Serenity Lite Fabric Acoustic Wall panel

One of the most common problems with music teaching rooms is the unwanted echo or too much noise.

At Ormond College Melbourne there were a number of classrooms that had high ceilings, rendered walls and Timber floors. This meant that for a music teacher it was almost impossible to teach for long periods in a noisy environment.

By working with the School architect, Sontext were able to advise the type of Timber Acoustic Panel, thickness and placement of the acoustic panels with in the room. The choice was for Serenity Acoustic Wall Panels covered in a custom designed fabric by Melbourne Designers Ink and Spindle.

The panel chosen was a 1800 x 1200 x 50 mm Serenity Fabric Covered acoustic panel as in the picture above. Due to the nature of the Serenity Acoustic panel with its High impact resistant membrane L32 the panel can stand any amount of robust treatment.

Sontext can supply Serenity Acoustic Panels in Custom designed fabric or a standard fabric for our standard range. ART PANELS are available with your own high resolution image on the panel.

For further details contact Sales on sales@sontext.com.au or visit the website on www.sontext.com.au

The benefits of installing sound acoustic panels

Offices often contain purpose-built furniture. There are numerous older offices in particular, scattered around our cities, with hard reflective surfaces that bounce sound waves around causing reverberation and a generally noisy interior environment. Reverberation is unwanted noise, and it can cause irritation, stress  general tiredness during a working day. It can even mean  occupants have trouble communicating, and understanding conversations. Likewise, the same problem can occur in hotels, playing music venues and anywhere people gather.  Sound acoustic panels are an easily installed solution to reverberation in such spaces. Sontext manufactures the Serenity range of sound acoustic panels and baffles in a wide range of sizes and fabric finishes, to not only look great, but minimize unwanted sound.

Sound acoustic panels are also part of the interior decoration

Serenity Sound acoustic panels are beneficial because they absorb noise and improve interior sound quality. However, these panels are also available in huge range of specially selected sound absorbing fabric facings – in colours and various designs. The facings wrap around all four sides of each panel so they can be mounted individually on either walls or ceilings. For areas with high ceilings Sontext Serenity panels can be mounted as hanging baffles to increase the absorption area.

• Vivid and varied designs: Acoustic panels can be manufactured to customized architectural designs and dimensions. Contact Sontext to discuss what’s possible.
• Wood acoustic panels : Sontext also manufacture Murano sound absorbing perforated wood panels, with a choice of paint, veneer, or decorative laminate finishes.
• Printed Art Panels: Acoustic Art Panels are available from Sontext, customized to include your specific image on the face.
• Baffles and Clouds: High-performance Sontext Acoustic Clouds or Baffles in designer fabrics are also available

Existing work and entertainment spaces that may contain hard reflective surfaces like laminates and hard plaster need not suffer from unwanted interior noise. These areas scan easily be retrofitted with acoustic panels from Sontext, in a range of modern colours and finished to update existing decor.

Contact Sontext for more information

Acoustic Cloud Ceiling: Acoustic Performance and Visual Appeal

Suspended horizontally, irregular or circular-shaped cloud panels add a distinctively different look to ceilings, compared to the more common, conventional square-edged commercial product. Cloud ceilings still perform as well as conventional acoustic ceilings to reduce background noise. The stylish modern look of an Acoustical Clouds Ceiling can really stand out or blend in depending on what interior design dictates.

Clouds can be manufactured with painted or fabric wrapped facings. They can even be mixed and matched to suit any interior, are extremely easy to install and add style and detail to a space. Sontext Clouds provide an eco- friendly, formaldehyde-free option, manufactured from rigid sound absorbing fibrous insulation, wrapped in a sustainable fabric. The range of suitable fabrics on the market is huge, and the finished panels can be customised to include the fabric of your choice. Sontext Acoustic Cloud Ceiling Panels can either be directly attached to the ceiling or suspended to add an extra dimension to a space. Suspended Acoustic Ceilings of this type are particularly suited to “hiding” exposed building services like plumbing, electrical and air-conditioning services.

 

Benefits of Ceiling Clouds

What makes acoustical clouds ceilings perform so well at absorbing sound is that they are usually suspended, and are therefore able to absorb reflected sound waves from both the front and the back of the panel. They not only minimise ambient sound across a large frequency range, but panel thickness can be adjusted (at manufacture) to help minimise can particular problem frequencies. The decorative facing on Sontext Cloud Panels are customizable to your requirements – with color and design options. In commercial interiors, such as office, meeting room and comms room applications, speech clarity is a major benefit of eliminating background noise. Sound absorbing ceiling systems can help achieve this. Because Cloud panels are not reliant on a continuous installed grid system, there is space between the panels to install lighting, without shadow problems.  Aesthetically, they also define and accentuate specific areas within larger spaces, such as conversation pits, interview areas and reception desks.

