Have you considered acoustic treatment for your home? There is just too much reverberations and echo in your room, or you want to quiet down your room. Great! Lets do it! How much? $80 for a 2’x4′ a panel + shipping!!!! Can I DIY it cheaper? Yes!
I build mine around $45 per panel by using premium/professional acoustic material, but if you select cheaper acoustic material you can get that close to $35-$40 per panel!!!! (even cheaper if plywood goes down) 😎
Check out my latest DIY video 📺 bellow 😁.
So my room has quite a bit of reflective surfaces, hardwood floors, bare walls, window, aluminum blinds and my soundstage imaging wasn’t quite right. I put down a carpet in front of my system and it significantly improved the sound stage. However I felt that there was too much sound variation off center, I can noticeably hear differences during white noise tests. Just moving my head several inches left and right, the sound changed. So I decided to add a few acoustical panels at the first reflections.
At $60-80 a pop they are quite expensive, and say you needed 4, that would be as much as $360! Also at $60 you will not get the premium/better performing Acoustic Insulation!
So I went ahead and did my research and found that not all acoustical panels are the same and that there are basically two big names that make proper Acoustic Insulation for professional installations. Roxul and Ownens Corning, and in particular Rockboard 60 and Ownens- Corning 703. I decided to go with 2″ Rockboard 60 for it had the better lower frequency Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) then the 703 and it was cheaper! The table bellow shows the acoustic absorbtion coefficients for Rockboard 60 and an NRC of 1 which is VERY good!!!
Rockboard 60 Acoustical Performance ASTM C423
| Thickness | 125 Hz | 250 Hz | 500 Hz | 1000 Hz | 2000 Hz | 4000 Hz | NRC |
| 1″ | 0.07 | 0.32 | 0.77 | 1.04 | 1.05 | 1.05 | 0.8 |
| 1.5″ | 0.18 | 0.48 | 0.96 | 1.09 | 1.05 | 1.05 | 0.9 |
| 2″ | 0.26 | 0.68 | 1.12 | 1.1 | 1.03 | 1.04 | 1 |
| 3″ | 0.63 | 0.95 | 1.14 | 1.01 | 1.03 | 1.04 | 1.05 |
| 4″ | 1.03 | 1.07 | 1.12 | 1.04 | 1.07 | 1.08 | 1.1 |
Materials
Materials Additonal
You can also use Roxul Roxul Acoustical Fire Batts (AFB) which is about 35% cheaper then Rockboard 60 and very close to the same performance, except that it isn’t rigid like Rockboard 60. So you are looking at closer to $35-$40 per panel.
Backer Fabric – 1yd (59in wide is best) Landscape Fabric or Utility Fabric Upholstery Underlining from Joann or Amazon.
Tools
The tool list is pretty simple:
- Table Saw
- Brad Nail Gun – 18ga 2in Brad Nails
- Staple Gun – 1/5 in T50 Staples
- Hammer
- Tape Measure
- Pencil
- Scissors
Build
I think the video covers the construction pretty well, bellow are photos of the cutouts, dimensions, and frame. I did not mount these on the wall yet, so I did not show ant mounting hardware installation. Perhaps if I wall mount them I will follow up with another video. I think they weigh around 20-30lb each, not too heavy, not fether light either.
Also if you do not have a nail gun, you can use screws instead. Just pre-drill the holes, use clamps to hold the pieces together while you screw them in.
Here are some more details of the Build. I did enjoy this build, I think it was relatively easy, and if your willing to spend some extra time, you can make different shapes panels, mix different colors, etc. Have fun with it!
I hope you enjoy this build! See you next time! 😎🎵🔨🔧
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