My home made acoustic panel

Hi,

My listening room was sounding poor after a large artwork made of fabric was removed from the rear wall, I looked for pre-made solutions but they were either ugly (foam panels) or stupidly expensive. I did some online research and realised that I could make one myself with some acoustically transparent material and some ceiling insulation. After a trip to Ikea for some window blind material and after raiding my fathers workshop for the necessary wood and paint I was done :












All up I am very happy with the results and it cost me less than $100 !!

Cheers

 

nice room.....very well built too....congrats

 

Nice work. DIY treatments cost about 1/10 retail. Congrats.

Taming all that glass might help too.

 

On the windows are 2 blinds, 1 total blackout and the other blocks out about 50% of the light. When I'm having a proper listening session I always close them.

 

Good idea. That will certainly help tame harsh reflections off the glass.

 

I've been building my own acoustic treatment devices including Helmholtz resonators since the 80's , couldn't purchase ones that looked acceptable .
Don't no if I'm treating the right frequencies at the right room perimeters but they do seem to improve the sound .

 

Nicely done. I like the way that the pattern on the cloth looks like records.

Great looking house overall too! It's always interesting for me to see where people outside the USA are living.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I was looking around for the right fabric (both functionally and aesthetically) for quite a while. I contacted a few suppliers of acoustically transparent fabric in the USA actually but they only sold in bulk. I was very pleased when I found what I needed at IKEA and at a cheap price

 

My buddy is a budding mastering engineer and he swears by covered recycled denim insulation in a light frame. He's been building these pretty large panels for about $50 each.

 

Gotta love Ikea... audiophile-approved chairs (Poang), record and hifi shelves (Expedit, etc.) and acoustically transparent fabric!

 

Jeez....that looks great. My wife just walked in the room while I was looking at your pics and said, "love the artwork".

 

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I was thinking of doing the same. Jaap, can you share what is that fabric in IKEA... I do not know what is considered an acoustically transparent fabric. I see some fabrics in IKEA which seems to be 100% cotton. Is that it?

 

If you can breath through it , it will be suitable. This is important if it's in a reflection point. If it's for a bass trap like here on a rear wall you can cover it in nearly any fabric. You will get some mid/high reflections , that may be desirable depending on the room and the distance the wall is from you.

Very nice work by the way OP.

 

I would like to tame down the mid/high reflections on my back wall as well as create the same for my front wall (right behind the speakers). So would that mean I can create a panel like that with just the fabric (no filling with foam)?

I have a lot of furniture which I put in the corners to act as bass traps -- 2 sofas and 2 couches.

 

Very nice room and system, nice job on the homemade panel.

 

Sorry but I'm not really sure what the fabric is actually made of, all I can tell you is that it's easy to breath through so to my mind was right for the job. It is sold as window blind material.

Thanks for he compliments people

 

You need filling
Foam is useless under 200hz
Use Rockwool or similar (google 703)
In your case, keep the covering breathable.
Behind the speakers dosent have to be breathable, depending on what else is going on in your room treatment wise.

 

Ok, the thing is when you read about those different rcokwool, mineral wool, etc. there are health/safety concerns. So I would not like to impose any health risk just to have some home-made panels. I would be satisfied if I manage to control frequencies down to whatever is possible with foam.

 

There is no health risk, it has been researched extensively. If your that worried, put some plastic sheeting under your covering. Just keep in mind this will make it reflective above 500hz or so.

 

No, that is way to nice and classy. Just use the idea from Hee Haw and paint the square, doz and a half egg creates any combination of fine colors. :>O I'll bet you guys listen to jazz, classical, vocalists, and even drink fine wine. Dang!

 

egg crates?
facepalm.

 

I have created all my various bass traps and absorbers (11 in total) using this material:

http://www.bondedlogic.com/construction-products/ultratouch-denim-insulation

It is recycled cotton (denim jeans), easy to work with, poses no health risks and is extremely acoustically effective. It is available in several thicknesses at green building supply stores, small rolls now even at Home Depot. They even make dedicated acoustic panels that can be used as is or in DIY designs.

 

That stuff looks a little thin. Did you double it up?

 

You can get get it up to 20cm thick. For bass traps I used 14cm thick and placed it across corners and covered with burlap stretched on wood frames. For absorbers I used the thin version and just put it in wood frames, again covered with stretched burlap and hung on the walls. I don't have good pictures of them right now - I'll post some tomorrow if there is interest. They are not as nice and artistic as the OP's , but they do work marvels acoustically.

 

Ok good, sounds nice.