jeffsg4mac

jeffsg4mac

Republican Poster Boy
I think I might have found a way to make some cheap acoustic wall panels tell me what you think as I not an expert in this area.

Home Depot has some 2x4 acoustic ceiling tiles, they could be cut to any shape, covered with a fabric and hung on the walls and ceiling. This combined with will rolls of fiberglass stacked in the corners for bass traps seems like an economical way to treat a room. Any reasons this would not be a good idea?
 
Rip Van Woofer

Rip Van Woofer

Audioholic General
Not wild about those rolls of fiberglas as bass traps: ugly and bulky! Plus, I'm not sure they'd work all that well. Most bass traps I know of have some sort of rigid shell. A simple and cheap DIY trap would simply be a 2 foot or so wide sheet of 1/8" material like Masonite in the corner at a 45 deg. angle, backed with fiberglas. A piece of pegboard would work, too - the holes would make it function as a "Helmholz resonator". Either way, the sheet is screwed to vertical wooden strips, and runs floor to ceiling.

The fabric covered acoustical tile idea sounds good, though. Another DIY solution I ran across is similar, but uses fiberglas "duct board" with a fabric covering. It's a rigid compressed fiberglas board with aluminum foil facing on one side, used to make insulated HVAC ducting. For our use, the foil side goes against the wall and the raw fiberglas side is covered with fabric. The material supposedly cuts easily, and is also available at Home Depot.
 
jeffsg4mac

jeffsg4mac

Republican Poster Boy
Thanks Rip, I just picked up a box of those tiles, I want to try it before I invest in covering them with some material. I like your idea for traps, I also found a link to some bass traps that are fairly cheap. Look here However, your idea would be cheaper still. I will post back after hanging some tiles up, My room is really bright so I hope it helps.
 
jeffsg4mac

jeffsg4mac

Republican Poster Boy
Whoa, my room was really messed up

I went ahead and put those tiles on the wall and what a huge difference it makes. My room was really, really live, wood floors and all. Now it is much, much better. I do not have a way to measure what happened but 2 channel stereo sounds way better, I think I am hearing what the paradigm monitor 7's can really do. Also, on movies the dialog is much clearer and background noises are more distinct. Over all I am very please with the results and I have not put anything on the ceiling yet. I am going to find some nice material and finish the job. The case of tiles was $20 or about $2.18 each. I bought 14 in all. I would suggest anyone who has a live room to try it. Best $20 I ever spent for audio. I think that my room was so live it was really messing everything up. There were some movies were it was hard to make out what was being said unless you really cranked it up. Now I can hear every word and whisper at low and modest levels. I knew fixing a room was important, but now I know how important. I cant wait to finish it with material and do the ceiling and bass traps.
 
ThA tRiXtA

ThA tRiXtA

Full Audioholic
Hey guys,

For the idea of the cheap bass trap, would it be the same as Rip said to take a peice of dry wall at the 45 degree angle in each corner and mud it in and everything, or would that do nothing at all?

PS: if the room is bright, how does reducing the low frequency reverberation help this?

(I am a noob, I know!)
 
jeffsg4mac

jeffsg4mac

Republican Poster Boy
ThA tRiXtA: You are correct, bass traps are not for the bright room, thats what the panels are for. My room is really bright, I will post some after pics in a few days.
 
Rip Van Woofer

Rip Van Woofer

Audioholic General
Drywall is too thick & rigid in proportion to the area involved to work in the corner; you want a thin "floppy" panel to flex with & absorb the low frequencies.

I've read that doing just two corners is often enough to do the trick.

Jeff: glad to hear of the good result with the panels! Can you add an area rug in front of the system? That handsome pine floor must be awfully reflective.
 
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jeffsg4mac

jeffsg4mac

Republican Poster Boy
Yes Rip, I want to add a rug to take up some of that floor space. Trick is finding one that you do not have to take out a mortage to buy it :eek: BTW that room on that side of the house was built in the late 1700's
 
Rip Van Woofer

Rip Van Woofer

Audioholic General
jeffsg4mac said:
BTW that room on that side of the house was built in the late 1700's
That HT setup isn't very historically accurate. Replace it with a harpsichord! :D

Cool to have a historic home! Ours is classic Suburban Tract, ca. 1986.
 
F

frkuhn

Audioholic Intern
Rip Van Woofer said:
A simple and cheap DIY trap would simply be a 2 foot or so wide sheet of 1/8" material like Masonite in the corner at a 45 deg. angle, backed with fiberglas. A piece of pegboard would work, too - the holes would make it function as a "Helmholz resonator". Either way, the sheet is screwed to vertical wooden strips, and runs floor to ceiling.
Do I finish it in the floor and the ceiling with horizontal wooden strips, also, or leave it open?
 
Rip Van Woofer

Rip Van Woofer

Audioholic General
frkuhn said:
Do I finish it in the floor and the ceiling with horizontal wooden strips, also...?
Yes, attach to strips on all four sides.
 
Rob Babcock

Rob Babcock

Moderator
Pretty good ideas overall, but the problem with a makeshift DIY Hemholtz Resonator is that you really won't have any idea what freq it's tuned to until you try it. It may make thinks better or worse, you'd just have to try.

The bales of insulation works well- provided you can get around the WAF.
 
jeffsg4mac

jeffsg4mac

Republican Poster Boy
Rob Babcock said:
The bales of insulation works well- provided you can get around the WAF.
I thought of that too, you get some speaker grill cloth fabric in black or other color, and sew basically a giant sock and slip the round roll into it. Then turn it over on to a wooden dowel attached to a 2 or 5 pound cast iron weight. Presto, instant bass trap, or giant cat scratching post :) I know you will all be envious but I have total say in how our home theater room is to be setup. It is my room.
 
F

frkuhn

Audioholic Intern
So you have an audiophile-approved wife!!! Congratulations.
 
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