What is this stuff?!?!

[mikeeb]

Hey guys.
A friend of mine recently brought over about 30-40 of these "Acoustic wall, Ceiling and Partition Systems".
These are in many different ranges of thicknesses.

Some are 2'' thick, some are 1'' thick, and some are somewhere in between. Some of these are made of what seems to be vinyl, while most others are fabric covered.

They state that they are acoustic panels, and most are about a foot 1''x1''. I found their website of these things abortions, and while many of you understand this stuff, it is confusing to me.


Here it is
http://www.corporateacoustics.com/CAspecifications&recommendatonsNEW.html

I just want to know if this stuff is any good for anything, and what would it be good for?


I got this off their website, so I feel like these things may not be as great as I hoped.


"SoundAdvice"

"Our panels are very effective absorbers of unwanted air borne sounds.
The panels are applied to the walls and/or ceiling of the space in which these sounds are being produced.
If provided in sufficient coverage, for example, the clarity of speech can be vastly improved.
In fact, just about any space can be "deadened" by the application of our panels.
So, if this is a requirement, please contact us for some practical suggestions.
However, conference facilities, performing arts, sound studios, etc. are projects best left for an acoustician's careful examination before procuring panels like ours because they can be far from simplistic, often requiring a range of complex acoustical issues such as careful attention to not providing too much sound absorption across the frequency spectrum, prevention of sound transmission and improving acoustical privacy.
For example, suppose, at great expense, one constructs some very "sound proofed" walls enclosing a CEO's private office.
However, will it be any surprise if news of a impending merger or company “down sizing” goes galloping through a common duct between his office and the nearby mail room."

Let me know what you think, please. Thanks guys!!!

 

[oretez]

Like everything else it depends on what you hope to accomplish. In terms of 'treatment' to improve a room for general recording the 1 in. Thick panels are pretty much useless. Even the two inch will not do much for majority of modes and little to nothing for standing bass frequencies. If you take the two inch and set them out four inches from the wall you will gain some improvement. But even from their published specs they are going to be roughly as much good as more or less anything else of that thickness. Book cases filled with books, heavy furniture, for example; Thermal, double pane glass will be more use for controlling bass frequencies . . .

So it more or less depends on how cheap . . . It's possible that layering the 1 in. Panels four inches out from the wall might help, layered 1 in panels might help reduce spot reflections at a mixing station

Fibrous material, fiber glass, a lot of wood products, even books, seem to have better impedance coefficients and theoretically the impedance matching is as significant, for absorption (or that matter for reflection) as is just the thickness. None of the honeycomb open cell stuff seems to be all that useful in taming a room for general recording or mixing

 

[mikeeb]

=[. I hope people disagree with you but I have a feeling your right
I was hoping to use this in conjunction with bass traps. I thought these would help on the higher frequencies a bunch.

 

[Shadow_7]

As stated, they are absorbers of sound. If you're looking to take away sound to have a more direct link to the source, there you go. Not always desireable, but if you want a voice over to mix with an outdoor ambiance, it can keep it from sounding like you were talking in a box. Not always useful as the room is 50% of the sound according to some. It really depends on how in your face or sterile you want the end result to sound. Although if you live next to a night club / train station / interstate, you might need them just to get something usable.

 

[dodgeaspen]

I didn't look at all the page but it looks like it will work.

 

[mikeeb]

Hmmm. Looks like I gotta dish out some money for some Auralex and Real Traps.

 

[mikeeb]

Alright guys. I need someone in here that can help me out. I just looked up the specs for a Auralex 1x1 wedge, that was 2'' thick and got these numbers



OTHER BRAND

250 Hz 0.95

500 Hz 1.15

1000 Hz 1.08

2000 Hz 1.06

4000 Hz 1.00

N.R.C. 1.05





Auralex Wedgies 1x1 Acoustic Foam Studio Soundproofing

125 Hz .15
250 Hz .21
500 Hz .70
1 KHz .99
2 KHz 1.05
4 KHz 1.05
Overall .75



From what it says here, the Auralex is crushed in the lower frequencies by the other tiles my friend gave me. Wouldn't this help?

 

[J_Bursch]

The coefficients look pretty good, about the same as Owens Corning 701 panels, which would make sense since it seems to have a fiberglass core. I suspect these are cloth covered rigid fiberglass panels.

One foot squares will not cover much. A lot of acoustic panels are 2' x 4'. If you put 2 foot panels across the corners in your room you can get some bass trapping. You don't want to just remove the high and mid frequencies or you will end up with a bass heavy room. Two inches of thickness would definitely be better than one.

I would compare the cost of the panels you are looking at to what it would cost to buy some OC 701 panels and make them yourself. There's lots of info on how to do that at the acoustic forum at Johnlsayers.com.

Good luck.