How I Made My Economical Acoustic Panels

[mike_wassell]

I started looking into acoustical treatment several months ago. I decided I did not want to spend a lot of money on treatment and I would make it myself. I read every web site I could find on the subject. Originally I thought I would use Owens Corning 703 and 705 attached to a frame covered with burlap on the front only. I was going to use pieces of 2” x 2” screw to the back of the frame to hold the rigid fiberglass in place. I decided on doing bass traps and reflection point treatment. However for this post I mainly wanted to concentrate on the panels I made for the reflection points since they comprised the majority of what I made. I was thinking about diffusers in the back of my home theater but the more I read I decided that diffusion would not be as effective as absorption in my room due to its size and the proximity of the walls to the seating area. I have a relatively small HT room 13’ x 17’ x 8’.

I decided to let my fingers do the walking and called several local insulation companies to avoid shipping charges. Shipping on the insulation is very expensive. I found Owens Corning and Knauf locally cheaper than I could buy it on the net mainly due to savings on shipping costs. Then I one of the companies I called told me that they could get whatever I wanted (Owens Corning, Knauf, etc.) but that they had some IIG Sound Attenuating Fire Batt in stock that was left over from a previous job and they would sell it do me at a discounted price. So I picked up about 40 panels of 2’ x 4’ x 2” IIG MinWool Sound Attenuation Fire Batt Insulation at approximately $0.20 a SF that’s about $1.60 a panel. Calling locally really save me some big bucks on the insulation. I paid $1.60 for a panel of IIG MinWool as opposed to $15.00 for a panel OC 703. The sound attenuating propertied of these two items are practically identical and can be found on their web sites.

The first problem I encountered is the MinWool was very flexible and friable. I would think the more rigid stuff would be easier to work with. This material would definitely require a frame with a back. So I decided to use burlap for the back instead of the 2 x 2s. The 2 x 2s would never have worked with the MinWool because it is very flexible and friable. However I was not too crazy about the texture and color of the burlap so I decided to use acoustically transparent fabric from Acoustimac http://www.acoustimac.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=9 for the front of the panels. The fabric is about $9.00 a yard however it is 60-64” wide. This material has a great texture is stretchable and comes in a nice variety of colors. I spend a little extra on the fabric because a yard of 60” burlap can be bought for about $2.00. Then on the other hand a yard of Guilford of Maine fabric costs at least $15.00 a yard.

For the frame I use 1” x 4” x 8’ pine stripping. This is the lowest grade of pine that can be found it was $1.65 for an 8’ board. I had to inspect every board carefully before I bought it because most of them are bowed, warped, or damaged. However after weeding through the boards I was able to find enough good boards to make all of the frames for my panels. I had much better luck finding good boards at Home Depot as opposed to Lowes.

It cost me about $15.00 to make a 2’ x4’ acoustical treatment panel. I treated about 30% of my room’s surface area not counting the floor. This includes bass traps that were placed in the corners. I made approximately 30 panels. I could have made them a lot cheaper if I would have used burlap to cover both the front and back of the panels. In that case they would have been approximately $7.50 a panel. However the panels I made turned out real nice. The main reason they were so cheap is because I was flexible on the type of insulation, wood, and fabric I used and called around to get the best price. Most of this type of insulation (rigid fiberglass, mineral wool and rock wool) has very similar acoustical properties. The acoustical properties for the individual products can usually be found on the manufactures web site.

 

[Davemcc]

That's very similar to the way I did my panels. In my case, I painted the frames and stretched the material over a smaller frame that is tension fit into the box's opening. Same idea, I just didn't wrap the material around the back. I built my bass traps by building a triangular corner frame, cutting the insulation into triangles and stacking the triangles in the frame to full height of 7 feet. Then I wrapped the material around the frame.

It's so cheap and easy and it doesn't look half bad. It's a simple project that can be an inexpensive experiment in acoustics, if nothing else.

