My DIY Acoustic Panels. Wow what an amazing difference!!!!

ateal

Super Member
Well I finally got around to making up a set of six 4’ high x 2’ wide x 2” thick acoustic panels after years of thinking about it and all I can say is WOWZER!!!, what a massive return for a relatively small investment (read more for details of cost). To put it simply the benefit is equal in magnitude to moving from a $45 Audio Technica Moving Magnet Cartridge to a $1,000 + Koetsu Low Output Moving Coil Cartridge but at a tiny fraction of the price. Every serious audio enthusiast needs to hold off on spending money on higher and higher end gear until they treat their room.

I knew the introduction of acoustic panels was going to be beneficial but was not sure how beneficial and what the results would be. For example I knew it would reduce the echo effect of the sounds bouncing around the hard surfaces of the wall and I also read it could take the edge off higher frequencies and make the sound smoother. I also knew that lower frequencies were much harder to tame and would require a lot more treatment than six panels, and I was good with that. But when I set them up and put the needle down on the first track I was ecstatic with what I heard.

Before last night I thought I had an amazing audio system with great tone, soundstage, detail, imaging etc, etc., but once I placed these panels in position the soundstaging and imaging got so much better, the resolution so much clearer, the sound was also so much smoother. A big smile appeared on my face and I immediately started to think of building 6 more panels as they are so easy and cheap to make.

There are many videos online of how to make acoustic panels but I tried to keep mine simple yet sturdy with an air gap behind the insulation. The shopping list is as follows.

1) 11 pieces of 8’ long x 4” x 1” Spruce Pine Furring from Lowes - $1.86 each / $21 total

2) 75 count box of 1 ½” wood screws from Lowes - $5.98/box

3) Elmers wood glue from Lowes - $1.98

4) Box of misc. size small nails from Lowes - $2.00

5) Staple gun and staples from Lowes - $18

6) 2” thick Roxul Rockboard 60 mineral wool insulation (Box of six 4’ x 2’ panels) from Amazon - $95 incl. shipping

7) 6 yards of 60” wide black Burlap from Fabric Direct - $38 incl. shipping

8) Total Cost - $182 or $30 per panel


Step by Step Build.


Cut 6 of the lengths of 1” x 4” exactly in half. These will be the side rails.

Cut 18 pieces exactly 23 ¾” long. This allows you to get 4 even lengths out of the 8’ long Pine. These will be the top, bottom and middle rails.

Fix the top and bottom rails using screws and glue. I added a staple fixings for extra security.

Fix the center rail using glue and screws but be sure to recess these 2” from the front face of the panel. That way the insulation will sit flush with the front of the panel.

Cut the remaining 1” x 4” into equal sized triangles. These will be glued and nailed and will also be recessed 2” from the front face of the panel.


If all the above has been done correctly you should have 6 beautiful and sturdy frames ready to accept the insulation panel. Like these I prepared earlier (notice the 2" recess from the front). From start to finish these frames took me approx. 4hrs to build.

IMG_1919.JPG
After you have your frames complete, allow 24 hours for wood glue to fully set.

Next step is to insert the insulation which is very easy if you have made the frames correctly. The only thing you will need to do is cut the acoustic panel down with a sharp kitchen knife (don't tell the wife!!) to approximately 46 ½” in length. Measure your panels just to make sure. The width should be fine as you can squeeze the 24" insulation into the 23 ¾” internal width of the frame. Once complete they should look like this. By using 4" wide lumber instead of 2" to match the thickness of the insulation, you create 1 ½" of air space between the insulation and your wall surface which further improves acoustic insulation.

IMG_1923.JPG

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Now because I haven't received my black Burlap yet and because I am a very impatient kinda guy, I had try these panels out.

Here they are placed temporarily in my listening room. I will update this thread with further instructions once I wrap with the black burlap and permanently hang on the wall. As mentioned earlier they are so effective I have already ordered the materials to make another six panels, but this time in Avocado color for contrast.

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Great job!! Good detailed instructions. Huge bang for the buck. My room was like an echo chamber. I made some similar panels after reading everything I could get my hands on. I was able to purchase the Roxul locally. I also made some panels that fit flush in the corners and installed using Z-Clips from Acoustimac.
 
