[stu]

I am thinking about adding carpet to the walls of my dedicated room.  My room is 24x14, and has room tunes in each ceiling corner, and bass traps in all 4 corners.  There is carpet covering concrete floor.  I am wanting to add carpet to the entire back wall,  and nyon the fromt wall except for the middle section where a n 8' projector screen is located.  More carpet could be placed on sections of the side walls also.
My question is, would this be worthwhile?  Would it make my room too dead?  Any advice from the experts here would be appreciated.
Thanks,
stu

[JLM]

Carpet picks up odors, how you gonna deep clean it on the wall?  It also wicks up any excessive moisture from the floor, how you gonna dry it out?  If the existing wall is drywall, you'll have a mold jungle.

These are comments I've picked up from nursing homes and nurseries that both tried it.

What are you trying to accomplish sonically?

[bpape]

It would make your room very unbalanced by adding a ton of high frequency only absorbtion.  You already have a lot on the floor, you need something more broadband.  Also, the front wall serves a dual purpose of helping to deal with SBIR issues based on speaker proximity.  That requires something that will reach lower.

A mix of 2" OC703 or equivalent on the front wall and 2-4" 703 with an FSK facing on the rear wall will yield good control, good balance, and keep the rear of the room more lively for 2 channel listening purposes.

Bryan

[jimtranr]

I'm no "expert", but having played with a variety of room treatment options, including carpeting or Sonexing wall sections, over the years I'd be leery of carpeting entire walls. Doing that will suck out the natural liveness that's both present in recordings and contributes to the illusion of "realism" we strive for with our playback systems. At the same time, it's too thin to help with standing wave modes. I hope I don't offend anyone in saying so, but based on my experience I consider wall carpeting a "cheap suit" approach to room treatment.    

I've found that combining diffusion and absorption when treating a room better preserves what the recording engineer has managed to capture (and perhaps enhance). You've already trapped the corners. Instead of carpeting the walls, try a combination of diffusion and absorption at the midwall positions on both the long and short walls and at the first and second reflection points. That way, you'll take care of the major room modes and provide a more naturally ambient environment to "load" your speakers.  

Jim  

[stu]

Thanks for the input guys.  That is exactly what I was wanting.  Many years ago, when I was a lad, I visited an audio shop that had treated one of their rooms.  This was when there were no commercially available treatments, and it was the first time I had seen anyone try to "fix" a room.  They had carpet on the floor and all 4 walls.  There was a real "Quietness" to the room.  I knew that was too much of a good thing, and wondered what a lesser amount would do.  Now I know.  Guess I will try another route  to perfection.
Thanks again,
stu

[bpape]

Check your local HVAC supply houses and see if any of them have OC703 or equiavalent (JM814 from John Manville is sometimes more readily available).  A carton of 2" thick and a few bucks at JoAnn fabric for some muslin will go a long way.

Bryan

[stu]

Thanks Bryan, I will do that.

Stu