first time posting here,great site,good info..my question was regarding echo in a restaurant(my dads)the dining area is the problem,20x40x10ft tall,plenty of hard surfaces for echo to bounce around,tile floors,hard ceiling,8ft windows,I know things like heavy curtains,plants,couches,carpet,ect...will help kill some of it,but I cant really add any of those things to the room now,since it would change the layout and look of the place,I was hoping to find something studios would use,but without covering all my walls with auralex,cause I dont want the place looking like a studio.I found t fusors by auralex which are supossed to stop echo.I was thinking of nailing them to the ceiling,Would that be a good alternative for me? how many would I need?any other products,or DIY projects would be much appreciated,as far as budget,its limited(business feeling the recession)a couple hundred or less maybe,in advance thanks for any and all help...

you might look into some hanging tapestry and rugs. mount on a frame or hang a few inches off the wall. Those can be decorative and still provide some absorbtion. Diffusion probably isn't what you need at this point. Other than that you'd either have to build some decorative upholstered boxes to hang or buy something commercial.
try;

www.gikacoustics.com for their 2" traps.

or if a look is desired that's less studio'y try the Auralex Sonoflat panels which are flat, perform better than the wedge foam and might do the trick.
http://www.auralex.com/acoustic_foam_sonoflat/acoustic_foam_sonoflat.asp

Sound like you need to do some acoustic treatment for sure, and as a word... OUD restaurants are horrible. Too much flutter echo and the mood just goes South fast.

Recommend contacting Joel at ready acoustics. He does this sort of thing all the time for studios, business, etc.

http://www.readyacoustics.com

Great product that I use in my studio.

Highly recommended.

Doc

thanks for the replys guys,so I was reading some of the stuff on here,and I was thinking of maybe building some mineral wool panels,and hanging them just off the ceiling,would that work without hanging anything on the walls?how many would I need? its roughly 800sqft in there...thanks again...

Are you talking about hanging them horizonally or vertically? Horizontally will do some good by dealing with the reflections from the ceiling to a large extent. Horizonally will work a different way by reducing the reflections from the ceiling to a lesser degree and by reducing somewhat the amount of direct energy that reaches the walls.

It's not a substitute for treating the walls themselves though, especially in a room that size. Reducing your decay time is directly related to keeping energy off the walls. You don't have to do it in such a way that you destroy your walls or your decor though. Simple fabric covered, wood-frame traps hung with heavy-duty picture wire will do the trick nicely. Go to www.ooks.com for some heavier picture hanging hooks. If you want to take them down or whatever, all you have to do is spackle some screw holes. No worries.

Frank

You could make the acoustic wall panels look like pictures, just have a print done on the fabric front of the Acoustic panel, to the theme of the restaurant, or pictures of Stars.

You get the treatment and some ambiance.....

Here's some ideas

http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/deco-dal/printed-acoustic...el-51564-110537.html