For projects in Barcelona
Auditorium acoustics and soundproofing in Barcelona
A large hard volume where speech falls apart long before anyone calls the room echoey. The target is intelligibility at the back row, which is a reverberation and early reflection problem, not a loudspeaker problem. Churches, civic auditoriums and hotel function rooms are stone and plaster volumes with very long decay times.
- Reverberation time
- Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision.
- Early reflections
- Shaped surfaces that send energy to the rear seats rather than absorbing everything.
- Rear wall
- The single worst surface in most halls, and the first one to treat.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / Start here
The product, described honestly, for a Barcelona brief
A large hard volume where speech falls apart long before anyone calls the room echoey. The target is intelligibility at the back row, which is a reverberation and early reflection problem, not a loudspeaker problem.
Churches, civic auditoriums and hotel function rooms are stone and plaster volumes with very long decay times.
Work reaching us from Barcelona is mostly eixample apartments, hotels and short lets, restaurants, offices, clinics, studios.
- Eixample blocks share everything Flats stacked around an interior courtyard with tiled floors and hard plaster. Sound moves between homes through the structure and across the patio.
- Tourism conversions Apartments turned into short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Doors and corridors cause most complaints.
- Late streets Venues and terraces operate late underneath homes, so containment decides how long they trade.
- Reverberation time Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for auditorium acoustics are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Barcelona.
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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Layer 1
Wood wool acoustic panels
Wood fibre bound into a rigid board with an open texture. In Barcelona, split and multi-split systems dominate, with condensers in patios and light wells that act as reverberant shafts.
With a porous backing. Board over mineral backing where the room needs more than the board alone gives.
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Layer 2
PET felt acoustic panels
A rigid non-woven panel pressed from 100% polyester fibre, a large part of it recycled. In Barcelona, churches, civic auditoriums and hotel function rooms are stone and plaster volumes with very long decay times.
On a 25 to 50 mm air gap. The same panel on battens. The air gap moves absorption down in frequency at no extra material cost, and is the cheapest improvement available.
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Layer 3
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In Barcelona, school buildings are concrete and tile with high ceilings and hard floors, and dining halls are the loudest rooms in the building.
Mixed with services. Set out around ducts, trays and lighting rather than fighting them, coordinated from your reflected ceiling plan.
For a Barcelona practice, the useful thing is a detail you can put in a drawing set, not a brochure. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What we see driving Barcelona briefs
- Eixample blocks share everything
Flats stacked around an interior courtyard with tiled floors and hard plaster. Sound moves between homes through the structure and across the patio.
- Tourism conversions
Apartments turned into short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Doors and corridors cause most complaints.
- Late streets
Venues and terraces operate late underneath homes, so containment decides how long they trade.
- The port is at the city
Direct sea into Barcelona keeps the road leg short and the landed cost predictable.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Churches, civic auditoriums and hotel function rooms are stone and plaster volumes with very long decay times.
- School and campus buildings
School buildings are concrete and tile with high ceilings and hard floors, and dining halls are the loudest rooms in the building.
04 / Room by room
Room by room, on a typical Barcelona job
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Reverberation time
Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision. Flats stacked around an interior courtyard with tiled floors and hard plaster. Sound moves between homes through the structure and across the patio.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 100% PET non-woven, no added binder
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 9 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
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Early reflections
Shaped surfaces that send energy to the rear seats rather than absorbing everything. Apartments turned into short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Doors and corridors cause most complaints.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
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Rear wall
The single worst surface in most halls, and the first one to treat. Venues and terraces operate late underneath homes, so containment decides how long they trade.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Both faces work, which is why suspended area outperforms the same area laid flat
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 64 sq ft per pack
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Durability
Why the climate in Barcelona changes the material, not the target
Barcelona is hot dry summers and mild wet winters, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
The swing between a dry summer and a wet winter moves timber. PET felt is dimensionally stable across that swing; slat panels want a stable substrate and a ventilated fixing.
The failure we design against here is seasonal movement in timber and winter damp in unheated stock.
If a consultant has set the target, we will quote against their figures rather than ours, and stay out of the scope they own. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Worth knowing
The six errors that cost the most
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Absorbing the whole room and losing the back rows
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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Adding speakers to fix a reverberation problem
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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Ignoring the rear wall because it is behind the audience
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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Treating it as a generic Barcelona job
Flats stacked around an interior courtyard with tiled floors and hard plaster. Sound moves between homes through the structure and across the patio.
05 / Getting it there
What the route into Barcelona actually looks like
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Barcelona, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea into Barcelona |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order, not after.
Sea freight direct into Barcelona, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Barcelona projects
What makes auditorium acoustics and soundproofing different in Barcelona?
Churches, civic auditoriums and hotel function rooms are stone and plaster volumes with very long decay times. Flats stacked around an interior courtyard with tiled floors and hard plaster. Sound moves between homes through the structure and across the patio.
Where should the budget go first on a Barcelona project?
Reverberation time. Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision. Early reflections. Shaped surfaces that send energy to the rear seats rather than absorbing everything.
Do you have an office or installation team in Barcelona?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Barcelona. We give you drawings, build-ups, a BOQ and material that arrives complete, and we will tell you plainly when a job needs a local contractor we cannot be.
How does material get to a Barcelona site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Barcelona, then a short road run to site, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order, not after.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
Absorbing the whole room and losing the back rows. Adding speakers to fix a reverberation problem.
What do you need from us to quote?
A plan, a section through the critical partition or ceiling, and what the room is for. From that we can give a build-up and a BOQ rather than a price per square foot.
Next step
Tell us the room, we will tell you the build-up
One drawing gets you a proper answer. Build-up, quantities, a delivered date, and an honest note on anything we think is the wrong approach.