Number 7: 6 yards of 60” wide black Burlap from Fabric Direct - $38 incl. shipping
 
room treatments are essential. Nice write up

I would have mad my own exactly like yours but I got a killer deal on 12 gik panels & tri corner bass traps.
 
Outstanding!

Love this....

"Before last night I thought I had an amazing audio system with great tone, soundstage, detail, imaging etc, etc., but once I placed these panels in position the soundstaging and imaging got so much better, the resolution so much clearer, the sound was also so much smoother. A big smile appeared on my face and I immediately started to think of building 6 more panels as they are so easy and cheap to make."

There are so many in the hobby with very high level gear missing a good bit of what their rig is actually capable of doing simply because optimizing the acoustic response of the room is not a priority or option. I've met many who just don't want to bother and think simply because their gear is $$$ or has a great pedigree they're hearing all it can deliver. I bought some speakers from a guy once who had a very impressive far field rig with gorgeous Proac towers and a very nice class A integrated (the brand escapes me...made in NZ) in a very large room and a near field rig with Sonus Faber stand mounts and a Plinius integrated in a medium sized room. There were no treatments in either room and lots of early reflections in the medium sized room. I found nothing from either system to be impressive or captivating and in the most tactful way I could suggested to the owner that he research room acoustics and how it affects fidelity. I invited him over to my place to see and hear my room/system and a few weeks later he paid me a visit. I had Altec 19's set up at the time and, kind of to my surprise, noticed he avoided commenting on them at all when he arrived. I sat him down for a listen and after the first song, which he chose, he was very impressed and complimentary about what he'd heard yet at the same time puzzled. He explained that when he saw the 19's with their big horns he got concerned because he'd heard big heritage series Klipsch as well as Altec 19's before and couldn't stand horns. What I found interesting about all of it was he immediately started asking about the cables, chords and tubes I was using. I showed him it was all good stuff, but none of it was particularly audiophile grade and admitted that if there was any sort of silver bullet in my system, it was the acoustic treatments. I then got on my acoustics soap box (I was quite the room acoustics zealot at that time) and gave him a thorough explanation of early reflections, room decay/reverb, creating a reflection free zone at the listening position, etc. and was able to use all my treatments as visual aides. A few weeks later he texts me pics of his medium sized listening space adorned with absorption panels and bass traps and a message that explained his amazement and satisfaction. And he's not the only one I've had this type of experience with.

You mentioned adding more absorption panels....you may not need many more unless you're doing so to create bass trapping. Looks like you have just about enough panels there to create a good RFZ at the listening spot. A few on each side wall at first reflection locations for both speakers, a few on the ceiling at the first reflection locations, a few on the rear wall and front wall behind the speakers (these should be thicker than the side wall and ceiling panels to trap mid bass energy that accumulates in theses areas). You want to keep some of the surface area of your walls and ceiling reflective so you don't kill the room's reverb. Ideally you could add some diffusion devices, but that's just icing on the cake.
 
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You can cover them with cloth to make them pretty. Looks great.

Correct, the black Burlap which has not been delivered is a breathable cloth. Once it arrives I will fit it, hang the frames and update the images.
 
The rock board is a nice material for that sort of thing. Extra credit if you face nail random width and height slats on the front to break up the surface acoustically. Just install the burlap behind those.

Have you considered the ceiling? That was my biggest problem area here - very shrill reflections at times. I just tied a weighted string to a pole, held that up, gave the string a swing, and marked the location where the arc intersected the tweeter/mids and approximate head position in the comfy chair - a very unscientific method of finding the location of the primary reflection there. As you've found, a world of difference - I can now listen to Norah Jones without wanting to claw my ears out ... or having her do it for me. ;-}

PS ... nowhere near as fancy as your setup ... I just tacked some memory foam carpets up. Next to zero weight, and six bucks apiece on clearance at the local big box. The floor length insulated glass drapes did wonders to damp a 160hz standing wave that could kill.

ceiling-carpets-001.jpg


PS: Now that you've addressed the big lumps, any plans to do some fine tuning with EQ? That was the next BIG step here in taking yet another step towards audio nirvana ...
 
