I finally installed Acoustic Panels from ATS Acoustic Company.

garnier

And my home theatre does sound better than ever. I can hear sounds that I did not hear before; for examples, in "007-Royal Casino" movie I heard crickets making noise in the background at one of night scenes that I did not hear before, or such subtle sounds as a deck of cards being dropped down on a table. I felt like I was actually there with the actors at the scenes. The overall atmosphere feels and hears more like in a real theatre than ever before! I think it was worth the money spent to have treated the living room with these sound panels.

nspindel

garnier wrote: »

And my home theatre does sound better than ever. I can hear sounds that I did not hear before; for example, in "007-Royal Casino" movie I heard crickets making noise in the background at one of night scenes, that I did not hear before, or such subtle sounds as a deck of cards being dropped down on a table. The overall atmosphere feels and hears more like in a real theatre than ever before! I think it was worth the money spent to have treated the living room with these sound panels.

http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS-Acoustic-Panels--100.html

Wow, these seem to be fairly inexpensive as acoustic treatments go. Anyone else have any good experiences with these???

garnier

nspindel wrote: »

http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS-Acoustic-Panels--100.html

Wow, these seem to be fairly inexpensive as acoustic treatments go. Anyone else have any good experiences with these???

Yes, that's the only reason I could afford to buy a lot of these to wrap around in my living room. They cost two to four times less than other companies!

nspindel

I'm just wondering if they work as well as other companies. This is the problem with buying less expensive audiophile equipment, whether it's an amplifier or an acoustic panel. Your brain always tends to think the more expensive product sounds better. I'm worried that if I buy less expensive acoustic treatments, I'll always be thinking "this sounds pretty good, but how much better would it have sounded if I had spent a bit more?"

That's why I'm asking if anyone else has experience with these or has done any comparisons....

Gaara

Pearsall uses both GIK and ATS. ATS should work well for higher frequency stuff but not very well as a bass trap, having a wood backing on a acoustics treatment is a very bad idea IMO.

You usually can compare absorption coefficients to see which panels are better, but the ATS info is incomplete and has no mention of how they were tested. That said as a bass trap something like GIK looks to be around 2-3x as effective for the same size panel. As standard acoustics treatments they are similar performance.

The difference in price isn't that huge, a GIK 24x48x4 is $65 while ATS is $50, IMO definitely worth it for over 2x the performance.

nspindel

Right, I was just looking at the ATS product line and was noticing they don't sell bass traps.

Gaara

nspindel wrote: »

Right, I was just looking at the ATS product line and was noticing they don't sell bass traps.

They don't sell bass traps yet they still seem to recommend them as bass traps. 2 of Garnier's traps are placed across the junction between the ceiling and wall, standard placement for a bass trap. Sadly they will do very little in that application as that is not what they are made for.

P.S. Looks good Garnier, very pro + the traps match the rooms decor nicely.

nspindel

I was about to start a big reply, but I think I'm going to start my own thread, I don't want to thread-jack garnier's. Gaara, please have a lookout for a new thread from me...

SlowcarIX

how do you determine where to put the panels? do they have to me symmetrical?

garnier

Gaara wrote: »

They don't sell bass traps yet they still seem to recommend them as bass traps. 2 of Garnier's traps are placed across the junction between the ceiling and wall, standard placement for a bass trap. Sadly they will do very little in that application as that is not what they are made for.

P.S. Looks good Garnier, very pro + the traps match the rooms decor nicely.

Thanks, Garra!

As far as I know, the two panels placed diagonally on the two opposite ceilings have an open-back design that allows a slightly more bass trap. Instead of letting the sound reflect off of a wooden back panel, because it does not have a wooden back panel, it lets the sound to travel past the back side of the panel up to the corner of the ceiling and the wall area before it bounces back to the back side of the panel, trapping the lower frequency sound better.

You just figure out where the sound coming out of a speaker would reflect off of a wall and to your listening positions, and place the acoustic panel on that spot of the wall. The sound will reflect at the same angle as the angle it came to the wall.

Gaara

garnier wrote: »

As far as I know, the two panels placed diagonally on the two opposite ceilings have an open-back design that allows a slightly more bass trap. Instead of letting the sound reflect off of a wooden back panel, because it does not have a wooden back panel, it lets the sound to travel past the back side of the panel up to the corner of the ceiling and the wall area before it bounces back to the back side of the panel, trapping the lower frequency sound better.

Without the wooden back it will be much improved as a bass trap, for the reasons you mention. Not only is the sound being affected by the wooden back, but the lower frequencies travel through the panel twice on their journey to your ears.

BlueFox

I installed acoustic absorption foam, pyramids, from Auralex. While the appearance is not that great, it makes your HT room look like a recording studio, they work GREAT. Also, the price is right at $300 for 12 2x4 panels (96 sq ft).

Once they were on the wall, using push pins since they are so light, the sound became clearer, more precise, and detailed.

Without a doubt, for me, this has been the biggest sound improvement for the least amount of money.


http://www.auralex.com/c_sound_absorption/c_sound_absorption.asp

hockeyboy

Those look old school. I would be worried that they amp up the temperature in the room though.

BlueFox

hockeyboy wrote: »

Those look old school. I would be worried that they amp up the temperature in the room though.

