Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions GIK acoustic panels

There is a review in audioholics of new acoustic panels:
http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/GIKacoustics244panels.php

What do you think? They do look attractive and the tests show that their absorption is good. But how many does one need? They recommend to put at least two 2'x4' panels in the corners and two panels along the side wall at the reflection points. Just, intuitively, it seems to be not too much, especially for a large room, but I might be wrong. Anybody has a practical experience with sound panels?

Thanks,
Gena

LINK

Thanks for making the link clickable. Is there an easy option to do it?

Hi Gena!

When you make a post, there is a link near the top, UBBCode in your posts. That tells you how do you all these fancy things in your posts. Specifically, here's probably what you were wanting to do:

[url=link] title [/url] = Makes the given title into a hyperlink pointing to link.

Hope that helped!

I just built 6 DIY panels like the ones on GIK accoustics. I have 1 4"2X4 panel in each corner and 2 panels for the first reflection point. I actually graphed the room's response showing before and after. The results are striking, in my opinion. I could send you them if you like. I could also hear the difference as well. Listening to 2 channel stereo is a whole new experience now.

My dedicated room is about 13'X30'. I was told that the optimuum number of traps in a room my size could be up to 16!! I am not that obsessed, but I might want to add a couple of more in the furture.

If budget is a consideration, go the DIY route. It would probably cost you only $30 per panel. Also, be sure to check out AVSfourm - Glenn, the owner of GIK, is a frequent poster in the "Dedicated Theater Design" room.

Thanks, now I know

For the corner panels, did you set them on the floor, so they are 4' from the floor? That's why it is surprising - it only takes 50% of the corner height and it make a difference!

What is your listening impression from the change?

I set them about 2' from the floor (my ceilings are only 9').

As for impressions, before the bass traps, it always felt as if the bass in my room was drift toward the stairs and staying trapped in there. Basically, I sounded like the best place for bass response in my room was the stairs. Not an ideal spot was Home Theater and Music enjoyment. When I installed the corner traps, I could hear the sub better from my original listening position. The overall sound was definately enriched due to the better bass response. Definately worth the time, effort, and cost.

A friend of mine told me that a regular old house plant will work as a bass trap. He told me as long as the pot is fiberglass, rap a wool blanket around it and I’d have a trap. I have lots of plants and a few of those Mexican blankets I seam to pick up every time I go down there. He was also telling me I could make them out of wire mesh. Told me to roll up some mesh into a 12” drum, stuff it with fiberglass insulation and rap it with a wool blanket. He has those all over his house and says they work.

So how does one know if these things are needed anyway? My room is going to be pretty small (12’ X 16’) and I’m not sure if I could fit anything in there.

In reply to:

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So how does one know if these things are needed anyway?

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It's a very good question and I don't know an answer.

On the one hand people are very obsessed with the flatness of the amp and speaker frequency curves. On the other hand, an untreated room can introduce very wild +/- 10 db peaks and nulls.

The wisdom is that treatment helps but to what extend and at the expense of what damage to the wallet and to the room aesthetics - I don't know.