The number of acoustic panels depends on your home theater room. The number will depend on the location of the room from where they want to absorb the noise from the outer environment.
How Many Acoustic Panels Do You Need For A Home Theater? For a standard home theater room you need 18 to 20 acoustic panels. The exact figure about the number of the acoustic panels cannot be quoted here due to a lot of factors.
Number of acoustic panels |
Size of the room |
The shape of the room |
17 |
15 x 15 feet |
Square |
13 |
12 x 15 feet |
Rectangular |
20 |
20 x 16 |
L-shaped |
10 |
10 x 12 feet |
Rectangular |
7 to 8 |
8 x 10 feet |
Triangular or rectangular |
You have to take care of many things that will save the system from outer intervention. The main function of these panels is to absorb the sound in the home theater room.
What are the acoustic panels?
It is a special type of sheets that are used to provide the insulation of the different annoying sound. You should try to maintain the thickness of these sheets. The strength of the sound waves will be disturbed when passing through these sheets. There is wide use of these sheets in the areas where there is a lot of noise in the outer environment. It will decrease that intensity of sound before getting into the home theater.
Different types of materials are used to perform this type of work, depending on the intensity of the sound that you want to block. The effects of vibration and echoing will also be reduced. You can use this sheet on different places of the rooms from where you have to block the sound. You can place these sheets even at the ceiling or roof of the home theater. It will do the complete work on the floor and roof of the room also.
The sound that is produced from the direct speaker will give more beautiful effects as compared to after reflection from a lot of things. You can resolve the issue of the reflection of the sound coming into your ears. After adding these panels, you will not hear any reflected sound of the speakers and subwoofers.
You have to pay your complete focus and attention while using these panels on the sheets to make them more useful. The cohesion of the panels with the walls and ceiling is an important step in this process. You must try to use the good quality panels that are made up of better material. The average panels will not remove the effect of the reflection of the sound waves completely.
You can use the bass traps to control the lower frequency of the music and create a good impact on the ears of the listeners. The bass traps are usually are thicker as they are made for the lower frequencies. The panels are used to cater to the high and mid-range frequency. If you are using both of them, then you can control the reflection of the maximum sound waves.
The thickness of the panels is around two inches that are enough for controlling the higher frequencies of the sound. You can choose one of them or both depending on the situation of the sound waves that are producing in your room.
You will no need to adjust these panels on all walls and ceilings. You have to identify the places that affect your listening and leave other places. It is the smart fixation of the panels on the walls and ceiling of the room.
How Many Acoustic Panels Do You Need For A Home Theater?
There are different sizes of the rooms that can be used as a room as entertainment in your home. Every person will be using different types of room for this purpose. The average size of the room that can be ten feet wide and twelve to fifteen feet long will require ten to twelve panels for the complete protection of the sound waves from different sides.
If you want to place the panels on limited points, then you will have to do some work. You have to identify the reflection points in your room. The proper identification of the points will save your expense many times.
There are twenty-three to twenty-eight reflection points in the average-sized room that you have to mark. You are using the sheet on the minimum area of the room; then, you can go for the best quality of the sheets.
The best quality of the sheets will provide you the complete safety, and you will enjoy the sound without getting the reflected waves. There are different ways to find the reflection points. It is easy to use a mirror and tape for the finding of these points. You will no need to hire an expert if you can take the assistance of one other person from your family or friends. Two persons with these two things can find these points easily and mark them with the help of the tape.
You can cover more space around those reflection points because there may be any negligence in finding that exact place. The covering of the surrounding of these points will remove any type of error from your findings. The placement of the bass trap on the front and rear sides of the room will provide you the maximum safety from the corners of the room.
The reflection points of the floor and ceiling will require complete focus from you because there is a double reflection of the sound on the floor and ceiling. You can use a spacer to produce a better quality of the sound because it develops a gap between the wall and the sheet. This gap plays a beneficial role to cater to adjust the sound signals.
High volume sound
The type of sound will play the main role in the number of panels that you require. If you are producing the sound at a higher volume, then you have to note more reflection points in the home theater. The identification of the reflection point will be difficult in this case and will require more time.
Height of the room
You have to measure all the dimensions of the room before purchasing the home theater system. The length and width of the room will decide how much sheets of the acoustic panels will be enough for that.
Size of the acoustic panels
The size of the panels is also varying that are present in the market; different brands are producing various sizes of the panels. You have to measure the size of one sheet of that panel after measuring the room size. After doing these two measures, you will get a clear idea about the number of sheets that you will require.
The widely used sizes are one square foot and two by four feet. These are the average sizes that the top brands are producing. You have to take care of these things because small mistakes in these estimates will irritate you a lot in the market while purchasing them. If you want to attach these panels to the small reflection points, then you have to measure that certain places.
Nature of sound
The musical instruments that you are using are producing different types of sound. The intensity and volume of the music are varying there. If the music is more intense, then you will require thicker sheets. You have to try your level best to remove all types of reflections and all irritating sounds. You can also mount the soundbar above the TV for better results.
