[nlange20]

Hey guys, I am in need of the highest performing acoustical foam I can get for under $100. I plan on adding roughly another $100 next month to finish the room.



I am only 20 years old, with a decent 2 ch. setup at home, with my parents. I have a nice pair of Paridigm "Mini Monitor's", along with other good quality components. My room is 14x10, with a 4.5x4 window on the right wall. I have thick-black curtains covering the window.


My problem:

When I lower the volume -10db, at night, it's still a little too much for my parents, when they are sleeping. The main problem is the bass is too profound at night. I don't have a problem during the day listening at any volume, only night times. If I lower it any further, it's just not as involving, and fun to listen to. Of course my parents cherish my system just as much as I do, but they need it to be a little quieter at night.


My solution:

2" Anechoic Wedge foam:

http://www.silentsource.com/afoams-hushfoam.html


With these stats:

.15 .31 .73 1.04 1.08 1.12  NRC- .80


This is the best I've found, stat wise, and price wise. I get a good amount of foam for $100, and it seems like a decent performer of noise reduction. I've seen much higher NRC, but out of my budget.


My question to you:

Is there anything better out there I can get for the money? I'd like to have at least 4 pieces (18x18 or so) or more pieces, in a smaller size. I don't have a specific size requirement, as I'm going to add another $100 next month to finish the room. So I'd like to get started with a few pieces, and see how that helps. I'd like to do at least the two walls against their room, (it's actually my room, a separate bathroom, another bathroom, their room), possibly add some to my door, and side walls against the window.

But I'm really just looking for a good NRC performer, that doesn't break the bank. I'm open to any and all suggestions.




Thanks for your time!



-Nick

[DaveC113]

I doubt the foam will absorb much (if any) of the bass that is causing the problem. Also, the Paradigms I've listened to are fairly low effeciency, and I agree they won't sound great at low volumes, so I would invest in headphones.

Dave 

[bpape]

Agreed.  Foam, or any other interior treatment like 703, mineral wool, or acoustical cotton will only deal with in room response and decay time.  It will do absolutely zero for sound isolation to and from the other rooms in the house.  Even if it did, some 1 and 2" isn't going to deal with anything in the bottom end at all.  A minimum of 4" is required to effectively get below 100Hz - and that's not pseudo 4" that's only that thickness at the peak and barely 1" in the valleys.

Sorry.

Bryan

[Brad]

I think Dave is right.
Headphones are probably your best bet for now.
Lots of good ones in the $100-200 range.
Russell Dawkins had a good recommendation a few weeks ago.

So blast the open air during the day and keep the tunes to yourself at night 

[nlange20]

I've had much higher-end +$500 headphones in the past 6 months, and IMO, they don't compare to the Paradigm's I have now. While I've never owned speakers, I am really, really loving this $400/pair set of speakers. I also have over $1000 in equipment, so it's not like I was using average components, and to boot, I use about 90% original master recordings.


So there's not much I can do for sound isolation? And bass traps won't help much either? 3-4" would be the minimum amount of foam, before it helped some of my problems?


I have a feeling ,from your opinions, that I would likely need to go to panels to get better results. Or is there anything that can help my problem?





Thanks again fellas..




-Nick 

[nlange20]

How do you guys feel about the NRC rating? Is this type of rating over-rated? Because I've some some cheaper foam with 4" thickness, that has a NRC rating of 1.25.


[125] .32 [250] .93 [500] 1.43 [1k] 1.33 [2k] 1.29 [4k] 1.21  NRC -1.25



Any thoughts on this foam?

[Brad]

Nick,

I'm not a huge headphone fan either.
I like the way speakers sound in open air MUCH better.
Sounds like you explored that option pretty fully.

I would think you'd almost have to add a 2nd layer of drywall, with some insulation in between, to get much in the way of sound isolation.

It is funny how some frequencies travel.
I had a decent stereo in college.  Once, the neighbors came to complain with the system at its lowest volume setting.
The bass was still exciting a room mode in their place.   They couldn't believe how low the volume was when I let them in to hear.

[John Casler]

One suggestion might be to listen in the "extreme" nearfield at night.

This would reduce the needed volume level to achieve a satisfying listening level.

Just place a chair 4-6 feet from the speakers and see if it helps.

[nlange20]

One suggestion might be to listen in the "extreme" nearfield at night.

This would reduce the needed volume level to achieve a satisfying listening level.

Just place a chair 4-6 feet from the speakers and see if it helps.

I'm already sitting about that close normally. It's a nice sized room if I didn't have my bed, and one large dresser inside.


Would it make sense to sit a little closer for the time being, until we sell our house? I don't have much trouble listening at my "desired" level during the day, so I guess I will have to try to listen to my CD's during the day, instead of at night, but the transition won't be easy, as I'm fully accustomed to listening at night.





-Nick 

[bpape]

Sorry Nick.  Panels aren't going to help either.  It takes physical decoupling, working toward a sealed room, and lots of mass to do anything for isolation room to room.  Short of a construction project, it's not going to happen.

Wish I had a better solution but ya just can't fight physics.

Bryan