DrWho Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 What is "carpet foam"? I have a feeling it doesn't have the same acoustical properties as the typical "acoustical foam" (the technical name slips my mind at the moment). One thing I've always wanted to try, is embedding the acoustical panels into the wall....they'd be a lot less obtrusive and I would imagine would have the same net effect? I suppose there will be issues of skimming the surface and bouncing off...but a non-flat panel with a scrim on it should resolve that issue. I just like the idea of there being a lot more space behind the panel and having the sound get trapped in the walls. That's of course bad for sound-transmission, but that's not always an issue for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 What is "carpet foam"? I have a feeling it doesn't have the same acoustical properties as the typical "acoustical foam" (the technical name slips my mind at the moment). One thing I've always wanted to try, is embedding the acoustical panels into the wall....they'd be a lot less obtrusive and I would imagine would have the same net effect? I suppose there will be issues of skimming the surface and bouncing off...but a non-flat panel with a scrim on it should resolve that issue. I just like the idea of there being a lot more space behind the panel and having the sound get trapped in the walls. That's of course bad for sound-transmission, but that's not always an issue for everyone. Dr, We are on the same wavelength about embedding the panels. I am cursed with an 8ft ceiling (empty attic space above). I had also wondered about panels between the joists. This way they could be fairly deep. They could be faced with some cloth to blend in to the ceiling with a small white frame to cover the edges. Ideally it would be a subtle "architectual statement". Otherwise it would merely be a great deal of work and depreciate the house by $5-10K. Good luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSoundBroker Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 If you are going to cover it in fabric, why not use carpet foam? Really cheap and available locally in every city. Chris Because it is not the same thing. The reason foam works is because of the cellular structure. Sound passes into the structure and is converted to heat. Carpet foam is a very high density structure and will not allow sound to pass thru and into the material. Also, real acoustical foam is fire retardant. As for foam that looks decent, check out the Auralex Sonoflat panels. They look pretty good and come in a few colors. I sell them. Second, acoustic foam is the least effective treatment in the scheme of things. True acoustic panels are more effective. If you have a large space to treat and a limited budget, foam gets you the ability to treat a larger area cost effectively. But for smaller spaces, a few well placed real acoustic panels may be better. We are looking at selling some panels that are pretty cost effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 Another key to acoustic foam is the varying thickness. Carpet foam (barring much sculpting) is same thickness. I selected 4" foambymail wedges, so the thickness varies from 0 to 4". The thicker the foam, the lower the frequency it works on. One of the keys per Ethan Winer's articles and others here, is BROADBAND absorbtion. Also the wedge shape might help a bit with diffraction of the waves. Solid carpet foam will accomplish neither of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS Button Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Mike's dead on here - slapping foam up all over the place doesn't really help - you need to attack the actual reflections that are going to slap you in the head. Big Ditto!, or cover everything in foam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 ...or cover everything in foam. Ahhhhh, anechoic chamber! I certainly hope you're joking. What you really wanna do is look at the RT60 and pretty much ignore the raw frequency response of the room. You pretty much want even decay for all frequencies and you want the reverb to last no longer than 500 milliseconds. Here's a measurement taken of a treated room: Figure 3 - This graph shows how low a reverb time we were able to achieve using bass traps in the RealTraps showroom. Note how uniform the reverb time is versus frequency. And you can read the rest of the article here: http://www.realtraps.com/art_etf.htm Ideally the decay would be flat down to 20Hz, but in a real room you will have modal resonances that are tricking the microphone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcarlton Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I say yea. Have some coming Tuesday. Will use the minimalistic artwork technique. Also looking at OC-705 for larger bass traps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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