ATS Acoustics

Two of the most common acoustical problems found in home theaters today are comb filtering and flutter echo. Comb filtering occurs when sound from a speaker first travels directly to your ears. Then, a few milliseconds later, reflections of that same sound arrive to your ears after they have bounced off the side walls and ceiling. This effect can significantly reduce the clarity of dialogue in a movie, which can make it very difficult at times to understand what is being said. Flutter echo is a similar problem caused by two opposing reflective surfaces of a room (parallel wall to parallel wall or floor to ceiling). These repetitive reflections can produce a perception of a pitch and a reduction in the speech intelligibility within the room.

Luckily both of these problems are easily fixed with acoustic panels. Simply placing panels at the first reflection points of the room will reduce the sound waves from bouncing around so you can focus on one clear copy of the sound. Our free online acoustical calculator can help you determine the amount of panels your room will need to sound its best.

ATS Acoustics introduces Roxul Rockboard 80 to its line of DIY Mineral Wool Batts and Boards.  Rockboard-80 has a density of 8 lbs/cf which gives it superior low-end frequency performance.  Rockboard can be wrapped with one of our DIY Fabrics to create an attractive, low cost acoustic panel.

Here’s a process that works well:

• Apply spray adhesive such as 3M Super 77 or Ram-Tack High Tack Spray to the fabric and to the surface of the Rockboard.
• Use plenty of adhesive, spray a lot on and you’ll get a better bond.
• Press the fabric onto the Rockboard smoothly and allow to dry for at least an hour.
• Use Rotofast Insulation Board Anchors to securely attach the panel to a wall.

ATS Acoustics has just reduced the regular price of Green Glue Noiseproofing Compound. Green Glue is an easy to use and effective noise-proofing compound.  Independent lab tests prove that just one layer of Green Glue Noiseproofing Compound between two layers of drywall or other similar building material dissipates up to 90 percent of noise.  You can check-out all our Green Glue products, as well as the new QuietGlue Pro compound, on our sound isolation page.

On almost a daily basis, we have customers asking about the difference between acoustic panels made from Owens Corning 703 and panels made from mineral wool (rock wool). Many of them have visited different acoustic/AV forums and have heard “OC703 purists” saying that nothing works as well as 703/705. However, acoustical lab tests show that even though Owens Corning 703 and 705 are great products, their performance is nearly identical to mineral wool.

This makes sense, because when the thickness, fiber structure, and density of two materials are the same, the sound absorption will be the same too.

You can take a look at test results for the different types of acoustic material we sell on our selecting the right acoustic material page. You can see from the test data that Roxul AFB (mineral wool) is very comparable to Owens Corning 703, as Roxul Rockboard 60 is to Owens Corning 705.

To match the low frequency performance of Owens Corning 703 4″, simply stack two pieces of Roxul Rockboard 60 together to create a 4″ thick panel.

One of the most common sound complaints we get here at ATS is footstep noise from rooms above. We constantly have customers calling us and saying things like; “I can hear my neighbors walking above me and sliding their chairs around…And It’s Driving Me Nuts!” Many of them are hoping that they can simply add a few acoustic panels to the ceiling and the problem will be taken care of.  Unfortunately it is not that simple.  Our panels are designed to treat other common acoustic problems within a room, such as slap/flutter echo.  They are not very effective at sound isolation (stopping the transfer of sound from one room to another).  To solve this problem you can check out our line of sound isolation products.  To understand the options for reducing the impact noise, the first question is whether you can change the floor above (removing the existing floor and starting over), or whether the improvements have to be made from below. If you can renovate the existing floor (which is the most effective method), please check out our New Floor Construction Page. If you cannot remove the existing floor, then take a look at the Upgrade Existing Ceiling Page.

We let you know a couple of weeks ago about increased shipping costs due to a UPS rate increase that had a big effect on large boxes. We’re very pleased to say that ATS and UPS have reached an agreement to enable us to go back to offering great low shipping prices, even on big boxes of Owens Corning 703 and other acoustical materials. These lower shipping prices are in effect on our web site as of now.

ATS has added a new brand to it’s line of sound isolation materials.  QuietGlue Pro is an affordable noise-proofing compound that is applied between layers of drywall or flooring to reduce the transmission of sound from one room to another.  So if you are looking to build a soundproof studio, or just want to reduce the sound coming from annoying neighbors, check out our full line of sound isolation products.

Effective January 3rd, 2011 UPS has increased their shipping rates by about 5%. More importantly (especially in the acoustics business) they have increased rates on large, light boxes by an additional 17%! This means UPS is now charging significantly more to ship boxes of DIY acoustic materials which are large, and not very heavy. We started ATS Acoustics to make acoustics affordable to people like ourselves. These new UPS rates make it harder to do that, and we hate that. For now, we have no choice but to pass the extra shipping costs on to you, our customers.

We will be negotiating with a number of shipping suppliers, looking for the best options we can find to get your cost back down to something we can feel good about. We’ll keep you posted.

After 5 years of building acoustic panels in 2-foot increments, we’ve broken out of the mold with our new 24x36x2 and 24x36x4 stock size acoustic panels in both original burlap and microsuede fabrics. This size is close to the golden ratio, a proportion considered ideal since the ancient Greeks. They’re pretty. We like ‘em.