Outstanding!

Love this....

"Before last night I thought I had an amazing audio system with great tone, soundstage, detail, imaging etc, etc., but once I placed these panels in position the soundstaging and imaging got so much better, the resolution so much clearer, the sound was also so much smoother. A big smile appeared on my face and I immediately started to think of building 6 more panels as they are so easy and cheap to make."

There are so many in the hobby with very high level gear missing a good bit of what their rig is actually capable of doing simply because optimizing the acoustic response of the room is not a priority or option. I've met many who just don't want to bother and think simply because their gear is $$$ or has a great pedigree they're hearing all it can deliver. I bought some speakers from a guy once who had a very impressive far field rig with gorgeous Proac towers and a very nice class A integrated (the brand escapes me...made in NZ) in a very large room and a near field rig with Sonus Faber stand mounts and a Plinius integrated in a medium sized room. There were no treatments in either room and lots of early reflections in the medium sized room. I found nothing from either system to be impressive or captivating and in the most tactful way I could suggested to the owner that he research room acoustics and how it affects fidelity. I invited him over to my place to see and hear my room/system and a few weeks later he paid me a visit. I had Altec 19's set up at the time and, kind of to my surprise, noticed he avoided commenting on them at all when he arrived. I sat him down for a listen and after the first song, which he chose, he was very impressed and complimentary about what he'd heard yet at the same time puzzled. He explained that when he saw the 19's with their big horns he got concerned because he'd heard big heritage series Klipsch as well as Altec 19's before and couldn't stand horns. What I found interesting about all of it was he immediately started asking about the cables, chords and tubes I was using. I showed him it was all good stuff, but none of it was particularly audiophile grade and admitted that if there was any sort of silver bullet in my system, it was the acoustic treatments. I then got on my acoustics soap box (I was quite the room acoustics zealot at that time) and gave him a thorough explanation of early reflections, room decay/reverb, creating a reflection free zone at the listening position, etc. and was able to use all my treatments as visual aides. A few weeks later he texts me pics of his medium sized listening space adorned with absorption panels and bass traps and a message that explained his amazement and satisfaction. And he's not the only one I've had this type of experience with.

You mentioned adding more absorption panels....you may not need many more unless you're doing so to create bass trapping. Looks like you have just about enough panels there to create a good RFZ at the listening spot. A few on each side wall at first reflection locations for both speakers, a few on the ceiling at the first reflection locations a few on the rear wall and front wall behind the speakers (these should be thicker than the side wall and ceiling speakers to trap mid bass energy that accumulates in theses areas). You want to keep some of the surface area of your walls and ceiling reflective so you don't kill the room's reverb. Ideally you could add some diffusion devices, but that's just icing on the cake.

Thanks for your post it is a great story and very helpful. It reinforces how I feel at the moment. As for the next six panels I intend to place one behind the Turntable, one in the right hand corner behind my listening position (the other corner has the door), one behind my listening position, two on the ceiling and one spare which will get used when my permanent listening room is ready.

I will heed your comment regarding diffusion and will look into this as a further option if I can create one cost effectively. I also take note of your comment for additional insulation at the corners and will add some extra to those panels.
 
The rock board is a nice material for that sort of thing. Extra credit if you face nail random width and height slats on the front to break up the surface acoustically. Just install the burlap behind those.

Have you considered the ceiling? That was my biggest problem area here - very shrill reflections at times. I just tied a weighted string to a pole, held that up, gave the string a swing, and marked the location where the arc intersected the tweeter/mids and approximate head position in the comfy chair - a very unscientific method of finding the location of the primary reflection there. As you've found, a world of difference - I can now listen to Norah Jones without wanting to claw my ears out ... or having her do it for me. ;-}

PS ... nowhere near as fancy as your setup ... I just tacked some memory foam carpets up. Next to zero weight, and six bucks apiece on clearance at the local big box. The floor length insulated glass drapes did wonders to damp a 160hz standing wave that could kill.

ceiling-carpets-001.jpg


PS: Now that you've addressed the big lumps, any plans to do some fine tuning with EQ? That was the next BIG step here in taking yet another step towards audio nirvana ...