I assume you are referring to my post about the acoustic foam. They work great, and cost little.

honda cber

hockeyboy wrote: »

Those look old school. I would be worried that they amp up the temperature in the room though.

why? if anything, the room will be better insulated (though by a small amount, if any).

a

honda cber

BlueFox wrote: »

I assume you are referring to my post about the acoustic foam. They work great, and cost little.

it has been said a million times, but studio foam is only effective on high frequencies. you will never make a "real" bass trap with foam, even if it were 3' thick, much less 3". it can do a lot for a decent room with some early reflection problems, though in general, one would expect *those* rooms to need low frequency treatment as well.

i tried the foam thing. when i built my first "real" studio (not pro by *any* stretch of the imagination, but at least i could track a band at the same time), i "splurged" on about 12 queen-sized sheets of eggcrate-type foam. not only did it morph the room from reverberant yet crisp to muddy and claustrophobic, i later learned what a huge fire hazzard that stuff can be. while i think the aurelex-type products are probably superior in sound and flame-retardancy, it is still foam of a similar makeup, and still sounds and burns like foam.
a

jwhitakr

Nice! Looks good (definitely fits with the WAF factor) and glad to hear the improvement was significant. How much did you lay down for this room upgrade?

garnier

Thank you, jwhitakr!

I spent around $900 for fifteen 24" by 48" by 4" panels and one 24" by 24" by 4" panel from ATS Acoustic company.

And, what is WAF factor?

pearsall001

garnier wrote: »

Thank you, jwhitakr!

I spent around $900 for fifteen 24" by 48" by 4" panels and one 24" by 24" by 4" panel from ATS Acoustic company.

And, what is WAF factor?

Congrats! You just made the most impactful audio purchase possible. Amps, preamps, TT's, CDP's yadda, yadda, yadda, pale in comparison to the difference you'll now discover. Don't stop now, add a few bass traps & diffusion panels & raise it up another notch.

WAF (wife acceptance factor) is simply your better half not kicking the living **** out of you for bring these things home & messing up the decor!!!

Gaara

Honda, what was the foam? Just curious, as Auralex does perform quite well and not just for the highs, it even works as bass traps. Their LENRDs are effective down to about 100hz, and are only 1' deep. The MEGA Lenrds are effective down to around 80hz or so and are 2' deep, I could only imagine how good a 3' deep one would be. And you are correct they are all flame retardant.

pearsall001 wrote: »

Congrats! You just made the most impactful audio purchase possible. Amps, preamps, TT's, CDP's yadda, yadda, yadda, pale in comparison to the difference you'll now discover. Don't stop now, add a few bass traps & diffusion panels & raise it up another notch.

Hey something we can agree on. IMO different speakers will have the biggest affect on the sound, followed closely by the room. I have heard a variety of sources, amps ranging from $30-$4500, pres from $80-$2500, etc. all of the differences between that gear pales in comparison to a properly treated room vs. untreated room.

garnier

Gaara wrote: »

I have heard a variety of sources, amps ranging from $30-$4500, pres from $80-$2500, etc. all of the differences between that gear pales in comparison to a properly treated room vs. untreated room.

After having experienced the difference in sound qualities upon installing these sound panels of mines, I totally agree with your comment, Gaara!

hockeyboy

Yes I was talking about the foam, not the panels. I have been inspired by this thread and just ordered 4 panels 48" to put on the left, and right of my screen. I ordered the black ones since my front wall is black. If I am happy with the look and SQ, I will order 6 or 8 more for the rest of the room.

Thanks Polkies~!

sickicw

nice start. you need to finish by adding 4 inch thick bass panels in all the corners. look into realtraps.com or build your own using ownes corning 705. Also you will get deeper absortion if you pull the panels a few inches off the walls.... Looks good

RuSsMaN

Cables!!!

garnier

I am trying to make the panels stand on a stand in front of a curtain area, so that I can move them if I need to open a curtain. But ATS does not make a stand for their own acoustic panels. Any suggestions on how I can make them stand, instead of hanging them on the wall? Any place I can buy them from? I already contacted GIK acoustics, but they said that their stands don't match ATS's. RealTrap stands are $80 a piece and I don't even know if it will fit the ATS's acoustic panels.

wallstreet

RuSsMaN wrote: »

Cables!!!

LOL. I didn't even notice until I went back to the first pic. Yes, some housekeeping is in order here. With the wood floors I imagine this room was very acoutically live. I'm sure the sound improvement is amazing.

garnier

These acoustic panels really made such a huge difference in sound quality beyond any of my expectations that I am seriously thinking of spending more money for more bass traps next time. I am very happy with the improvement I experienced with these acoustic panels; so I am sure that there is still a room for additional improvement in my Home Theatre sound quality. It will take me another two months to get more though. This time, I will get from GIK Acoustics because they have ones with stands that I need to place in front of curtain areas so that I can move them around in case I need to get out to the balcony. And I will also get one RealTrap Tri-Corner for the front upper left corner for the look and bass trapping.

And, I know that my cables can't get any messier-looking, and my living room is actually carpeted.

Hawkeye

Your hooked! It really is amazing what trapping can do for a system no matter what you have. I have 2 RealTraps Tricorners and the results were/are stunning. I wish I had more room to put some additional bass traps in the front corners but it just won't work for me. I plan on getting 2 more Tricorners for the upper corners and my front will complete.

Gordon

sickicw

the tri corner traps are kinda expensive for their weight. I would take a look at... http://www.readyacoustics.com
You can build your own that look pretty good with material ordered there.

i would save up for 8 bass panels. Put one on top of each other in each of the 4 corners