look of…..at all! I remember his admonitions against synthetic fabrics, but looking at the wide selection of acoustically transparent fabrics that are out there I find that they are all 100% polyester, a fabric that is as synthetic as one can get. I just wonder if there is such a thing as acoustically transparent cotton muslin.
Any thoughts or opinions are most welcome!!
Cheers,