Memory foam carpets is a good idea that I never thought about. As for fine tuning with EQ, I wouldn't know where to start but knowing me I will probably research it to death and have a go. Especially since I have been so impressed with my endeavors so far.
 
As for fine tuning with EQ, I wouldn't know where to start but knowing me I will probably research it to death and have a go. Especially since I have been so impressed with my endeavors so far.

Room EQ Wizard ... free! If you've got a laptop, just add a calibrated mike (Dayton's UMM6 is now available in a simple plug and play USB version) and an SPL meter to set up the software (think: phone app). Run a few simple frequency sweeps, and you've got an acoustic picture of the room, including reflections, waterfall decays, etc.

Different ways to go from there, but hey ... that's another thread.

PS ... think of the fun you could have with the ceiling carpets, telling people to wipe their feet when they come in, and then pointing UP. <G>
 
Great ideas on the panels, and as always lots of good ideas in the following posts as well. This is the direction I want to start going in now that I feel I have most of the kinks rolled out of my stereo system. My room is challenging although I do feel it sounds quite good already for what it is. Essentially I have a 16' wide by 20 foot deep room open on one side with a 12/12 pitch roof which peaks around 20 feet and the peak runs parallel to the speaker layout. There is very little echo, the only reason I can think of for that is the beveled tongue and groove wood on the ceiling with the little bevel every 5 inches must be absorbing and deflecting just enough sound. Someday I am also going to try sKiZo's Room Wizard out.. Everyone needs a wizard these days!
 
Just checked their website. Looks like quality gear.

Yes and they have killer support, they will help you plan your acoustic treatments specific to your room. They want you to send actual dimensions and tons of photos.

They will help you optimize what you already have, even if they are DIY panels!



+1 REW alongside a minidsp umik-1 or Dayton emm6
 
Room EQ Wizard ... free! If you've got a laptop, just add a calibrated mike (Dayton's UMM6 is now available in a simple plug and play USB version) and an SPL meter to set up the software (think: phone app). Run a few simple frequency sweeps, and you've got an acoustic picture of the room, including reflections, waterfall decays, etc.

Different ways to go from there, but hey ... that's another thread.

PS ... think of the fun you could have with the ceiling carpets, telling people to wipe their feet when they come in, and then pointing UP. <G>

Thanks for the links and LOL on the wiping your feet gag:D. I will certainly move onto this next step but probably wait until I am in my permanent listening room with the other panels. Which App is best as a SPL or do I have to buy an actual SPL??
 
Yes and they have killer support, they will help you plan your acoustic treatments specific to your room. They want you to send actual dimensions and tons of photos.

They will help you optimize what you already have, even if they are DIY panels!



+1 REW alongside a minidsp umik-1 or Dayton emm6

How many panels did you use and were they set up similar to mine. I think I definitely need to get the ceiling and behind my listening position covered.
 
Which App is best as a SPL or do I have to buy an actual SPL??

Haven't used the phone apps myself, as I have an old BSR meter here, but I hear most folk are happy with the results. It's a one shot deal setting up REW to match your system's output - just set your volume to 80 spl's and adjust REW's internal meter to match.

How many panels did you use and were they set up similar to mine. I think I definitely need to get the ceiling and behind my listening position covered.

You should be able to come close to figuring out the primary reflections on the side walls just by eyeballing an equidistance between the speakers and your primary listening position. That's where I'd start with the panels. I'd think with your design, you should be able to brace them temporarily in different positions and heights.

(That's the sort of thing REW really does well too, as it allows you to easily see the results. Easy being relative of course, as you have to first learn how it works.}

Once you figure out "permanent" positions for the panels, I'd consider using something like Command mounting strips to hang the panels, as permanence is relative to any changes you might make to the room later.

* Also keep in mind the golden rule of killing one of two parallel surfaces. That was my intent with the floor length drapes at the front of the room. I've got a plaster ceiling, but carpeted floor to damp that pair. Side walls are usually relatively immune to standing waves if you've got some "clutter" to break up the big stuff.

