Acoustic Wall Panels - what fabric to cover?

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Hi Folks

Looking to upgrade my existing acoustic wall panels to some deeper ones with Wickes dense wadding.

Obviously I need to cover these panels (6 of them, a meter square each) with fabric.

Has anyone got advice as to suitable fabric to use, apart from standard loudspeaker grill fabric?

Thanks

D
 
Loudspeaker grill cloth and the Professional acoustic fabrics will be fire rated or should be. Otherwise you can use any fabric that allows air through it, the easier you can blow through it the better.

Which Wickes product are you using?
 
I was wondering as I tried the dense slab and then swopped for the cavity slab which was miles better. I also tried fluffy fibreglass and fibreglass slab from B&Q and they all seemed better than the dense slab I first got.
Then I was directed to Bob Golds list of absorbtion coefficients page where the numbers probably explain it better then I can.
 
..slabs - I tried the high density ones too and found the 50mm "normal" density ones better... in my room...

I guess its not to say that would be better in every case though...

D
 
Out of interest... and I guess I am opening up myself to (more?) ridicule...

My original acoustic panels were made from 1m square 6mm mdf panels with a deep foam backed carpet glued on.

You would be gobsmacked as to how good these actually worked out.

I think the placement of the panels is often just as important as the build.

I used the old "get a pal with big arms to move round the room" trick to check the best place to mount the panels... again, it makes a huge difference.

D
 
pemberto - many thanks for the link - that is a great find.

That material feels a bit expensive but the choice and quality certainly seems to be there...

avanzato - Another great link - that guy has cenrtainly done his homework... wish I had found that a while ago!

D
 
I'm sure I've seen panels constructed with MDF and other 'accoustic' material that were meant to do exactly what you're home made panels did, except yours were much cheaper. :)

I think people are more likely to aks you how you made them than try to ridicule you!

Gary.
 
About 6 months ago on the Discovery Home and Leisure channel (Sky) presenter John Revell had a 2 part show about building a home cinema. During the show he built several of these panels.

Construction of these panels consisted of a 2x2 frame with a 4mm mdf backing board. 50mm rockwool panels inserted and the covered with a muslin cloth to keep the rockwool from escaping and the covered in a finishing cloth. To attached to the walls he used double sided velcrow.
 
...that was quite a good, two episode program....

It was amusing watching him go round a couple of dealers (from memroy, it may have been one) and being astounded at the prices!!

My Tivo caught that series - god bless wishlists!!! I think I dumped it to DVD for future reference too... better go dig it out...

D
 
That's a great look, and probably didn't cost the earth either. I think the frames look is much better than a plain treated wall. Wish I'd thought of doing that. :)

Gary.
 
..yeh, these frames look very professional and I bet they work really well too..

I am not sure if I would have the patience to make so many of the damn things... after the first 6, the rest may not be of quite the same quality... he he!!!

I liked his room build photos - nice idea with the platform/stage up front - quite a nice easy feature to add...

D
 
GOM fabric has always been mentioned over at AVS ever since I started going there, and seems very popular. I don't think we have anything similar over here though.

I wonder what speaker grill cloth would be like? It's cheap and comes in some other colours as well as black, and being acousticaly transparent would mean the accoustic material underneath would be able to work to its full effect.

Gary.
 
Gary,
You can get GOM fabric over here. Its distributed by Interface Fabric Group, which I think is the European arm of Guildford of Maine, http://www.interfacefabrics.com/index-uk.html
Contact Details: Interface Fabrics
Hopton Mills, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, WF14 8HE
UK Sales Tel:01924 490491, General Enquiries: +44 1924 490591

I managed to get sent a fabric sample sheet from Acoustical Solutions in the US for GOM fabric which looks very good as well as SoundSuede panel fabric, http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/products/panels/sound_suede.asp ,in 55 different shades and Acoustone acoustic grill cloth, again they look very good. I might go down the soundsuede route.
Paul
 
Howdy

I kind of like the look of heavy hanging curtains... quite dramatic ... ceiling to floor ... even a little extra long to cover any gaps on the floor... gets rid of the flat surface rebound and sound absorbtion is - well really good depending on how heavy / dense the material and interlining is. You need pretty thick and heavy interlining. I don't think its a substitute to wall panels but if I put my cinema together I think I will go his route. It can hide any wall panels pretty well too, but does take up a bit of space and interfere a little with ventilation if there are vents behind these curtains.

Also you can probably wind them out the way electrically if you have the appropiate rails ... could really look the part.

Don't think its a substiute to wall panles though but the combo could be benchmark.

Any Thots ?

Rgds Steve.
 
Are these soundseude panels along the same lines as Auralex sound treatment?
 
Dazca1,

Yep, they are along the same linees. Have a look at Acoustical Solutions website, http://www.acousticalsolutions.com for details of what they offer for Home Theater. For information on the SoundSeude panels have a look at http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/products/panels/sound_suede.asp

I am currently only interested in the fabric as I plan to make my own panels. I just cannot work out if I should use the SoundSuide or use the Guildford of Maine fabrics.

At the end of the day its all down to the wife. She has the final say on what this is going to look like. I just get to buy the toys.

Pemberto
 
Hi.

I have a very 'bright echoey' room. Am I better with high density slabs or normal ones?

curtains are not an option.

thanks in advance

W
 
snapper said:
I have a very 'bright echoey' room. Am I better with high density slabs or normal ones?

Use the normal ones probably called 'Cavity slabs' in the DIY shop generally the thicker the better as then you cover a wider range of frequencies. One pack should be enough to start with and 2 packs will be plenty. Wickes have 85mm thick Rockwool or B&Q Warehouse have 75mm thick Knauf Fibreglass, the Knauf is better value but more itchy to handle IMHO.
 
Snapper,

Do you have carpet on the floor of your room? Plain wooden flooring can cause lots of echo, and wall treatments may or may not help if that's the case. Try laying a rug or similar downand see if that makes a difference (assuming wood flooring).

Gary.
 
Yes this is a living room with solid wooden floors, plaster walls.
a thick large wool rug has helped but not cured it.
I have already bought 5 high density slabs 30mm from Wickes but I dont want to waste time & effort if something else would work. My intention was to make 5 panels to stick on the walls around the room.

thx

W
 

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