Architects And Interior Designers Warm to Wood Ceilings

Architecture and interior design continues to develop, change and evolve. New uses are being found for “old” and recycled materials regularly. However the basic building blocks of modern construction remain the same. The so-called traditional materials – wood, glass, masonry, steel – still form the basis of most buildings. Wood in particular is enjoying a resurgence in use as a structural material with the advent of laminated beams, etc. However, wood is also in vogue as an decorative  interior lining material – due in no small part to sophisticated machinery that now allows interior designers to use wood wall and ceiling  panels as sound absorbers. The beauty of natural wood veneers always enhances the look and style of an interior space. The added benefit of  enabling surface perforation  or slotting to be machined into such paneling increases appeal and function enormously. Sontext has capitalised on these added attributes of wood with their range of Murano wood ceiling panels.

Wood Sound Absorption Products

There are many interior spaces that require special attention to communication speech and performance clarity, such as courtrooms, concert halls, boardrooms, lecture theatres, and more. The interior decor style of these spaces lends itself to wood paneling. However, without perforations, wood panels can be quite reflective of sound waves. This in turn can lead to unwanted reflections, or reverberation. Such reflections interfere with clear speech (or music).  Sontext Murano wood ceiling panels, are designed to overcome such problems. Murano and work station panels as well acoustic wood ceiling panels are available as well. Sontext’s team of experts can provide advice, and help you choose appropriate products for you project. Sontext can also arrange installation and fixing of the products.

Murano Wood Panels Look Good and Sound Great

The variety of panel finishes and perforation patterns available is huge. Panels are available with perforations, grooves or slots and each of these patterns have different sound absorbing characteristics. The Murano Panel range includes natural veneers, laminated surfaces, and painted or lacquer finishes. Contact Sontext for more information.

 

Office Interiors Look More Stylish with Timber Wood Panels

Timber Wood Panels are commonly used as semi-structural wall and ceiling linings. Veneers in particular impart a pleasing natural and sophisticated surface appearance to interior spaces. However, unless perforations are machined into the panel surface, timber panels can reflect sound waves that cause reverberation. Other hard surfaces, like masonry glass and concrete, of course do this too, but perforated panels allow sound to pass through and be absorbed by insulation installed behind the paneling. Sontext Murano Timber Wood Panels are designed to beautify any interior space, but also to maximise sound absorption.

Murano Timber wood panels are available in a large range of decorative finishes, including paint, natural wood veneer, hard-wearing laminated surfaces, and the new UV finishes. A large range of perforated or slotted patterns ensure a range of acoustic performances for most applications.

Acoustic timber panels have particular benefits on open occupied and public spaces like offices, foyers and even shopping malls, where ambient background noise can be troublesome for speech, music quality, and particularly public address systems.

Features of timber wood panels:

• High Acoustic Performance

Sontext Murano Wood Panels have been tested to provide predictable, measured sound absorption over a range of frequencies. The Murano range also includes micro-perforated panels, with holes that look like non-perforated wood panels at a distance.

• Wood Panels have High Impact Resistance

Murano  timber wood panels have an advantage over other types of wall linings in areas where impact may be a problem, such as multi-use halls and sports stadiums – timber has very good impact resistance.

Applications For Acoustic Ceiling Panels

Acoustics can be explained as the qualities of as room or a space that effect how sound is reflected in it. Sometimes the so-called “qualities” of a space can be so bad that it is difficult for an audience to clearly hear or understand speech, music, or communication. The problem may not be the speaker or performer, or even the sound system. The problem might actually be in the design of the building or its interior. Sound absorbing panels have come to be called ‘Acoustic Panels’, because they too are designed to effect transmitted sounds in interior spaces. Their role is to compensate for unwanted sound (known as noise), and to enhance the quality of whatever sound is being transmitted to listeners.

Limiting Unwanted Noise

Fabric-faced acoustic panels, mounted on walls or ceilings are a common solution to sound “echo”problems. They absorb sound waves reflected of hard surfaces (furniture, masonry, glass, etc) which otherwise lead to reverberation. Sontext manufacture fabric-faced acoustic panels under the Serenity brand. These panels consisit of an inner core of fibrous acoustic insualtion, and are wrapped in a porous fabrics, (available in a huge range of designer colours to suit most purposes. Other materials may be used as acoustic panels; Sontext also manufacture a range of Timber Panels under the Murano brand. To perform as sound absorbers, timber or wood panels must have a perforated face, to allow sound to pass through. The Murano Acoustic Timber Panel range is available in a large range of perforated, grooved and slotted patterns for this purpose.

Common Applications

There are many applications where high quality sound transmission, or communication is essential, such as schools and universities, with classrooms, lecture rooms and auditoriums.  Sound quality is also critical in concert halls, theatres, and entertainment venues, among many others. Television and Recording Studios go to great lengths to minimise reflected sound. The purpose of acoustic ceiling panels and wall panels is to minimise unwanted sound problems in all these applications.

Considerations to Make

The amount of absorption – and therefore area of acoustic panels required to make an interior space fit for the purpose for which it was built – varies considerably, and may require the assistance of Sontext specialists. Sontext can also make recommendations if your project requires the input of an acoustic engineer. You probably also need to consider aesthetics, and Sontext can advise on fabrics if you  go for fabric acoustic panels, or timber finishes, if Murano Wood Panels are your choice.