Check(er) it out! Echo Eliminator Used in Unique Pattern to Greatly Reduce Echo in School Gym

This is one of the simplest yet coolest installations that I have seen. I really like the pattern created by the panels – I think it adds a great unique quality to the room.

These pictures were provided by Jason Ray, who is one of our approved installers in Alabama. Early in the year, Jason was working with a school in Alabama who reported a substantial echo problem in their gymnasium. Like most gyms, this room was not only very large, but consisted of nearly all hard surfaces. The larger the room and the harder the surfaces in that room, the worse the echo will be. If you are in the Birmingham Alabama area and want to contact Jason for an installation or a consult, feel free to contact him at 205-533-9375 or [email protected]. Please let him know that you acquired his contact information from Acoustical Surfaces so he has a point of reference.

Jason worked with the customer to install panels that were not only cost effective and acoustically absorbent, but he worked with them to create a very unique and great looking aesthetic. Based on the dimensions of the room, Jason and I determined that around 720 square feet of acoustical paneling should bring the reverberation time in the room down to an acceptable level. The school reviewed samples of the nine different colors that we offer for the Echo Eliminator panels and chose Beige based on the existing color scheme in the room.

One very common concern that is often raised about the Echo Eliminator is the impact resistance of the cotton, or lack thereof. It is true that the cotton is not the most impact resistant product that is on the market right now, but whenever I am talking to potential customers about gym installations, I always suggest that the panels be installed high enough on the walls or on the ceiling so that if they are struck with a softball or a volleyball, by the time the ball reaches the top of the wall or the ceiling – it is usually loosing much of it’s energy because of the distance traveled against gravity. Of course, with repeated impact, some of the panels are going to need to be replaced eventually, but the cost of the panels is such that they could be replaced three or four times over and still be cheaper than other products. Please keep in mind that there will be dye-lot variations between manufacturing runs and if you plan on replacing any panels, purchase them with the original order so that they match the panels that are in the rest of the room.

After Jason and the school had agreed on a color as well as a quantity needed for the room in question, we boxed up 90 (2′ x 4′) panels and an ASI Knife blade and got them on the way. A few months later, I received an E-mail from Jason with the subject Very Happy Client, Here’s Why, and attached were the two pictures included here. I was not aware that the 2′ x 4′ panels were going to be cut down to 2′ x 2′ and used as a geometric pattern on the walls, but I am quite impressed with the installation. Not only do the smaller squares create a very pleasing visual pattern, but they also allow for a nice balance of square footage spaced out throughout the room. Additionally, by cutting the panels down to the 2×2 and spacing them in such a way that only the corners are touching, more absorptive surface area is introduced into the room increasing the overall absorption of the square footage installed. Brilliant.

If you would like a quote for a similar room, please feel free to contact me. I will need the measurements (height, width & depth) of the room as well as a brief description of the surfaces that make up the space. Digital pictures are always a great aid for me to offer a few different recommendations for spacing and location. I will put together a box of possible products as well as corresponding literature and get them to you so you can see physical representations of the products that I can provide. After a product or a few products are selected, it is very easy to draft and fax or E-mail a quote to you for the project. Or, if you are in the Birmingham Alabama area and want to contact Jason for an installation or a consult, feel free to contact him at 205-533-9375 or [email protected]. Please let him know that you acquired his contact information from Acoustical Surfaces so he has a point of reference.


4 Comments

  1. Alison

    Hello, my kids go to school where the gym is very echoing, we live in AB Canada. Do you have any installers here?

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