diy acoustic panels? (1 Viewer)

[TristanC]

Hey:

I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive way to A) tame the overall brightness of my system And B) improve the acoustics of my room. So would some form of acoustic panels do this for me? Iv'e done alot of searching on the net and found hundreds of different solutions and different types of panels, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with building them? and if they could maybe point me in the right direction?

also one of the more common things that iv'e come across to tame brightness is to hang carpets on the walls. Is this true? I wouldn't mind building something( it would give me a better sense of satisfaction..) but if this truly is the best way... I don't know..

Any advice would be appreciated
Tristan

 

[Mike SJ]

...

 

[Pat]

Mike has some good links there

Was kinda surprised to see my page listed...glad someone thinks it's useful.

It really depends on your room...do you need absorbtion or diffusion?
That makes a big difference in what you will build.

 

[Shawn Keeler]

I have example of the ones I built here; http://www.keelercables.com/keeler_theatre.htm

If that helps.
Shawn

 

[Wes Nance]

Shawn,

What has your experience been with your panels? That seems much easier than the fiberglass, etc., etc., panels, but I'm wondering how the performance compares?

*Beautiful* theater- wow!

Wes

 

[Ethan Winer]

Tristan,

> I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive way to <

For DIY panels you'll get the most bang for the buck using rigid fiberglass. Even regular fiberglass gives better results than foam. The issue is how low in frequency the materials absorb to. It's always better to use absorption that's effective to low frequencies, versus thin panels that absorb only mid and high frequencies and risks making the room too dead yet boomy at the same time.

For more on this see the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page. Go to:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

--Ethan

 

[TristanC]

I'm not really sure, to be completly honest I don't really know to much about acoustics, are there any good resources available on the web/books etc? I took the recording program at my college but it was only a one year program and they didn't get into it to much unfortunatley. I think I'll try building some of the panels that pat has on his site, seems like a good place to start at any rate. Anything I should be aware of before I start? common problems etc...

anyways thanks a tonne for all the links and info it is grealy appreciated.
Tristan

 

[Pat]

You've already optimized your speaker placement right?
You'd be amazed what proper placement can do.
If you haven't, I'd do that before building any panels

Speaker placement
http://www.soundstage.com/audiohell/audiohell200111.htm
http://www.cardas.com/cgi-bin/main_c...ing=Room+Setup
Lots here: http://www.harman.com/wp/index.jsp?articleId=120

Acoustics 101

The book to get is "The Master Handbook Of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest