Slat Wall construction

Can somebody point me to a guide on how to build a slat absorber wall?

Here's a general guide http://www.saecollege.de/reference_mate ... encies.htm Some more general plans http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm Several pix of finished slatwalls here http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Mainp ... uebear.htm Slatwalls are on update4 page. I know you'll have more questions after checking these links, come on back... Steve

You're right, I have more questions... On the SAE site they show the insulation attached to the slat side of the enclosure, while on Johnsayers site he shows the insulation attached to the wall side. Which should it be, do the different side side produce different effects? Also, what kind of insulation should it be? Loose rockwool? fiberglass batting? Owens 703? Also what would be the minimum slat height you could use? I'm looking at building a curved wall and need flexible slats...

Different slat wall type. One is a removable unit, on the SAE site these are permanant structures. Yes you will get adifferent effect in Low End absorption between the flush mounted (permenant) and back panel of the box mounted (portable) We used 703 for the portable one and I prefer rockwoll/afb for the permanant one. Check with Ethan about the flexibility of the wood slats and a good application for such. Bryan Giles

"I'm looking at building a curved wall " - Curved which way, convex or concave? and where in the room would this go? (Hint: depending on your answers, this could be a "less than great" idea...) It would help if you could post some kind of drawing, showing a basic floor plan, locations of speakers, furniture, your head, the curved slatwall, etc... Steve

ok, here's a rough drawing of my plan. The rectangles in the center are a staggered height ceiling cloud, and the curved lines along the side are the curved slat walls... The room is 10' X 13' with 12' ceiling...

Actually, doing it that way will put the portions of the slatwall that are closest to the mix position 'way too close to parallel. You would most likely have audible flutter echo that way. Getting the minimum 6 degree per side "splay" only requires 1 foot per 10 feet of wall length - you would be better off doing straight 6 degree slatwalls on each side of the mix position, like what you've drawn but with the front surface flat. You're aware that you've drawn a 90 degree monitoring setup, and not a normal 60 degree one? John's done that and liked it in at least one facility, I've not tried it other than briefly, seemed too wide for my tastes. Please tell me those purple thingy's at the rear are NOT diffusors in that small a room - you should have at least 10-13 feet from the rear of your head to the rear wall in order to have diffusors work... Steve

Well, The purple things did start life as a diffussion wall, but since the room dimensions shranl, they will be replaced with an absorber of some kind. I just don't want to make the room too dead, as it will also be used as a tracking room...

Yeah to piggyback on Steve, that rear wall should be abosrption, not anything reflective. The room I built my CR in was originally 13'5" x 10'10". With the side Slat wall, rear and ceiling absorption, the room will not be too dead. Bryan Giles

Right, if you keep the floor bright and do the slatwalls, it should come out about right... Steve

I was planning on putting a large 703 panel behind the monitors. Would this make the room too dead with the back wall being absorbtive also? And for the floors, I was going to use a Laminate wood floor, so it wouldn't be carpeted...

No, Not at all. It will help with some bass absorption off your nearfields and calm down some of the phase cancellation you get with the bottom end bouncing off the wall behind the monitors. I'd soffit mount the monitors myself. Bryan

Dear friends U may like to see what barefoot said before soffitting a near field monitor ! http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=448 Feni

I read what he said, but my ears told me when I was done soffit mounting my 824's... All was well... I still say (for me) between theory and practicality. Practicality always wins out. In theory it shouldn't be good, but in use it works fine. Much respect to Barefoot and he knows it. My Mixes with these monitors soffited speak for themselves. Better stereo imaging, Better Midrange and Much better/tighter Bottom end Bryan Giles

I can't soffit mount the speakers, as this will be a dual use space...when tracking, all the recording gear gets set up in the next room; it's all portable. So I'm trying to blend the uses...a decent mixing environment, and nice tracking space...mainly for Acoustic guitars and vocals....

In that case, once you find the optimum positioning for speakers and your head, you should find a way to repeat it EXACTLY when you put the gear back in place for mixing - things like pre-cut sticks for spacers between speakers and walls, pieces of masking tape on floors for locators, etc - And yes, you should absorb the front wall ESPECIALLY with un-soffited speakers. Your wood floors and slat walls up front will make a bright enough environment. You might want to make the overhead absorbers adjustable for angle, so you can experiment with lower front, higher rear placement at least for the two closest to the mix position... Steve

Yeah, that's what I thought... I have designed a movable difuser/absorber panel for the ceiling...