Mounting acoustic panels on angled "attic" walls

How to use REW, What is a Bass Trap, a diffuser, the speed of sound, etc.

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endorka
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Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 2:55 pm
Location: Falkirk, Scotland
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Mounting acoustic panels on angled "attic" walls

Post by endorka »

Another one from the vaults :-)

I had to fit corner bass traps into sloping attic type corners. A bit of a head scratcher to do simply, quickly and with elegant appearance. But a bit of thought gave the following method using M5 turnbuckles, garden hooks and wire.

As luck would have it, each corner required a different size of trap. Here are two of them built using the method in this thread. 600mm wide, 100mm deep.
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One of the corners. The large hooks are screwed into wall studs for strength and receive the turnbuckles. The smaller eyes are for backup strings to stop the trap plummeting to the ground if the main system fails;
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Two eyes screwed into the wooden frame of the bass trap. The turnbuckle is eye is connected to the frame eyes with garden wire. It is fantastic stuff, malleable yet strong and retains its shape well. Try to cut the wire to a length that it allows enough slack to hang the trap easily with the turnbuckle fully open, yet short enough that it will press it firmly against the corner when tightened. A surprisingly little variation is sufficient;
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Sometimes the wire can't be attached directly to the frame due to obstructions or the wall stud not being in an ideal place. A cross beam attached to the trap frame with angle brackets is the answer;
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Here's the good bit. With the turnbuckles fully extended it's easy to loosely fit the trap in place. Hook the top turnbuckle into the uppermost wall hook. It should be strong enough to dangle the entire trap there. Then hook the lower turnbuckle into the lower hook. The entire trap should now be hanging loosely in place.

Next tighten the turnbuckles and if your wire lengths are correct, it will pull itself gracefully into the corner with ease;
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Then attach the safety string and your work is done;
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A tiny wooden wedge screwed into the wall at the bottom of the trap ensures the trap doesn't slide down further than you intend.

Cheers,
Jennifer