Build Your Acoustic Panel

What the panel builder above does

The builder configures a made to order acoustic panel and prices it live as you change it. You pick five things, in this order: thickness, size, fabric, color, quantity. The preview redraws at the chosen dimensions against a 5 ft 8 in figure for scale, the NRC rating updates with the thickness, and the price updates with every change. What you add to the cart is the exact panel that gets built.

Every panel is built to order in the Chicago area from American made rigid fiberglass with an internal wood frame around the perimeter. Nothing here is foam. The fabric is stretched over the face and the frame is what your mounting hardware screws into.

Sizes you can build

Panel count comes down to square footage, so the size column matters more than the piece count. A 24 in x 48 in panel covers 8 sq ft. A 48 in x 96 in panel covers 32 sq ft, four times as much, which is why large rooms get treated faster with fewer pieces.

The 2 in panel has the widest size range, eight sizes from 24 in x 24 in up to 48 in x 96 in. The 1 in panel is built in three sizes: 24 in x 24 in, 24 in x 36 in and 24 in x 48 in. If your wall needs a dimension that is not on the list, call (888) 923-5777 and it gets cut to your number.

Which thickness to pick

Thickness controls how low in frequency the panel keeps absorbing. Thicker panels reach further down into the low mids and bass.

NRC 1.0 belongs to the 2 in panel. A 1 in panel reaches NRC 0.80, which is a real number from an Intertek test per ASTM C423, not a rounded marketing figure. If a supplier quotes NRC 1.0 on a 1 in panel, ask which test report the number came from.

Fabric and color choices

The face fabric is acoustically transparent, so the fabric choice is about how the room looks and how the surface wears, not about how much sound the panel absorbs.

• Burch Fabrics Prime Time is the standard face. It is Burch Fabrics Prime Time, the Made in the USA equivalent of Guilford of Maine (a Canadian company) Anchorage and FR701. The builder lists 37 Prime Time colors.
• Guilford of Maine FR701 adds 44 colors, the most recognized specification fabric in commercial acoustics.
• Guilford of Maine Anchorage adds 37 colors with a heavier woven texture.
• Guilford of Maine Whisper adds 24 colors in a softer, quieter palette.
• Microsuede and Burlap each offer 9 colors for rooms that want a residential or natural look rather than a commercial one.

That is more than 100 colors across the three Guilford lines on top of the Prime Time range. Every one of them is Class A fire rated per ASTM E-84, which is what specifiers and building inspectors ask for on commercial jobs.

Mounting and installation

Z-clips are included with the panels. A Z-clip is a two part interlocking aluminum rail: one half screws to the back of the panel, the other half screws to the wall, and the panel drops onto it. The panel sits flat, hangs level, and lifts off again if you repaint or move.

The internal wood frame runs the full perimeter, so the clip screws bite into wood rather than into the fiberglass core. A standard 24 in x 48 in x 2 in panel weighs about 8 lbs, which means most wall types hold them without special anchors.

Ceilings are treated the same way in most rooms, using the same panels flat against the deck. Suspended grid ceilings use drop-in acoustic ceiling tiles instead, which sit in the existing T-bar grid.

Worked example: a 24 ft x 18 ft conference room

A conference room 24 ft long, 18 ft wide, with a 10 ft ceiling, treated for speech clarity so people on the far end of a video call can be understood.

Wall area = 2 x (24 x 10) + 2 x (18 x 10) = 480 + 360 = 840 sq ft

Ceiling area = 24 x 18 = 432 sq ft

Total treatment area = 840 + 432 = 1,272 sq ft

Coverage target at 25 percent = 318 sq ft

318 sq ft / 8 sq ft per 24 in x 48 in panel = 40 panels

In the builder that is: thickness 2 in for NRC 1.0, size 24 in x 48 in, fabric Burch Prime Time, a color that matches the room, quantity 40.

There is a second way to buy the same room. The floor area is 432 sq ft, past the 300 sq ft mark where large format usually wins, so the same 318 sq ft target can be met with 10 panels at 48 in x 96 in instead of 40 at 24 in x 48 in. Ten pieces means a quarter of the mounting work and a quarter of the wall anchors, at the cost of needing two people to hang each one.

To size your own room first, use the panel coverage calculator, then come back and build the panel it recommends.

How ordering works

1. Pick the thickness. 2 in covers most rooms, 1 in for high frequency control in shallow spaces, 4 in for bass.
2. Pick the size. Match it to your coverage target in square feet, not to a panel count.
3. Pick the fabric line. Burch Prime Time is the standard, the Guilford lines widen the palette.
4. Pick the color, using a swatch sample if the match matters.
5. Set the quantity and add to cart. Panels are usually bought in sets of 4 to 8, and the price shown is live from the catalog rather than an estimate.

Sizes outside the list, odd shapes, and cutouts around outlets or fixtures are all made to order. Those go through (888) 923-5777 rather than through the builder.

Shipping

Panels at 24 in x 48 in and smaller ship ground, and ground shipping is free on orders over $349.99.

Anything larger than 24 in x 48 in ships by freight, palletized, delivered dock to dock, so free ground shipping does not apply to those sizes. Freight is a flat rate to the contiguous United States and large format carries a 5 panel minimum, because freight ships best on a full pallet.

Dock to dock means the carrier brings the pallet to a loading dock. Delivering to a school, a church, a studio or a house with no dock, a liftgate service brings the pallet down off the truck for you. Liftgate is a paid add-on and is never included by default. Current freight and liftgate rates are shown on the large format panel page.

Can I get a printed image on the panel instead of fabric?

Yes. Custom printed acoustic art panels take your artwork or photograph on a white printable acoustic face. They are a separate product from the fabric panels in this builder, because the printed face replaces the fabric rather than being applied over it.

Will these panels stop noise from the next room?

No, and this is the single most common mismatch between what a buyer wants and what a panel does. Absorption reduces echo and reverb inside a room. Blocking is stopping sound from passing through a wall, and that is a construction problem of mass, decoupling and sealed air gaps. Panels on the wall will make a room sound clear. They will not make it quiet for the neighbor.

The one item in the catalog rated for transmission rather than absorption is Homasote Sound Barrier DesignWall 440.

How many panels should I start with?

Rooms come out best when the panels go up in one pass rather than a few at a time, because coverage percentage is what changes how a room sounds. Four panels in a conference room is close to no change. Twenty is a different room. The quantity field starts at 4 because that is the common trial order, but the coverage math in the example above is what predicts the result.

Are the panels safe for a commercial space?

The fiberglass core is formaldehyde free and the fabric faces are Class A fire rated per ASTM E-84, the rating most commercial building codes and architects specify for wall finishes. Test reports are available on the spec sheets and test reports page for anyone who needs documentation for a permit or a submittal package.