Oh, and don't forget the "golden rule" ... and "psychoacoustics" ... and cavity resonance in balloon construction ... and "room bloom" ... and ... Short version, your journey has just begun. Ohmmmmmmmmm ... ;-}
 
If you haven't seen this it's worth looking at...

http://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-acoustic-treatment/

And I encourage you to explore the entire website. It's loaded with easy to digest information on room acoustics including an excellent DIY diffuser (the "leanfuser") design that's fairly easy to build. This is a variation of it on the front wall of my (prior) listening space...

image.jpeg

Also, building stands/legs for your side wall absorption panels (so they're not permanently mounted) is worth considering. If you ever change speakers and need to locate them in a different spot than the where the prior pair were located and/or change the location of the listening position, you'll also change the first reflection locations on the side walls...necessitating the repositioning of the absorption panels. There are several different ways you could skin the cat, but here's how I did mine just as an example...

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/portable-diy-absorption-panel-build.572781/

- Michael
 
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Haven't used the phone apps myself, as I have an old BSR meter here, but I hear most folk are happy with the results. It's a one shot deal setting up REW to match your system's output - just set your volume to 80 spl's and adjust REW's internal meter to match.


You should be able to come close to figuring out the primary reflections on the side walls just by eyeballing an equidistance between the speakers and your primary listening position. That's where I'd start with the panels. I'd think with your design, you should be able to brace them temporarily in different positions and heights.

(That's the sort of thing REW really does well too, as it allows you to easily see the results. Easy being relative of course, as you have to first learn how it works.}

Once you figure out "permanent" positions for the panels, I'd consider using something like Command mounting strips to hang the panels, as permanence is relative to any changes you might make to the room later.

* Also keep in mind the golden rule of killing one of two parallel surfaces. That was my intent with the floor length drapes at the front of the room. I've got a plaster ceiling, but carpeted floor to damp that pair. Side walls are usually relatively immune to standing waves if you've got some "clutter" to break up the big stuff.

Oh, and don't forget the "golden rule" ... and "psychoacoustics" ... and cavity resonance in balloon construction ... and "room bloom" ... and ... Short version, your journey has just begun. Ohmmmmmmmmm ... ;-}

Great advice and I am definitely heading down the rabbit hole of room acoustics. Fortunately for me it is a much more cost effective journey than the one I have been on. Thankfully I have no inclination to change anything further in my system. Only changing out cartridges and making improvements to room acoustics.
 
If you haven't seen this it's worth looking at...

http://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-acoustic-treatment/

And I encourage you to explore the entire website. It's loaded with easy to digest information on room acoustics including an excellent DIY diffuser (the "leanfuser") design that's fairly easy to build. This is a variation of it on the front wall of my (prior) listening space...

View attachment 908474

Also, building stands/legs for your side wall absorption panels (so they're not permanently mounted) is worth considering. If you ever change speakers and need to locate them in a different spot than the where the prior pair were located and/or change the location of the listening position, you'll also change the first reflection locations on the side walls...necessitating the repositioning of the absorption panels. There are several different ways you could skin the cat, but here's how I did mine just as an example...

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/portable-diy-absorption-panel-build.572781/

- Michael

Fantastic links Michael and lots to take in. I think I may make up legs for the corner bass traps as this will be better than awkward fixings to the wall.

What do you think of the 2" thick foam diffusers/absorbtion panels they sell on amazon as an alternative for the ceiling. Any good or worthless.

IMG_1937.PNG
 
The foam panels are better than nothing and can tame a slap echo, but carpet on the floor will do the same thing. Foam's effective absorption range won't be broadband like 3" Roxul or 2" OC703...at best they'll get some midrange energy and up, but that's about it. Ceiling panels really aren't very hard to hang. I hung mine by screwing hooks into the frame of the panel and hung them on hooks that are used to hang plants from the ceiling.

And the manufacturer's claim that those devices offer any sort of diffusion is...well...laughable.

image.jpeg
 
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