I am looking at room treatments and have not yet got curtains for the living room where the HiFi/Home Theatre is, I’ve got two windows I am looking to dress with acoustic curtains. One window is large and takes up most of one wall, the other is directly behind the listening position and I am looking to minimize reflections.
I am referring to sound absorbing curtains not the soundproofing & blackout ones for bedrooms. Thing is, after a quick look around this is more of an investment than I anticipated, some around £600-800 factoring both windows.
See if you can have a manual inspection. A good sound absorbing curtain uses both absorbtion and deadening, not just one or the other.
I can’t comment on UK brands but in my direct experience the best curtains for this had the following three characteristics:
Thick semi corduroy fabric.
Rubber backing.
Interwoven with lead threads embedded in the rubber.
If the window is large, you may need to check the supporting weight of the rail. Decent ones are incredibly heavy. The rubber also makes them 100% opaque which is great for a movie room.
These look quite interesting; not cheap, but made to measure, and should be a lot more thermally efficient than the thin curtain currently covering the French doors to my listening room.
I am seriously thinking in investing in 1 large curtain for the doors. The Ikea option is not too well regarded, apparently, either by purchasers, or John Darko, who actually measured their (non) effectiveness.
Very well made. One day it was very hot day. I closed these curtains and the temperature lowered significantly, maybe 5 C less.
For sound, they say it goes to 21 db.
Hopefully, they will work in the reverse way in the winter, and retain heat much better than the thin curtain, in conjunction with having new French doors.
Thanks all, I was initially looking at the Sound Absorption Curtains from Direct Fabrics.co.uk , I will check out some of the alternatives mentioned. I hadn’t really planned on spending nearly a grand on two pairs of curtains (including some heavy-duty curtain rails) but perhaps it is the way to go. I’ve noticed some curtains made of ‘kilo wool’ frequently come up but they look more at home in a professional studio or theatre.
