Some possible room treatment choices - any of you had these?

[Percussionista]

Next step for Percussionista's new 11x17 theater room is to replace the stacked open boxes for actual room treatment ;-) I've found several that I'm interested in and wondered if any of y'all have any experience with them. Basically I've been looking at simple "architectural looking" panels - geometric - not anything that resembles paintings, artwork, or in the other direction foam that looks like it belongs in the interior of a couch. We're just trying to neaten things up, don't have to get this too perfect.

I'm thinking of trying a pair of these ATS Acoustics Corner Bass Traps

in the upper only corners of the back, haven't decided on color, but we may simply go with relative matching colors with the rest, maybe just light and dark gray.

For the back middle area, and/or the sides, I'm looking at the following two, either a large four part diamond shape (ADW Acoustic Panels), or a six-part staggered panel shape (Acoustimac DMD Stagger Acoustic Design Pack).

Aside from asking whether you have any experience with any of these, when people have talked about putting in such room treatment, they always mention a lot of trial and error. How does one do such trial and error without putting a lot of holes in the walls? ;-) Attach these to 2x4's and hold them up with other 2x4's and try different placements/heights?

I'm thinking that if I put in the above mentioned corner traps and large 4-part diamond center treatment (it would have to go from the ceiling to the top of a cabinet - just fits-ish), that should be plenty to cover the back wall. I'm less sure about how much, and where, I might need side treatment. Another "first try" would be to put the 6-piece staggered array on the back center wall, and two each of the four-piece diamond set on left and right walls.

[creimes]

I took the harder approach and went DIY, used 1 x 3 MDF for the frames and Roxul SafeNsound for the absorption, of course not everyone wants to make them so what you have picked out looks good. They do make actual hardware for hanging acoustic panels.

Check out these guys for ideas www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/acoustic-panels/

Here is my room, I didn't go by any model of what should or shouldn't be done so take that into account but it made a world of difference in how good my system sounds.

[highfihoney2]

Dec 1, 2018 18:13:08 GMT -5 creimes said:

I took the harder approach and went DIY, used 1 x 3 MDF for the frames and Roxul SafeNsound for the absorption, of course not everyone wants to make them so what you have picked out looks good. They do make actual hardware for hanging acoustic panels.

Check out these guys for ideas www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/acoustic-panels/

Here is my room, I didn't go by any model of what should or shouldn't be done so take that into account but it made a world of difference in how good my system sounds.

I LOVE your clouds ,great job ,aside from installing 7ft bass traps behind my speakers the two 3ft X 5ft clouds I installed on my vaulted ceilings we're a bigger improvement than changing any piece of gear ,FYI folks you can take any picture from your phone to Kinko's and they will print it out on canvas ,for my rear wall I had Kinko's print my a beautiful flower my wife liked on canvas that I stretched over a frame filled with polyisocuranate ridid insulation for $300 less than I could purchase one custom made .

[Percussionista]

Interesting that you have "clouds", also seconded by highfihoney2 - I hadn't even thought about that. I wanted to go as easy as practicable, so only considered wall stuff. Did you install the clouds without doing any listening/testing and hope for the best or did you have a method to test them without making permanent attachment? With so much stuff still to do elsewhere I'm probably not going to take on any new "hobbies" such as DIY, but my wife has taken up sewing/quilting to spend time with her mom and we might be able to do a quilt for the back wall that would cover up something less finished (and less expensive ;-)) Still, I kinda like the simple geometric versions I found online and mentioned in my original post.

Dec 1, 2018 18:13:08 GMT -5 creimes said:

I took the harder approach and went DIY, used 1 x 3 MDF for the frames and Roxul SafeNsound for the absorption, of course not everyone wants to make them so what you have picked out looks good. They do make actual hardware for hanging acoustic panels.

Check out these guys for ideas www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/acoustic-panels/

Here is my room, I didn't go by any model of what should or shouldn't be done so take that into account but it made a world of difference in how good my system sounds.

[creimes]

Dec 1, 2018 19:17:34 GMT -5 Percussionista said:

Interesting that you have "clouds", also seconded by highfihoney2 - I hadn't even thought about that. I wanted to go as easy as practicable, so only considered wall stuff. Did you install the clouds without doing any listening/testing and hope for the best or did you have a method to test them without making permanent attachment? With so much stuff still to do elsewhere I'm probably not going to take on any new "hobbies" such as DIY, but my wife has taken up sewing/quilting to spend time with her mom and we might be able to do a quilt for the back wall that would cover up something less finished (and less expensive ;-)) Still, I kinda like the simple geometric versions I found online and mentioned in my original post.

Dec 1, 2018 18:13:08 GMT -5 creimes said:

I took the harder approach and went DIY, used 1 x 3 MDF for the frames and Roxul SafeNsound for the absorption, of course not everyone wants to make them so what you have picked out looks good. They do make actual hardware for hanging acoustic panels.

Check out these guys for ideas www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/acoustic-panels/

Here is my room, I didn't go by any model of what should or shouldn't be done so take that into account but it made a world of difference in how good my system sounds.

From what I had read clouds were a great option if A: they were viable in your room and B: the wife would approve haha, my floor is carpet and you have the couch so really corners, walls and ceilings are what you need to treat for reflections, I believe you are actually supposed to do a mix of diffusers and absorption for best results, to much absorption can and will deaden a room too much. The ceiling is one large reflection so clouds in my space are a great benefit.

I didn't do any testing I just made them and installed them, I have eye bolts into the ceiling securing them in place.

[novisnick]

No Atmos installed or in the fu?

[valgolfs]

I'll second the clouds making a huge improvement, they do in my room and mine are only 1" thick. I repurposed them from my old house.

[highfihoney2]

Dec 1, 2018 19:43:52 GMT -5 creimes said:

Dec 1, 2018 19:17:34 GMT -5 Percussionista said:

Interesting that you have "clouds", also seconded by highfihoney2 - I hadn't even thought about that. I wanted to go as easy as practicable, so only considered wall stuff. Did you install the clouds without doing any listening/testing and hope for the best or did you have a method to test them without making permanent attachment? With so much stuff still to do elsewhere I'm probably not going to take on any new "hobbies" such as DIY, but my wife has taken up sewing/quilting to spend time with her mom and we might be able to do a quilt for the back wall that would cover up something less finished (and less expensive ;-)) Still, I kinda like the simple geometric versions I found online and mentioned in my original post.

From what I had read clouds were a great option if A: they were viable in your room and B: the wife would approve haha, my floor is carpet and you have the couch so really corners, walls and ceilings are what you need to treat for reflections, I believe you are actually supposed to do a mix of diffusers and absorption for best results, to much absorption can and will deaden a room too much. The ceiling is one large reflection so clouds in my space are a great benefit.

I didn't do any testing I just made them and installed them, I have eye bolts into the ceiling securing them in place.

I hung my clouds with eye bolts on chains much like you did, before I decided on making & installing clouds which would leave big holes in my ceiling,then cause my wife to hit me with a skillet, I did do some rather cheesy testing with 2 quilts ,I stapled velcro in 6 spots on each quilt and used the sticky backed part 2 Velcro on my ceiling ,just hanging those quilts temporarily made a difference so noticable on percussion that even my wife who can't tell any difference heard the noticable improvement in clarity ,yours really set your room off & make a great visual statement .

[Percussionista]

After a quick look around I found the following cloud folks with very good reviews: Whisperwave

The wavy panels are made of melamine foam, 2x4 feet 2 inches thick only weigh 1.5 lbs. each, and a set of 4 (various colors available) are $202. They're delicate but easy to hang with simple hooks/wire.