I’ve always suspected you couldn’t hear, Costco. Thanks for more entertainment, your stalking notwithstanding, for which I’m grateful. Keep em coming! I agree with one thing you said, however, foam certainly does kill the sound. Tee hee
How to "mount" acoustic foam ?
My main system is in my partially unfinished basement.
While I have finished the ceiling and have nice floors / rugs - I do like the industrial / rough look of the concrete walls....I just finished painting them but don't want to install any sheetrock / finishing material.
Instead I want to buy acoustic foam (2inch depth squares) and mount them to the walls - front / back and sides
And here are my questions:
1. Should I just use glue and apply the foam squares directly to the wall ?
- IF YES - what glue should I use? I know there is the special construction glue for laying floors etc..... I now they sell it also for concrete and stone application - sold in caulk like tubes
2. Should I first apply the foam to a plywood / wood and anchor that to the floors ?
- IF YES - I would imagine a few concerns:
- Will that wooden structure bring about sound resonance that I am actually trying to control ? (Wood isn't as bad as concrete but still....)
- Will I have to add a layer of caulk or similar filler between the wall and the wooden panel? Obviously the concrete walls are not super smooth so the wood panels will not be in perfect and uniform contact. They will be held rigid with the specialty screws drilled into the walls....but still
- What type of panels should I use....I was thinking anything from very thin cardboard like materials (to minimize any resonance from wood) to 1/2 inch plywood for rigidity.
IN SUMMARY:
I am leaning for the 1/8inch thick boards - In my mind it would provide smooth surface to mount the foam onto, retain the acoustic profile of the foam, and then just hold it all in place up on the wall with 4 bolts (each corner)
Anyhow....Any other tips and advice about proper installation would be appreciated.
Thank you!!
While I have finished the ceiling and have nice floors / rugs - I do like the industrial / rough look of the concrete walls....I just finished painting them but don't want to install any sheetrock / finishing material.
Instead I want to buy acoustic foam (2inch depth squares) and mount them to the walls - front / back and sides
And here are my questions:
1. Should I just use glue and apply the foam squares directly to the wall ?
- IF YES - what glue should I use? I know there is the special construction glue for laying floors etc..... I now they sell it also for concrete and stone application - sold in caulk like tubes
2. Should I first apply the foam to a plywood / wood and anchor that to the floors ?
- IF YES - I would imagine a few concerns:
- Will that wooden structure bring about sound resonance that I am actually trying to control ? (Wood isn't as bad as concrete but still....)
- Will I have to add a layer of caulk or similar filler between the wall and the wooden panel? Obviously the concrete walls are not super smooth so the wood panels will not be in perfect and uniform contact. They will be held rigid with the specialty screws drilled into the walls....but still
- What type of panels should I use....I was thinking anything from very thin cardboard like materials (to minimize any resonance from wood) to 1/2 inch plywood for rigidity.
IN SUMMARY:
I am leaning for the 1/8inch thick boards - In my mind it would provide smooth surface to mount the foam onto, retain the acoustic profile of the foam, and then just hold it all in place up on the wall with 4 bolts (each corner)
Anyhow....Any other tips and advice about proper installation would be appreciated.
Thank you!!
Showing 11 responses by geoffkait
What we have here is simply the difference between experience and idle speculation. Of course foam seems like a good idea. That’s kind of my while point. Plus you’ve got the fact that many recording studios have been using SONEX or similar foam panels like forever. So, it’s no wonder that audiophiles get behind foam so strongly and why expectation bias is so powerful in this case. Most likely gdhal is experiencing the Backfire Effect here, more convinced than ever he must be right. 😛 |
noromance Per @slaw and @geoffkait , I removed the 4 x 24x48x2" acoustic foams I installed a few weeks ago. When first installed, there appeared to be an improvement in control of the music with better depth. However, after some further listening tests, I have to agree. While the sound is a little "wilder", it is freer. The music breathes, is louder, more dynamic. The foam basically killed the music. I have found the same effect with some mats. Damping can be deleterious. >>>>>Thanks for posting your results. What I think happens is that the foam changes the nature of the acoustic wave traveling through it. Obviously the acoustic wave actually travels though the foam twice, once through the foam to the wall then back out again to the air. So any effect the foam has on the acoustic wave is doubled. As I intimated earlier ANY foam in the room has a similar deleterious effect on the sound, for example the IKEA Poang Chair that has foam seats and backing. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water. 🦈 Effective, non-interfering acoustic solutions such as Michael Green Echo Tunes and panels, Tube Traps, Skyline diffusers and others do not (rpt not) contain foam. |
gdhal “Moreover, the overwhelming majority of music that I listen to (and collect) is Grateful Dead http://halr.x10.mx/shows.html For those familiar with their music, I’m confident they would agree that (a) much of their live recordings are excellent quality sound boards and (b) more so than any other band, they often sound fantastic irrespective of the who, what, where, when, why and how of the playback mechanism.” Anyone else feel just a little uncomfortable about that paragraph? Not the Grateful Dead part -well, maybe a little 🤡 -but that the playback system/room doesn’t really matter? Whoa! This appears to be a perfect example of what I like to call Stove Piping, which is what happens when audiophiles work in a vacuum of sorts, on concentrate on a relatively narrow range of music or whatever and develop systems and concepts in a (limited) “stovepipe” fashion, without the benefit of shared knowledge and experiences. No wonder many audiophiles have such widely diverse opinions and conclusions about just about everything. |
Perhaps you haven’t heard Melamine acoustic foam, SONEX or foam that looks like SONEX. I acknowledge there might be some kind of foam that doesn’t hurt the sound, I just never heard one is all. Fiberglass is not foam, obviously. Hey, I’m not trying to disparage all acoustic panels. For slap echo Michael Green’s Echo Tunes work great. But SONEX Melamine foam or similar foams - like the foam in Ikea chairs, for example - do actually suck, making the sound phasey and wooly sounding. I can even hear the effect of SONEX when I take it to another room. Ikea chairs - another sonic catastrophe that seems like such a good idea. “SONEX, trusted by professional studios everywhere.” 😛 One final thought: acoustic panels and Echo Tunes and Tube Traps and really all acoustic devices, even tiny little bowls, are trickier than they appear to correctly set up or apply. What is needed is the out of phase track on the XLO CD. The same track used for finding the absolute best speaker locations, which of course change as you apply more and more room acoustic treatment. It’s a fluid situation. Everything is in flux. Been there done that. 😬 |
But seriously, acoustic foam is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on naive and gullible audiophiles. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. “But what about all those recording studios that are filled with the stuff?” 😛 What’s even worst you assume a little bit sounds better so you go overboard. Before you know it the walls are covered with it. “But it can’t hurt the sound, the recording studios use it.” 😩 Acoustic foam is the poster child for expectation bias. |