Advice Please : DIY acoustic panels


Hi,

I am looking to build some cheap acoustic panels. Currently I've some carpet runners hanging from the wall directly behind the maggies 1.6 . The carpets are butt ugly and everyone while commenting on how good the system sounds, never fail to mention how bad the carpets look.

I would to build some panels that can be hung from the wall and can absorb the sound produced by the back panel of the maggie and also that are easy on the eyes. Hopefully I should be able to buy the material from the local HD or lowes.

Can anyone who have built such panels, tell me how to go about it?

Thanks in advance,
C
cacophonix

Showing 1 response by red2

I too own Maggie 1.6, and found that the "Down and Dirty" Bass traps are the least expensive and work very well! The author of this design says that they are about 80% as effective as the expensive professional boughten ones, which means your getting 80% of the results for about 15% of the cost. Speaks "VALUE" in my book.

They are simply rolls of insulation about 16" in diameter and stacked 4'6" high behind the woofer panels of the Maggies and produce a wonderful improvement. When I first read this on a site I can't remember, I thought the guy was NUTS! But I thought, I can just return it to Home Depot if it don't work so what to loose.

I also use other types of dampening for the higher frequencies on the wall, and corners of the room. The Maggies need some bare wall reflective surfaces to sound their best in my opinion, and thus the "insulation roll bass traps" yields space and air around them as they are away from the wall and about 8" behind the woofer panel. Again, may not be the last word or ultimate best, but for the time and money spent, it is worth way more than the $200 I spent for all four pieces.

Make sure and get a thin long dry cleaner bag to slip over the rolls of insulation so you have no worry about breathing the fiberglass fibers in your house. Assemble them in the garage, not in your audio room. Then wrap in Burlap from WalMart to make them look good. I have 4 traps in my room: one behind each Maggie, and the other two in each respective rear corners of the room.

Good Luck,

R.