Electroacoustics and electronics

Room acoustics

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maverick

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maverick

Member

Opening post by maverick

Posts
11
City
Roma

Good morning,

I recently purchased a Yamaha U1 upright piano from the '80s.

I am very satisfied with the purchase, if only because I was coming from an old 1960s Roesler (109 cm) on which I would have had to spend some money to overhaul the action.

The only thing I hadn't considered is the acoustic performance of a piano of that height in the room where I placed it.

We are talking about a small basement living room of about 30-35sqm (about 7m x 5m). The ceiling height is quite low: 270 cm where I positioned the piano (against a wall) in a small area, but for the rest of the room it is only 230 cm (I am attaching a photo). In the living room, there are: a very large sofa, a coffee table with a 55'' TV, several paintings, a small bookshelf that is currently quite empty of books (positioned against the opposite wall), and a treadmill.

I want to clarify that what interests me is not so much limiting the sound diffusion beyond the room, because fortunately I live in an almost independent villa, but trying to improve the acoustics within the room itself where the piano is played. Let's say the sensation one gets is a sort of reverberation, especially (and obviously) if the piano is played at high volume.

I don't have huge pretensions, also because I would neither want to overhaul the living room decor nor spend too much money.

I noticed that by placing a duvet behind the piano, the sound emission is reduced by a good 30%, but it would remain a temporary solution that does not satisfy me much aesthetically. Therefore, I was wondering if it would be possible to improve the situation slightly through some small intervention.

For example, if I placed those grey sound-absorbing panels on the wall behind the piano's soundboard so that when I move the piano closer, they become almost invisible, would I get a tangible benefit? I also saw that there are paintings/prints made of sound-absorbing material that I could place instead of the paintings. But even here, is it worth it, given that they aren't exactly free?

Any advice is welcome.

Thank you in advance.

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Thesimon

Administrator

Reply 3 by Thesimon

Posts
4,504
City
Ariccia, RM

Hi Maverick, it's hard to tell much from the photo, but I saw that the ceiling is also offset. Keep in mind that normally, the more corners there are, the more reflections are created.

Rooms designed for room acoustics are rooms that do not have parallel walls, but naturally, this is not possible inside a house. First of all, I advise you to put bass traps in the corners. In my opinion, they are anything but unaesthetic. They shouldn't be painted, or if they are, it must be done with specific paint that doesn't seal the pores that absorb sound. Behind the piano, you can use absorption, and on the opposite wall, you can put vibrating panels. These aren't an eyesore either. Many people make their own vibrating panels by making a wooden frame filled with rock wool and covering everything with TNT (Non-Woven Fabric) or other types of fabric that are not Nylon or something else non-breathable.

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maverick

Member

Reply 4 by maverick

Posts
11
City
Roma

Hi Simon, thanks for the reply!

I think I have achieved more than a good result by putting polyester sound-absorbing panels on the room door and, above all, positioning a rock wool panel (which I custom-built myself) between the soundboard and the wall. It is truly impressive how much volume can be reduced; it almost feels like a "half" mute has been inserted! This happens if the top lid is also left closed, and in effect, this does significantly impair the sound quality.

However, if I open it (the half-lid opening), allowing the sound to propagate forward, the effect is extremely pleasant!

At this point, I don't even think it will be necessary to place bass traps in the corners....

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