Can large oil painting work as acoustic diffuser?

[klettermann]

I'm considering several large oil-on-canvas paintings in my media room. By "large," I mean roughly 3'x4' up to 6'x6'. The surface is far rougher than bare, painted sheetrock though obviously nothing like the typical diffusers one typically sees. See close-up picture. Obviously this translates to fully a coated surface, no air path. There's also the question of the canvas vibrating, creating its own resonances or whatever. Perhaps they'd be giant, planar bass absorbers! Maybe that's all good, or maybe it's bad. I have no idea.

The obvious way to figure it out, obviously, is by trying. This isn't so easy though, since some candidates are damned large, fragile, and hard to move around. I'm now in the process of doing acoustic measurements and optimizing room layout with nothing on the walls. Then I can move on with wall panels, clouds, bass traps etc. But I guess there's the further issue of whether that's even possible if I'm introducing a new element with the paintings, and then just go through it all over again. Hence I'm looking for anybody's comments or experiences first. Thanks and cheers,

 

[Keith_W]

I very much doubt if it would work. For one, the surface texture is very small compared to even the shortest wavelength of sound, so there would be hardly any diffusion (FYI, 20kHz has a wavelength of 0.67"). I don't think you could mount a diffuser behind it either, because the fabric is not porous. It would only be good as a membrane absorber, provided it was tensioned enough. The problem with membrane absorbers is that they are narrow band.

 

[CapMan]

Agree with @Keith_W - most likely going to reflect not absorb

 

[Mikig]

you should have a rigid surface, you can do it with a wooden board or a glass. There are videos online of diffusers stuck to the plate that thus becomes a diffuser. You could however try with a glass or plexiglass plate maybe painted....if the paint does not alter the surface too much it could work.
They are called DML Distributed mode loudspeaker

 

[holdingpants01]

no, at best it would scatter the highest frequencies. If you have some flutter echo problems then angling them slightly upwards could help but again, only on highest frequencies which rarely if ever have this problem

 

[Emlin]

It will depend on whether you are listening to old masters or modern pop art.

 

[klettermann]

OK, thanks to all. I guess the bottom line is that if there's a section of wall that wouldn't otherwise be covered with a real absorbing panel or diffuser, then I'd be no worse off - and no better off - than the bare wall. So I'm not gonna worry about it. Cheers,

 

[Mr. Widget]

I'm considering several large oil-on-canvas paintings in my media room. By "large," I mean roughly 3'x4' up to 6'x6'. The surface is far rougher than bare, painted sheetrock though obviously nothing like the typical diffusers one typically sees. See close-up picture. Obviously this translates to fully a coated surface, no air path. There's also the question of the canvas vibrating, creating its own resonances or whatever. Perhaps they'd be giant, planar bass absorbers! Maybe that's all good, or maybe it's bad. I have no idea.

The obvious way to figure it out, obviously, is by trying. This isn't so easy though, since some candidates are damned large, fragile, and hard to move around. I'm now in the process of doing acoustic measurements and optimizing room layout with nothing on the walls. Then I can move on with wall panels, clouds, bass traps etc. But I guess there's the further issue of whether that's even possible if I'm introducing a new element with the paintings, and then just go through it all over again. Hence I'm looking for anybody's comments or experiences first. Thanks and cheers,

I would suggest going with a number of smaller pieces. The frames will act as diffusers, obviously some frame profiles will be better than others. I had this very situation in my media room where the primary listening couch is very close the the wall. I hung a pair of smaller pieces and they do help somewhat, but a larger collection of smaller pieces would be even better.

This is my room initially and after I hung art behind the couch. It did make an audible difference for the better.

 

[bachatero]

There's actually a way to have your oil painting acoustic panel, and it's to simply stuff the back of it with a whole bunch of dense material like mineral wool. In fact, your painting is nearly identical to a commercial acoustic panel just without the acoustic material on the backside!

 

[Mr. Widget]

There's actually a way to have your oil painting acoustic panel, and it's to simply stuff the back of it with a whole bunch of dense material like mineral wool. In fact, your painting is nearly identical to a commercial acoustic panel just without the acoustic material on the backside!

Commercial acoustic panels featuring art are typically acoustically transparent cloth with a design that is printed on it. Original art will almost never be acoustically transparent.

 

[bachatero]

Commercial acoustic panels featuring art are typically acoustically transparent cloth with a design that is printed on it. Original art will almost never be acoustically transparent.

As a counterpoint, just look at the Corning 703FRK boards which are nothing more than fiberglass with an acoustically opaque layer of foil, and yet they deliver unparalleled bass absorption performance.

 

[DonH56]

Commercial acoustic panels featuring art are typically acoustically transparent cloth with a design that is printed on it. Original art will almost never be acoustically transparent.

As a counterpoint, just look at the Corning 703FRK boards which are nothing more than fiberglass with an acoustically opaque layer of foil, and yet they deliver unparalleled bass absorption performance.

The paint, like the foil membrane, will reflect higher frequencies whilst allowing the panels to absorb lower frequencies.

Mounting the paintings a little (1"~2") off the wall and mounting 1" or 2" thick Corning, Rockwool, or similar material would reduce bass and midrange reflections from the wall behind the paintings.

There are companies that will use a picture you have taken and screen it onto acoustic fabric over an absorber panel.

 

[ban25]

I have a 7x7' oil on canvas painting mounted opposite of my HT system. The frame is 2" deep and the canvas is stretched over thick foam core and the frame itself has a walnut back. It has at the very least not hurt my RT60 and looks a heck of a lot better than Styrofoam absorption panels audiophiles are crazy about!

 

[multichannel_guy]

No, your painting is no diffuser.

Go to homedepot, buy wood, follow the 1D QRD formula, cut wood, nails, glue.

Or spend a fortune for someone else to do the above with astronomical shipping fees.

 

[617]

Commercial acoustic panels featuring art are typically acoustically transparent cloth with a design that is printed on it. Original art will almost never be acoustically transparent.

Just my 2 cents, do not mix art and acoustics. Get acoustic treatments that look like acoustic treatments and art that is art.

 

[Purité Audio]

A painting with an ornate carved frame might help a bit, better off with a bookcase and the art contained within.
Keith

 

[akamatsu]

I hung a roughly 2'x2' oil painting with an ornate carved frame on the left wall pretty close to the speaker. It made a noticeable difference, and did improve the sound quality. At the time, I thought it was more the frame than the painting. But I really don't know. I would think that texture of the paint would diffuse the high frequencies more than the flat wall behind it. I find diffusion to be cumulative. Every little bit helps.

 

[akamatsu]

I think acoustic diffusion is a good example of the pursuit of perfection being the enemy of the good enough. Just add stuff to the room. It adds up and it helps.

 

[Mschn]

The paint, like the foil membrane, will reflect higher frequencies whilst allowing the panels to absorb lower frequencies.

Mounting the paintings a little (1"~2") off the wall and mounting 1" or 2" thick Corning, Rockwool, or similar material would reduce bass and midrange reflections from the wall behind the paintings.

There are companies that will use a picture you have taken and screen it onto acoustic fabric over an absorber panel.

This is interesting.
After some experimenting with hanging absorbing stuff behind my sofa this summer I reached the conclusion that it improved things quite a bit. I have an 1.5 m by 1.1 m oil painting coming my way and it is going to hang behind my sofa. I figured I could build a 15 cm or even 20 cm deep absorber to hide behind the oil painting. My hope is that this combo would work as described above. My thinking is the 15--20 cm depth will help reduce a bass resonance associated with back-to-front wall dimension of the room and the canvas of the painting will limit the attenuation of high frequencies somewhat.

/Martin