DIY room treatment

[McPhaul]

O.K. I've just completed my DIY Room Treatment and wanted to share the experiance with those of you asking questions about DIY. I also have a few questions for those of you that may have more knowledge than I. My room is 12' 7" wide x 19' 2" long x 8' 7" high.

Construction:
I didn't take pics of the project because I wasn't thinking of posting the results so I'm sorry about that. I made frames from 1x4's, fitted the OC703 or 705 into the frame and streched fabric over them. Pretty basic so I'm not sure that pics would have really helped. A nail gun and a good saw are key to making the frames so if you don't have either you may add rental fees into your budget.

Panels:
I built 19 total panels. 9 panels of 2" OC703, 7 panels of 4" OC703 and 3 panels of 2" 705 FRK. I hung 2 of the 4" panels as a cloud above my workstation, and 3 of the 4" panels in the wall/ceiling corners in front of me. (1 straight in front and 1 in each corner) I hung 2 of the 2" panels on the walls at each side of my workstation starting at a point just behind my monitors and extending to just behind my head. (All of the wall mounted panels have the fiberglass spaced about 3 3/4" off the wall due to the hangers I chose.) The wall mounted panels in rear of the room mirror this except 1 of each pair is 705FRK instead of 703. The rear corners each have a 2" 703 panel at the wall/ceiling corner. I have not decided if I am going to make a 4x4 cloud in the rear of the room (over the drums) or hang them as 2 seperate 2x4 panels so the test numbers do not include them.

Costs:
My total cost on the fiberglass was $243.57 through SPI. That was for two 12 pc bundles of 703 and for the 3 pcs of 705. I have 1 pc of 703 left to put around my computer to reduce that noise.

The cost on the wood and hanging brackets was around $250.00 from Home Depot. I used decorative shelf hangers to support the wall mounted panels and a mixture of "J" hooks and lightweight turnbuckles for the ceiling mounted panels.

The cost of the fabric was $134.60 through Hancock Fabrics. I used a fabric called Ponte

Total cost was right at $650.00 for 19 panels hung in the room.

Results:
The room sounds much tighter now, things seem more well defined. It doesn't sound dead, but it is very different than before. (in a good way)

I used the Test tones from Ethan's Website for before and after testing. Below 100 Hz there was very little change in the test numbers (1 or 2 db at best) but above the 100Hz mark things are much flatter. Any sugestions on how to work on the sub 100 Hz stuff would be great. Some of the really low stuff could be due to my monitors (Event TR8's). I'm not sure how well they handle the really low stuff. You can still see some of the same trends in the charts, it is still the same room after all, but the after chart is much smoother.

100-110
was 79.5 to 78 to 84
now 80.0 to 79 to 81.5

120-160
was 86.5 to 93 to 85 to 90.5 to 89
now 87.5 to 89 to 87.5

180-210
was 84 to 79.5 to 85
now 82.5 to 81 to 81.5

[Glenn Kuras]

"I used the Test tones from Nathan's Website for before and after testing. Below 100 Hz there was very little change in the test numbers (1 or 2 db at best) but above the 100Hz mark things are much flatter. Any sugestions on how to work on the sub 100 Hz stuff would be great. Some of the really low stuff could be due to my monitors (Event TR8's). I'm not sure how well they handle the really low stuff. You can still see some of the same trends in the charts, it is still the same room after all, but the after chart is much smoother. "

Yea buy commercial grade bass traps!!!! Just kidding (well kind of)

What you could do is build a few with FRK on the face of the 4” panels. That will help lower the absorption when making them yourself. The other thing you could do is cut the fiberglass in triangles and stack it in the corners from floor to ceiling.

Glenn

[McPhaul]

Thanks alot Glenn. No really.........thanks alot.

From these before and afters can you give me an idea of what 4" w/ 705 FRK outside might give and what a few of your traps might give? The room sounds much better than it did. How much better can we make it?

Thanks
Will

[Glenn Kuras]

Not sure how much the FRK or the solid fill corner will help, but it will. You would need to send your panels to a test lab to really see what is going on.
For our product take a look at this case study http://www.sbrjournal.net/journalsit.../Acoustics.htm
This is with a room with 8 panels.
BTW even though you did not buy from us I always like to see people do the right thing and treat the room. GOOD JOB SIR!!

Glenn

[McPhaul]

Thanks for the info and for the kind words.