[Hobbsmeerkat]

While I spend the next 4 weeks burning in the new NX-Studio crossovers, i figured it would be a good time to start working on my room.
Plus I've just sent my Greek tube preamp to Charlie Cocci be serviced/upgraded.

It's easily the weakest point of my setup, as I'm still to lazy to go and buy actual furniture.. So I have a lot of bare walls, and even in the near/mid field, I can tell I'm getting a lot of room interaction. Especially with OB speakers like my X-Statiks or Danny's Wedgies.

I figured the easiest place to start would with some DIY absorption panels, Killian released a few months ago. Each kit makes a pair of panels.
https://www.dentonwoodworkers.com/shop/absorption-frames-kits/2?page=1&limit=60&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc

Gunna start with eight 24x24x5.5" panels. 4 in the front, 4 in the back. I plan to get 12 in total. Making 8 in the front and 4 in the rear. I'm also planning to make the rear units into hybrid absorption/diffusion pannels.

Assembly is pretty simple, as the plywood is quite light and soft,
The trick is to make sure the holes for the corner pieces are all on the same side.
I didn't use any glue, but it wouldn't hurt to add some before screwing the panels together if you're inclinded.



Then from there you attach the two outside pieces together



Then install the first corner brace.



Then you can repeat the process for the remaining frame and corner pieces.



The holes on the bottom are for the in case you want to leave a gap between the panel and the walls. I plan to leave a 4-5" gap so the provided pegs are a little too small for my needs.



The screws take a square head which works really well.

Next step is to find some suitable cloth to wrap them in, and buy a bunch of rockwool to stuff them.
I have a bunch of black grill cloth left over from my NX Studios, so I may start with that.

Ill keep you posted once I make more progress.
But for now, I'm 2 frames down 6 more to go! 

[Badd99]

I recommend accoustic Maine fabric. It doesn't look different but it is. It's far better for panels than the cheap stuff and worth the few extra bucks, trust me. Do it right once and be done!

[Mikethehunterguy]

Keep us in The loop. I'm planning on doing .you own panels this winter. I will go 6" deep. Probably multiple 2'x2' panels as what I've read shows this to be more effective.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Sorry this project has been quite for so long, things have been busy.

I've got 6 of the frames currently assembled, and just finished the first panel of 12..



I'm using a pretty generic & breathable black fabric I got a sample of 2yards to start with.
I could probably make it work for facing 2 panels (not including the backs) if i took a little more effort to pre-cut the fabric in half.
But as it stands, both yards made this one panel front and back.

I couldn't easily get rockwool Safe and Sound as I planned without having to order 12 big bundles of it, so I went with 24x48" R30 Fiberglass. (10" thick compressed to  5.5")

I accidentally made this one backwards with the corner braces at the front but it's a starting point that will make the rest a lot easier to work with.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Just got a ton of fabric delivered, and decided to change from black to grey so it's not quite so stark of a contrast to the rest of the room..

I've spent this evening working on them and got 5 panels covered & ready for fiberglass tomorrow.



When these are done, I should have enough panels now to really start impacting the acoustics of my living room, cuz one assembled panel isn't doing anything on its own.. 

Ill try to take some pictures of my process tomorrow so you all can see how I'm filling and closing them up.

I've still got 4 more panels to assemble and then I'll have 6 more panels to wrap and fill. But I'm glad I've gotten this project moving again! 

[wgraft5]

Very nice Hobbs.

So you are using 12" thick fiberglass and compressing it down to 5.5"?

And are you going to space them 5.5" from the wall?

My ghetto panels are only 3.5 and I spaced them 4" from the walls. I may have to break down and just buy the frame kits and fiberglass and do it the right way.

Anyway keep up the good work,

Wayne in Oregon

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Thanks!

R30 fiberglass is 10" thick, so it's not quite that thick, but it compresses really easily. The original plan was rockwool "safe & sound" but it's not readily available here,  but i may hunt for it im the future for some corner bass traps if I feel I need them in the future.
Though they will probably be a combination of 6" Rockwool and fiberglass filling out the rest of the trap, abd some slats on the front to act as a bass trap and binary diffuser.

Yep, my plan is to keep a 5"-6" air gap between the back of the panels and the walls since it improves their effectiveness down low.

Thanks! Ill definitely keep everyone posted as i progress!

[AllanS]

Definitely interesting watching your progress.  Thanks for sharing.  Looking forward to your listening impressions.

[aldcoll]

How about Rovkwool delivered to your door.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/ROCKWOOL-COMFORTBATT-R-15-Stone-Wool-Batt-Insulation-with-Sound-Barrier-15-25-in-W-x-47-in-L/3388304
And currently the HD site says nada but I got some there once.  I actually would hate to think what a bag of that would look like when delivered. 

Alan

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Unfortunately I need the bigger 24" wide variety for these panels, which is only available in my area if I order a whole pallet load.

I can probably hunt it down in DFW area.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Spent an hour or so this evening working on stuffing and sealing up the panels i covered yesterday.

Here's a peek to the inside of how I attached the fabric to the frame.
(Pull it tight with lots of staples..  )





Next is to cut the fiberglass in half with a razor.
I use a long 2x4 to compress the fibers for a cleaner cut



Set the fiberglass into the frame:



I push the edges down to prevent any from getting stapled and lay a sheet of fabric on top.

Next I start with staples in the corners, pulled tight as is reasonable.
Followed by 3 staples along one edge, turning it 180 and doing the same, pulling it tight and then filling in the space between each stape with one more staple. And again the same on the first aide.
Then I'll do the same for the other two sides.
Then from that point on it's just adding more staples until im happy with the tension.
Then finish it off by trimming the excess fabric.


 
It's nor super pretty, but it works.
The only thing I need to consider doing is adding glue to the fabric edges so it doesn't fray & work itself loose & pull off over time.

I only had enough fabric to make 4 backs, so I've got 5 panels finished so far.

Brought them home for some quick listening, staring with all of them on the back wall. The room sounded oddly unbalanced, having so little reflections coming from the back wall.

I moved 3 panels to the front, behind the Wedgies, and kept 2 in the back, stacked directly behind me. Much better balance but still kinda odd sounding, but there are some songs where imaging is really locked into place.

It's really got me excited to finish off the rest of these panels. 

[wgraft5]

Those are coming out nice.

A tip I found was to make the back piece of cloth about 1" larger than the frame. Then fold the cloth under to the correct size then staple. That way it hides the cut end of the cloth and no frayed ends.

Are you going to put some on the ceiling?

Wayne in Oregon

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Thanks for the tip!

No plans for ceiling treatment as I'm in an apartment so I'm rather limited on the means/locations I can place panels.