Materials for absorption panels


Hi there,
trying to build some diy panels.
Need a material for the front of the compressed fibreglass that will reflect 'some'/most of the mid & treble.
Also does the likes of Muslin definitely contain the fibreglass - don't want any floating around in my listening room.
I notice 8th Nerve use a sort of foil/scrim material.
Real traps are a conundrum as if they are open at the sides to allow the edges to contribute to the efficiency they cannot be a sealed/tuned box so I assume the 'membrane' covers the whole fibreglass panel inside.

Si
simon74
Hi Cytocycle,
from my studies real traps would be the way to go - I'd have no qualms paying them but damned if I'm going to pay 3x the price cause of my location so diy is my only option.
My experiments so far prove to me at least, that room treatments are a hugely overlooked 'tweak' in my country.
It would still be cheap compared to some of my gear to buy ready made & probably a bigger improvement than cables but
it sticks in my craw to give more tax to Tony & his cronies!
They will just spend it on their next war - my country (Scotland)has produced the best crude oil in the world for years, so I'm told, I worked on the Rigs and we don't own or benefit or have seen any benefit from it to my knowledge and this is without an invasion!
Where were all the 'good ' guys when Genocide reigned in Croatia - ah well no oil, who cares !
Cheers Simon
Simon74 - The shipping was killer even in the US, and outside of the US would make it not feesible.. so DIY is the way to go, if you can get the Owens 705 or 703 you can build something close for cheep. Audio Asylum has an accoustic group run by Rives and Realtraps that you should check out as the DIY will recommend other methods to building REALTRAP.

The Room is one of the most important aspects that is definitely overlooked.. I've heard too many good components sound really bad because of placement and lack (or too much) room treatments.

Have fun with it!
Chris
Because most of them in there are made of foam - and questionable foam at that. There are some decent ones there but nothing that you can't do cheaper DIY.
Hi There,

thanks for all that. I have the fibreglass panels (nasty stuff!). I think they are our equivalent of 703.
Anyway they are 50mm thick.
I made an approximation of the 8th nerve stuff - glued tin foil to the front and getting quite good results.
I was concerned at the safety aspect so wrapped the panels in clingfilm before covering with cloth - bad idea I think.
I read if you can't blow through the material it won't work.
The foil is probably not letting through any mid or treble.
Will start again with scrim for the front and no clingfilm just muslin.
Going to make 3 2ft X 4ft 50mm thick panels just covered with muslin for the 1rst reflection points - side & ceiling.
Double up two pairs of panels to 100mm and laid in corners as bass traps - huge improvement.
My cara software , now that I have programmed all the absorption co-effecients of the 703/5 equivalent, is a great help in predicting the placements/results.

Cheers Simon