Sound Absorbing Material

Our band has Auralex(sp?) foam in our practice room and it works great. There are several companies that make similar foams, but I doubt you'd like the look of it in your house. I'm sure someone must make nicer looking stuff for home use. There are also cheaper options too...canvas paintings...wall hangings...quilts...drapes...books...well placed furniture...etc. You can do a lot without spending a fortune.

Check out the site markertek.com they have numerous sound absorbtion foam panels etc that might fit the bill. I have purchased some and they work great plus the price is very good.

Bozo

i use asc wall panels, which you can order in standard or custom fabric to match your room. they work very well and are pretty reasonably priced. www.tubetrap.com.

-cfb

Two more to look at are acousticalsolutions.com and echobusters.com. HiFiFarm.com also carries sound absorbing products including audio carpet (which I know nothing about, but the idea is appealing). One of the most impressive high end shops I've seen used a collection of very high quality/expensive Persian rugs on the walls which was absolutely stunning (though probably not as effective as products designed for the purpose).

I too would second The F. Alton Everest books that Tom mentioned.

Keep in mind that most "absorbers" are not linear in their frequency response. As such, it is VERY easy to end up with a system that sounds dull and flat due to a lack of high frequency energy whereas nothing was done to absorb / level out the low frequency output. Rather than guessing or paying someone else to build products to solve your problems, read up on the subject, do it right the first time by doing it yourself and save your money along the way. Sean
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