Sound absorbers for walls

Wall absorbers: acoustic panels for a calmer room

A wall absorber is a sound absorber that sits directly on the wall. It absorbs sound instead of reflecting it, improving the room acoustics: voices sound clearer, music and audio less echoey, and the call from your home office loses its bathroom sound. Here you'll find all FENNEXT sound absorbers for walls, as ready-made sets or as individual acoustic panels, in hexagon, square and rectangle shapes and in three material lines. All elements are made to a high standard in Europe and bonded to the wall without drilling.

How wall sound absorbers work

Hard surfaces such as concrete, glass, plaster and smooth walls reflect almost all sound waves. The sound stays in the room for a long time, reverberation and echo build up, and speech becomes harder to understand. When the sound wave meets the open-pored material of a sound absorber, however, it penetrates it and part of it is converted into heat. The more surface is covered and the thicker the material, the more effective the sound absorption and the shorter the reverberation. Acoustically, this is the most effective way to make an echoey room calmer.

Sound absorption is not soundproofing against neighbours

Many people search for “soundproofing panels” when what they mean is acoustic panels for better room acoustics. Sound absorbers improve the acoustics within the room itself. They do not help against noise from the flat next door or from the street — that is a job for sound insulation and structural soundproofing. If you want to make an echoey room calmer, sound absorbers are the right choice; if you need protection from noise in other rooms, you need building work. The article Sound absorption vs. sound insulation explains the difference.

Acoustic panels for walls: three material lines

• Velvet acoustic panels are made of PU foam with a velvety surface, in more than 20 colours and several thicknesses. The decorative choice when look and feel matter, for example in the living room, home office, gaming room or home studio. Velvet is combustible (class F under EN 13501-1) and not intended for rooms with fire safety requirements.
• Fiber is made of polyester felt (PET), also known as acoustic felt or PET felt, in simple white, grey, blue or black. At 50 mm thickness, Fiber reaches absorption class A (αw 0.9), and the 50 mm elements are classified B-s1,d0 under EN 13501-1. Ideal for offices, meeting rooms and studios.
• Hybrid combines PET felt with Basotect, an open-cell melamine resin foam. The 70 mm Basotect element reaches class A with αw 0.95 and is one of the most effective acoustic panels in our range. Find out more in the Hybrid Line.

For projects, we also make to order: Fiber Solid Hexa with a closed surface, the Cover Pad as a made-to-measure wall panel, for example for acoustic wall cladding, and Fluffo Perfo with perforated sheet metal and absorption class A.

Hexagon, Pixel or Blocks?

The shape determines the design, not the acoustics. Hexagons (around 290 × 251 mm) can be combined into honeycomb patterns and colour gradients — you'll find all hexagon models together under hexagon sound absorbers. Pixels are square and create calm grids or mosaics. Blocks are rectangular (391 × 232 mm) and look like brickwork made of acoustic panels. Within a shape, the lines fit together, so you can mix materials and colours.

Effective against reverberation and echo: thickness and area

The thicker a sound absorber, the lower the frequencies it absorbs. For speech and general reverberation, 25 mm is often enough; if a room booms or you're dealing with music, gaming or studio recordings, 50 or 70 mm is worthwhile. Area is at least as important: as a rule of thumb, cover 10 to 30 per cent of the free wall and ceiling area. One set covers just under half a square metre. The Acoustic Check works out how much your room needs in two minutes.

Absorption classes A to E

How much sound an acoustic panel absorbs is stated as the weighted sound absorption coefficient αw under the standard DIN EN ISO 11654, from 0 (no sound is absorbed) to 1 (all sound is absorbed), and grouped into classes A to E. Class A stands for very high effectiveness. The values for each product are listed in its technical data.

Set or individual acoustic elements?

The sets contain six to ten matching elements in several shades and thicknesses, plus the right mounting material. So you can get started straight away. You need individual acoustic elements if you are planning your own pattern, want to extend a set or cover a larger area in one colour. Individual elements come without mounting material; you can get the mounting adhesive separately.

Easy mounting: bond instead of drill

FENNEXT wall absorbers are bonded, with no drilling and no rails. They are not self-adhesive from the factory: Velvet sets include a mounting adhesive, Fiber and Hybrid sets a roll of tesa adhesive tape, which is easier to remove again and is therefore also suitable for rented flats. The wall and the back of the absorbers must be clean, dry and free of dust and grease. The mounting guide shows you how, step by step.

Where wall sound absorbers make the biggest difference

Sound absorbers make the biggest difference where the sound first hits: at ear height on the wall next to or behind your workstation, opposite the sofa or between two parallel, bare walls where flutter echoes form. Gaps between the elements do no harm — quite the opposite, as the side faces then also contribute. There are more tips in the article Positioning sound absorbers correctly.

For offices, schools and projects

For several rooms, an entire office or public buildings, we plan wall, ceiling and free-standing solutions together with you, with a requirement calculation under DIN 18041 on request (Request a quote). Businesses can pay by invoice via a personal quote. Which products are suitable for rooms with fire safety requirements is explained on the Acoustic panels and fire safety page.