 

[highfigh]

I'd have to look for the binder, but when I needed to treat a home theater room (on a budget), I made some calls and a sales rep came in. They make acoustical panels for conference and music rooms, etc and after seeing what they had, getting the prices (and almost swallowing my tongue because of them), I asked if they were basically rigid fiberglass insulation, to which she said "Yes". I went to a local supplier and bought a couple of bundles and attached them to a Masonite back panel, attached the panels and IIRC, used polyester resin to make the edges less fragile. I covered them with tweed material that looked good with the paint colors, hung them and they made a huge difference. If a bevel or some other profile is wanted on the edge, adding a wood strip and using a router will work. Doubling the thickness by stacking the panels will help with lower mid-range and some of the mid-bass.

 

[WmAx]

You really should provide some high res pics of the detail of the panels.

-Chris

 

[highfigh]

You really should provide some high res pics of the detail of the panels.

-Chris

If you're asking me for photos, that won't be possible. I did this in late-'93 and the dealer moved in about '95. The best thing to do is google this stuff and the link below came from entering 'Acoustical Panel Resources' in the google search bar. If you find a panel that is 2'x4' and has gray tweed covering, you pretty much found what I did. It wasn't anything fancy but they worked. You can make them look like almost anything, as long as the characteristics remain intact.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ical+panel+resources&aq=3&oq=Acoustical+panel

 

[mike_wassell]

I will provide some photos but it will take a couple of weeks. I am going to make a couple more panels to finish off the room but it will have to wait a couple of weeks because I just had foot surgery. I will provide photos of the building process and of the HT with the panels hanging. I think the room looks cool and sounds great with the panels and bass traps. The room was very reflective before I hung the panels.
Mike

 

[highfigh]

I will provide some photos but it will take a couple of weeks. I am going to make a couple more panels to finish off the room but it will have to wait a couple of weeks because I just had foot surgery. I will provide photos of the building process and of the HT with the panels hanging. I think the room looks cool and sounds great with the panels and bass traps. The room was very reflective before I hung the panels.
Mike

Foot surgery- pffft! That's why limping was developed. C'mon! Rub some dirt in it!

Just kidding- good luck with the recovery.

 

[Glenn Kuras]

The first problem I encountered is the MinWool was very flexible and friable. I would think the more rigid stuff would be easier to work with. This material would definitely require a frame with a back.

For the bass traps you do not want to put any kind of rigid back (wood) on them. For the thinner panels you can if you plan on flush mounting it to the wall.

Glenn

 

[mike_wassell]

For the bass traps you do not want to put any kind of rigid back (wood) on them. For the thinner panels you can if you plan on flush mounting it to the wall.

Glenn

I put burlap backs on both the bass traps and the thinner panels.

 

[tsuchocki]

I'd have to look for the binder, but when I needed to treat a home theater room (on a budget), I made some calls and a sales rep came in. They make acoustical panels for conference and music rooms, etc and after seeing what they had, getting the prices (and almost swallowing my tongue because of them), I asked if they were basically rigid fiberglass insulation, to which she said "Yes". I went to a local supplier and bought a couple of bundles and attached them to a Masonite back panel, attached the panels and IIRC, used polyester resin to make the edges less fragile. I covered them with tweed material that looked good with the paint colors, hung them and they made a huge difference. If a bevel or some other profile is wanted on the edge, adding a wood strip and using a router will work. Doubling the thickness by stacking the panels will help with lower mid-range and some of the mid-bass.

Highfigh, Who was the local supplier that you got your rigid fiberglass from?

 

[highfigh]

Highfigh, Who was the local supplier that you got your rigid fiberglass from?

AcousTech, on Hwy 100, across from WoodCraft in West Allis. I'm not sure they're still there but any insulation supplier will carry various types. Call Alpine Insulation if AcousTech is hard to find. Not all of teh panels I wanted to make were going to be full size, so I asked if they had any damaged ones and he just about gave them to me. They can be cut with a straightedge and razor knife and then joined to be as good as a full piece. Also, if you want to make the edges more rigid, use polyester resin and either dip the edge or brush it on. Once it hardens, it can be sanded to clean up any lumps.

Did you ever go to the Flanner's store at Mayfair after they (I) repainted in all kinds of colors? The theater room toward the back, across from the elevator is the room I treated. It had gray walls, black ceiling one window, the drop-down screen at the left end, 6 Canton speakers, Canton subs and a big Sony ceiling mounted projector.