staff@slashgear.com (David Bixenspan)
2024-04-15 12:00:16
www.slashgear.com
If you’re willing to go all-out in tricking out the space housing your home theater to make it as luxurious as possible, then one additional way to get there is to put acoustic panels on the walls. Acoustic panels are generally made of foam or wood wool and help dampen excessive echoes/reverberations to help produce a cleaner, less cluttered sound. Acoustic panels have to be placed strategically, both in terms of numbers and position; a smaller number can be used in a more focused way, while a larger number can be used to outright soundproof the room and prevent the sound from leaking elsewhere.
The acoustic panels that you can purchase will all have their Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC for short) ratings listed on the packaging/in the item description. The NRC rating indicates how much sound a panel absorbs, with a rating of .65, for instance, absorbing 65 percent and reflecting or diffusing the other 35 percent into the space where the panel has been mounted. That diffusion is necessary for good results, as absorbing all of the sound would muffle it.
In reducing excess reverb, acoustic panels don’t just improve the clarity of the sound, but also help the viewer/listener perceive the directionality of sound better. This, in turn, makes for a better surround sound experience. The best results, though, come from the strategic placement of different types of panels depending on location, a mix of absorbent panels, diffusing panels, and bass traps, which are specially designed to control low-end frequencies.