Need ideas for acoustic panels

drabina

drabina

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My current listening room (basement) is very bright. Sheetrock walls, ceramic tiles and only an area rug. I would like to tone it down quite a bit. I am looking for some ideas on panels, art or whatever that will look at bit more stylish than the gray foam or cork that is normally used.Don't really want to put rugs on the wall neither. I was thinking of a canvas paintings but I think that paint will act as a reflective surface. There are no windows so no curtains.

Any ideas and/or recommendations?
 
It really sound like a normal room.

It begs the question of why it's so bright, what are you using in your system?
 
It is sheetrock walls all around including ceiling. The floor is all ceramic tiles and the area rug covers only about 25% of the floor. Similar situation was upstairs just after we moved in and before we put long curtains on the windows. Now the upstairs is nice acoustically. Unfortunately, the basement has no windows so I have to come up with some panels to go on the walls.

The system is Nakamichi preamp (actually preamp part of an amplifier), Rotel amp and EPI 100 speakers. Source is CDs, vinyl and cassette tapes.
 
One thing you should do is clap your hands and listen carefully. How long is the echo. I have found room acoustics to be the single most important thing to address in your listening area. I don't care how much you spend on Speakers, amps, etc. No amount of money spent will sound good until your room is good.

I would start out with some panels like these.

https://www.acoustimac.com/wall-packs

You can also make your own out of Dow 301 (I think that's what it is called) Just start adding panels until the room becomes too dead, then remove some. You can spend a lot of time and money on "calculating" what you need and how much, but just testing by ear I think is all you need to do to address the problem.
There are many MANY manufactures of sound panels, both for absorption and diffusers.
 
I believe there is a thread on this site for making acoustic panels with blow-ups of album covers, movie covers...
 
Thanks guys. I have plenty of material to go thru now. I like some of the DIY ideas. May just get a nicer fabric than black or gray. Sometimes they have nice patterns. Will post results once I actually get to build something.
 
drabina said:
. I am looking for some ideas on panels, art or whatever that will look at bit more stylish than the gray foam or cork that is normally used.Don't really want to put rugs on the wall neither. I was thinking of a canvas paintings but I think that paint will act as a reflective surface. There are no windows so no curtains.
Click to expand...

GIK's Acoustic Art panels would work. Upload your own image or choose from a large gallery.
 
Add another area rug with pad underneath? Between speakers and you would be a good place. Covers one First reflection point.
If a tapestry on a wall would be visually ok, it could hide absorbant panels behind.
 
I made all my panels from scratch. 1x5 common board, Owens 703 and some art of my choice, printed on breathable fabric.

Got a lot of the panel art how-to from this thread and AVS forum in general.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/19-d...ic-panels-cheap.html#/topics/1316623?page=383

I even built my basement the way the home theaters are built, double drywall, green glue isolation clips etc. I can crank tunes at an uncomfortable level while the wife and kids sleep!!

The panels you see in the pics I built. Took a bunch of time to research but easy to build once you get a game plan. Cost was about $50 per panel.

BC2FC340-DD67-460F-9A48-74E0D6510BE5.jpeg
The finishing trim was not yet installed on these panels below.
48129D51-486D-4C6E-9C0F-93ADE0662DC2.jpeg
C1583EE4-A5A4-4C3E-A936-0D9B713A52FF.jpeg
 
Very cool Gearjunky. After reading so many posts, that's exactly the road I was planning on taking when building panels. Even found few fabrics at Joann that are music related. This plus the wooden frame and damping material of choice and I should be all set.
 
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