Chameleon Build Quality and Setup

Rigid fiberglass board and mineral fiber board, especially Owens-Corning 703 or 705, has been used in the construction of bass traps and acoustical panels since… well for as long as I can remember. The fact is - it works. There is science behind it. There are measurements. We know how well it absorbs, at what frequencies, and in what locations. It isn't exactly rocket science. So when Ready Acoustics contacted me about reviewing their Chameleon Bass Traps, my first thought was "Why?"

A perusal of their website will quickly give you the "why". It seems that, unbeknownst to me, there has been this force for good in the universe helping out DIY acoustical panel builders. They offer raw Owens-Corning rigid fiberglass board by the box, they sell "bags" for you to put your mineral fiber boards into with straps upon which to mount them to your wall. They sell mounts for your bag wrapped panels. They have oodles of videos on how to wrap, hang, and just about everything else to your panels. And now they offer a "frame" to dress up said panels so that your wife will actually let you have them. Where was this when I was trying to track down a supplier of mineral fiber for my DIY panel article?

Build Quality

The distinctive feature of the Chameleon Bass Traps is the frame. Constructed of 100% cold rolled steel, the frame comes in six colors (Black, Gray, White, Sand, Blue, and Red) the most popular of which has to be black. I don't imagine it would be all the difficult to grab a can of spray paint if you really wanted to customize the frames yourself or you could take them to a professional if you are really worried about getting the perfect finish. There is definitely a front side and a back side to the frames, the back has the keyhole openings (used for mounting). You'll want to make sure you have the keyholes on the side that has the hanging straps (if you are using the bags) or just on the back if you are covering them yourself. There are cutouts down the sides in a nifty little pattern which have three purposes, first they allow sound to pass through to the absorptive sides, they reduce weight, and they are essentially the Ready Acoustics logo. At 5.88 lbs, the frames themselves aren't light (then entire trap is 15 lbs) so you'll need something a little sturdier than a small picture hanger. Once constructed, the frame is completely rigid and immobile. You don't have to worry about it deforming on you as you move it around during the hanging process. The only difficult parts are getting the frames over the mineral fiber as it is extremely tight (this is a necessary evil) and making sure the fabric is pulled tight. Both of these are minor hassles at best and after you put together one panel, you'll learn all the tricks you'll need to put together perfect looking panels.

The Ready Acoustics Ready Bags are open at the top (or bottom depending on how you hold the bag) and are closed with a small zipper (think the one your wife always asks you to zip on the back of her dress). The Ready Bags come with peel and stick corner pieces (to keep your mineral fiber board corners from being crushed (not used with the Chameleon Frames). The bags used with the Chameleon Panels accommodate four inches of board (two 2" boards). Packing the bags couldn't be easier with the included instructions (and online demo) - simply sandwich the mineral fiber between two pieces of cardboard, roll the bag up, and remove the cardboard before zipping it up. The cardboard is really the critical part as it both makes finagling the bag up easier and protects the mineral fiber as you do so. The bags have a "suede" type finish that you can run your hand across to create patterns. It is very soft and supple to the touch though the suede finish does pick up fingerprints and scuffs pretty easily (all you have to do is wipe them down).

The back of the bags have three "handles" used for mounting (mostly used without the Chameleon Frames). These are sown directly into the fabric of the bag. Personally, I'd be concerned about the fabric slowly stretching which would make the placement of the bags a non-exact science. As the bags without the frames are much lighter, this might not be an issue. The keyhole openings in the frames makes hanging a bit easier to deal with but if you are going the bag only route, you'll have little other choices.

At this point, you've met the players but you haven't heard all the options. The Chameleon frames run $34.99 a pop, the Ready Bags run $29.99 each, and Ready Acoustics will sell you a box of 6 slabs of Owens-Corning 703 for $79.99 ($26.66 for each panel for the math impaired) and 705 (much heavier than the 703) for $129.99 ($43.33 a panel). Now, let's do the math here - if you buy everything separately, you'll pay $91.64 for 703 (which is what the Chameleon Panels are made out of). So, what's with the $129.99 price tag? They'll sell you them one at a time and when they assemble them for you, they rivet the edges instead of using screws. This works great if you don't want to buy panels 3 at a time (which is how you have to buy the mineral fiber). But it also gives you the option of switching out whichever of the pieces you have or won't want.

For example, what if you have a particular décor or look you're going for? Skip the bag and just order the frames and the mineral fiber. The frames will hold any fabric you want in place and you can use the keyhole slots for mounting. Or if you have your own source for mineral fiber board, you can just buy the bags and the frames. You can see where I'm going with this. You've got all the power. You aren't hamstringed by Ready Acoustics in any way. A pretty nice arrangement that will fit the needs of a number of different types of customers.

Before Treatment

Setup

So I'm reviewing panels, I stick them in my home theater right? Well, YOU do. I already have panels in my home theater. I don't really need to replace them any time soon. What I do need is to deaden my office. Why? AVRant of course. For those of you that haven't heard, Audioholics and the Home Theater Alliance got together and said, "We want a Podcast." They decided that they wanted someone opinionated, egomaniacal, and just a little sarcastic so they looked no further than yours truly. Any Podcast associated with Audioholics just has to have good audio quality so the purchase of decent equipment and the outfitting of good rooms was first and foremost on our list. Decent equipment is easy to obtain, you just buy it. But for recording what you need is a dead room. And by dead, I mean DEAD.

Zombie dead.

Night of the Living Dead.

Oh my God why won't my ears pop dead.

Enter Ready Acoustics. I modeled my room with Google Sketchup (a funky little program that was actually pretty fun after I watched the training videos) and discussed the options with Joel DuBay the President of Ready Acoustics. The short version is that I have an office that is about 10 feet by 11 feet by 8 feet high and I've got 19 Chameleon Bass Traps in there. How dead is that? You can almost hear the blood coursing in your veins dead. But it did give me the opportunity to test out the myriad of ways that these panels can be set up.

Planning Stage