Sound Absorbing Material

Read an F. Alton Everest Book, "Sound Studio Construction on a Budget" or "Master Handbook of Acoustics, 4th Edition". He has what you want to know and tons more--a must read!

Our band has Auralex(sp?) foam in our practice room and it works great. There are several companies that make similar foams, but I doubt you'd like the look of it in your house. I'm sure someone must make nicer looking stuff for home use. There are also cheaper options too...canvas paintings...wall hangings...quilts...drapes...books...well placed furniture...etc. You can do a lot without spending a fortune.

Check out the site markertek.com they have numerous sound absorbtion foam panels etc that might fit the bill. I have purchased some and they work great plus the price is very good.

Bozo

i use asc wall panels, which you can order in standard or custom fabric to match your room. they work very well and are pretty reasonably priced. www.tubetrap.com.

-cfb

Two more to look at are acousticalsolutions.com and echobusters.com. HiFiFarm.com also carries sound absorbing products including audio carpet (which I know nothing about, but the idea is appealing). One of the most impressive high end shops I've seen used a collection of very high quality/expensive Persian rugs on the walls which was absolutely stunning (though probably not as effective as products designed for the purpose).

I too would second The F. Alton Everest books that Tom mentioned.

Keep in mind that most "absorbers" are not linear in their frequency response. As such, it is VERY easy to end up with a system that sounds dull and flat due to a lack of high frequency energy whereas nothing was done to absorb / level out the low frequency output. Rather than guessing or paying someone else to build products to solve your problems, read up on the subject, do it right the first time by doing it yourself and save your money along the way. Sean
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Stuffed furniture, with cheap great-looking, thick pillows found at Marshalls, etc. Plop 'em up to absorb sidewall splatter; knock 'em down for instant WAF! Ern

As good as any other material including the more expensive foam products is very inexpensive Owens Corning #703 1in fiberglass panels that can be covered with most any fabric from $2.99 yd burlap to $25 speaker cloth to anything in between from the RAG Shop and be hung on the wall like a picture. Best to leave an air space between #703 fiberglass panel and wall. Can even make low and high bass trap absorbers that absorb from the 60hz to 300 range for only 40 a trap which will be much better than the expensive round common tube traps from the famous manufactures. The foam mentioned also works but cost more and is more diffulcult to cover. Try this link for plans ------ Build a Better Bass TrapAddress:http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html

Two more are fiberglass and Sonex. audioadvisor carries sonex. You can use fiberglass to build your own.

Thermafiber (compressed fiberglass panels)will do the trick.

Cover it with some thin cloth...

I built several baffles for my listening area using panels called "Sonolead", which is two layers of high-density fiber glass with a thick, flexible vinyl material in the middle (like a sandwich). "Sonolead" panels were designed for use on marine diesel engines, and they REALLY cut the noise. I purchased these panels, plus other sound absorption material, from a local marine supply store. If you have a good marine supply store in your area that carries engine and engine room parts, you can probably find "Sonolead" or something similar. If you don't have a local source, my local store ships anywhere. The name of the store here in Seattle is Hamilton Jet, and their Web site lists a number of sound absorption materials. The Web address is: http://www.hamiltonjet.com/noise/noise-vibrations.html

Thanks all for your valuable information. I now have a volumes of information to review.

Rick

1st contact your speaker manufacturer and try the tweaks that they recommend for optimum placement.

2nd get 3 pillowcases, stuff them full of $50.00 dollar bills. Mail them to me to make sure they are correctly stuffed.

3rd Use ASC tube traps they do work.