The use of the different types of strips and the sprays will make the panels more useful. They will be in a position to cater to the noise in a good position. All these factors will play a pivotal role in deciding on the proper setup of the room.
Location of the house
The location of the house matters a lot to choose the thickness of the panels. If you are living in a noisy environment, then you will require a thicker panel as compared to a calm environment. If there is heavy traffic flow in front of your house, then you have to stop much-unwanted noise there. You have to prepare the room by noting the condition of the area in which you are living.
If you are using the thin sheet in this noisy environment, then you are just spending your money and nothing else. You have to equalize all the factors of the environment to achieve good results there. The thickness of the sheet is varying from two millimeters to four millimeters. The 4mm sheet will act as a shield against the most annoying sound waves.
If your house is located in a calm place where you feel noiseless in a day, in these conditions, the thick sheets will provide you with a shield against all types of noises and reflection. You will no need to spend money on the thicker sheet in a suitable environment. You have to take good care of yourself to manage the sheets on proper points and of good quality.
The room that you are going to use, should be present at the backside of the house because there is a small noise at the backside. The front rooms are exposed to outer conditions.
You must save your room from the outer conditions as much as you can to get better results out of it. The external conditions involve sun heat, dust, noise, and other factors like this. This method works best to get surround sound in a tiny room.
Quality
The quality varies from brand to brand. Some brands are producing low-quality products, while some are producing a good quality product. The quality of the sheet will also affect the absorbing abilities of the sheet. If you are using the thicker sheet, but of bad quality, then it will not be going to work for you. You should know about the good quality fabrics for acoustic panels.
The quality and thickness together will produce the best results. One of them alone cannot become the complete shield against all the factors. The thicker sheets are expensive than, the lower quality sheets. You have to manage the budget of the theater of your house while doing all these things. The management of things will save you from a lot of trouble in the future.
The products with lower price can become the permanent source of the secondary cost. You have to manage the secondary cost after purchasing these low-quality products. You will be thinking of changing them after some time when they are creating too much expense for you. You should also know the best insulation materials for acoustic panels.
Use of brass trap with acoustic panels
The use of brass trap with these panels will do the complete work for you. You can continue your work with the thinner layer if you are using these supporting things with it. The brass trap is thicker than these panels, and it will be adjusted with the sheets that you are using. Different types of online calculators available will help you estimate the number of acoustic panels that you have to purchase.
You must read the reviews of the customers before purchasing any product of the home theater. The helping materials that you can use with these sheets will make it easy for them to work against the noise and other things like that.
Types of the sound system
The number of panels also depends on the sound system you are using in your home theater room. The simple speakers will require the less number of sheets and the less thick sheet because the intensity of the sound that is coming out of the speakers will not create too much reflection there. You have to note the small qualities of the sound system before deciding on the thickness of the sheets.
The subwoofers and soundbars can create a more intense reflection of the sound. You have to use thicker sheets for that type of sound system. The different types of sound will depend on the kind of system that you are using and the setting on which you are controlling the whole system.
You have to note all the effects of the sound system in your room and implement a proper plan for the system according to that. The soundbars with maximum channels are producing strong waves that may be reflected many times if you are not treating them properly. The use of the thicker panels will save them from multiple reflections.
Nature of the acoustic panels
The different companies are producing different nature of the sheets. You must try to measure the size of those panels before deciding the number of panels. The nature of the layer involves the material from which the sheet is manufactured. The manufacturing of the sheet also requires some level of expertise. Some people are making them in their homes with different materials.
You must find those sheets for the theater from which you can get maximum work of the home theater. Your home theater should get maximum absorption of the sound waves. You have to manage them properly to get rid of future problems. If you have no idea to make them at your home, then you should not go for that. You can purchase them from a nearby market as it is widely present in standard stores.
Benefits
The primary function of these panels is to eliminate the comb filtering from the sound and to listen to the direct sound from the sound system only. You will not listen to the reflected sound from the different ways but only the direct sound from the speakers. The reflected waves will disturb the original sound waves also. The listeners will feel disturbed all the time due to the reflection of the waves.
You can use these sheets in the offices and shop in the market because the noise of one office or shop will not travel to another shop or office. You must try to note these things while making a clear system for your room. This will facilitate communication in the room, and you can cut yourself off from the outer environment. You will not feel any type of disturbance while doing your work or entertaining yourself in the room.
The outside noise of the environment will reduce the productivity of the music by the system. There is no fault in the sound system when you see any decreasing effect in the production of the sound, but actually, it is due to the disturbance of the noise. You have to control the outer noise of your room to increase the level of production. The sound of your room will not go outside to disturb other people out.
The use of the sheets in the room will provide you privacy to do all the work. You can make conference calls personally in that room without any type of problem. The conversation between the people of the room will be more safe and sound. The sound of the reflection will not come in the ears of the listeners.
The absorption of the echo of the sound is one of the primary functions of these panels. The echoing sound from the sound system and the surround sound will not produce when you are using the sheets and the brass traps in your home theater. You have to create a better environment in your room by doing all the safety precautions of the home theater.