Glasswool VS Rockwool

ermi · Post by **ermi** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:03 am

Hi!

So, my room is a rectangular 3x4m, I'm looking at the short wall, speakers 20cm from the short wall, on the sides are the long walls.
I'm (and the speakers are) positioned a little to the right, so my right wall is closer to me and the speakers, than the left wall.

I'll be using the room for mixing only, no recording.
I currently have rather small speakers: Yamaha MSP5A.

I would like to cover the least wall as possible. Which material to get and where to put it?

I was mainly looking at those two in the topic title.
The glasswool (is this the 'official' name in english?) is about three times thicker than the rockwool (aka ~15cm vs 5cm), but rockwool is/looks more dense.

What advice can you give me in choosing between those two?

I also read that fiberglass is good, but it seems rather a hard material for sound absorption, no? But maybe there are different types of fiberglass?

Thanks!

edit: Sound isolation is not an issue. I just need the sound in the room to be good for mixing/monitoring.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:57 am

Ermi, please first follow the guidelines at the top of the forum and at least update your profile with a location;

I'll be checking back in a few hours to get caught up some, and can cover your questions then. Thanks, and welcome... Steve

ermi · Post by **ermi** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:12 pm

Ok. I read the sticky, probably too fast tho.

The height of the room is ~2,4m.

I'm considering mostly rockwool (or similar) right now. I'd like to have rigid panels, that are easy to move around.

I also read that cubicle walls (dividers from offices) are very good for sound absorption. Like this one:

But they are quite expensive if I'd buy them new. I'll be looking for used ones. I heard they get thrown away often.
What are they made of, anyway? What is the best alternative to those things?

I would like to spend the least money possible.

Sorry if the question was asked before.
Anyway, I'm reading through the forum right now and I see that there's a lot of stuff already written. It will take me a bit to go through all of it.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 7:20 am

Office panels are made to reduce sound between cubicles, so work OK for mid-range frequencies; used ones can sometimes be found, you're right they are expensive new. Most I've seen seem to be made of Homosote covered with cloth - some may have actual mineral wool inside, it's hard to tell without cutting one apart.

Fiberglass we talk about isn't the stuff boats and roofs are made of, this is SPUN fibers of glass compressed into sheets that are still flexible (somewhat) and still absorb sound thru their little cracks and crevises. It's basically house insulation that's been squeezed into about 1/4 the thickness it used to be.

Rigid fiberglass insulation, rockwool, mineral wool, slag wool, ALL are nearly identical for a given density. for Acoustic use, 3 PCF is the best - this translates to 48 kG/Cubic Meter. If you pick up two different types of panels that are the same thickness and they weigh the same, they will be virtually identical in acoustic properties in almost all cases. So whichever type you find that is cheapest is what you want.

HTH... Steve