Cloudscape Baffles

[matthewah]

Anyone have any experience with these baffles for ceiling treatment in a gym? I understand what people say about having an acoustical engineer shoot the room and everything, but we are just looking for something to purchase and temporarily solve our acoustic problem. This would be solution until we move forward with a master plan in two or more years with our facility. I’m sure these could be used an any future planning as well.

http://www.acousticsfirst.com/cloudscape-baffles.htm

[Brad Weber]

Not trying to be evasive but it really depends on what the existing problems are and the physical space and finishes. Baffles like those are often effective at helping reduce overall reverberance or 'liveness' but may do nothing for room modes, reflections off particular surfaces , etc. There simply is no way to make a generalized assessment, it is always going to be at least somewhat application dependent.

[matthewah]

Our gym is a highly reverberate room. The echo last 3 to 4 seconds. I’m sure we will need to add bass traps in the corners as well. I’m really was just wanting to know if people have bought these baffles and if they were satisfied with them.

[wvbcsound]

Just a thought friends: allchurchsound.com has an article about using sonotubes which can be found at most home repair centers for under ten (10) dollars apiece as sound diffusers. In the article they cut them in half mounted them on 2 x 4's and propped them against the walls as a means of diffusing sound, reducing echo/reverberance etc.. You might even be able to talk a store manager into loaning you some to experiment with. You could just stack whole uncut tubes on top of each other along the walls or buy ten (it would only set you back a hundred bucks or so) cut them in half and arrange them around the walls to see if they impact your situation. If they help it wouldn't be a huge effort to make installation more or less permanent.
Charlie

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by wvbcsound

Just a thought friends: allchurchsound.com has an article about using sonotubes which can be found at most home repair centers for under ten (10) dollars apiece as sound diffusers. In the article they cut them in half mounted them on 2 x 4's and propped them against the walls as a means of diffusing sound, reducing echo/reverberance etc.. You might even be able to talk a store manager into loaning you some to experiment with. You could just stack whole uncut tubes on top of each other along the walls or buy ten (it would only set you back a hundred bucks or so) cut them in half and arrange them around the walls to see if they impact your situation. If they help it wouldn't be a huge effort to make installation more or less permanent.

This gets into two different issues. One is whether that type of treatment in an appropriate solution acoustically. Although diffusion can often provide other potential benefits and if used properly can help maximize the effectiveness of other absorptive materials in a space, diffusion by itself will not reduce reverberation. In fact, professional reverberation chambers typically incorporate diffusion in order to help achieve a reverberant field in the chamber.

The other issue is that the specifications for Sonotube state "Removal of the form is not necessary except as required by Engineering design or local Building Code." The question is whether the Sonotube products meet the related requirements for flame spread and smoke emitted that are in most building codes in relation to public assembly spaces. I have been unable to find relevant test results or ratings for Sonotube and have yet to see anything that actually states that Sonotubes are approved for use as finish materials in public assembly spaces. This is a critical life safety aspect so until you know that it can be legally used in the space involved, the only safe assumption seems to be that it should not be used. This actually applies to any DIY solutions, they must comply with all applicable codes and for public assembly spaces, which includes gyms and most worship spaces, that typically includes specific requirements for flame spread and smoke emitted for finish materials.