Room Treatment Recommendations for Echo and Volume Control?
 

I recently moved. The room my Yamaha baby grand lives in went from a large carpeted room to a smaller space with hardwood floors. The sound is much too loud and lively. I'm looking at everything from rugs, to blankets, to fabric wall treatment. I suspect I'll need all three. (For now, I've stuffed a blanket under the soundboard and keep the lid closed.)

Recommendations, please? Particularly as to sound-absorbing blankets and to wall treatment. Need I go the "professional" route, such as absorbers or Wallmate, or is there a cheaper solution? Thanks.

Try the following: Don't place the piano in the middle of the room. Carpet the entire floor or at least the area the piano sits on. Heavy drapes on the windows and/or walls. These are the kind of things one might do to any room and should calm things down a bit. If Not enough, then get into studio treatment solutions.

You've left out some important factors, chief amongst these the "housewife acceptance factor." Patrick, are you married and is your wife involved in the decor? If so, she will want for the decor to be pleasant. This is a basic consideration in the audio system design world. Here are starting points that will preserve that:

1. Buy and place a thick area rug under the piano.
2. Find a beautiful king-sized quilt or tapestry and hang it on a wall as a decorating accent.

Both of these are available in decor from classic to modern to Southwest and will reduce your high-end reflections. For everything else:

3. Build floor-to ceiling book shelves on a good portion of one wall and populate them with lots of good books. If you have the books at varying depths the shelves will serve as a diffuser to break-up hard reflections and turn them into a short-order, softer-sounding reverb, something like the diffusers in the back of my control room at work:

http://www.in2guitar.com/work/pps1rear.jpg

If you use both suggetons #2 and #3, put them at 90' to each other.

Bob

Thank you both for the suggestions.

The piano is in the corner of a rectangular room, with the treble side pointing to the open area. I'm looking at rugs, both for underneath and for other areas of the room. I suspect that won't be all that's needed, so I will look into the bookshelf and large tapestry/drapery ideas, also.