For projects in Dublin
Auditorium acoustics and soundproofing in Dublin
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. Church buildings, parish halls and school halls carry speech and music in the same hard volume.
- 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 / The material
What this material is and where it earns its place in Dublin
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.
Church buildings, parish halls and school halls carry speech and music in the same hard volume.
Work reaching us from Dublin is mostly build-to-rent apartments, Georgian conversions, docklands offices, pubs and venues, clinics.
- The port is in the city Containers land at Dublin Port and are on site the same day. That is the practical reason a factory in India can compete here on landed cost and on timing.
- Build-to-rent party walls Thousands of units built to the same separating detail. When that detail underperforms, it underperforms in every flat, so it is worth getting right on the drawing.
- Georgian conversions High ceilings, lath and plaster, timber floors and protected fabric. Everything has to be done internally and shallow, and often reversibly.
- 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 Dublin.
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 Dublin, heat pumps and mechanical ventilation in newer stock, with outdoor units close to boundaries.
Direct fix. Mechanically fixed to the soffit or wall. Durable and simple.
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Layer 2
Wooden slat acoustic panels
Timber slats on an acoustic backing. In Dublin, church buildings, parish halls and school halls carry speech and music in the same hard volume.
Slats on a cavity. Backing plus an air gap behind moves absorption lower, which matters in music rooms.
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Layer 3
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Dublin, school buildings run hard floors and lay-in ceilings with long corridors, and sports halls are the worst rooms in the building.
Zoned. Carpet in the circulation and meeting zones, hard floor elsewhere, so the treatment sits where the noise is made.
We would rather argue about the build-up at design stage than on site. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What decides the build-up in Dublin
- The port is in the city
Containers land at Dublin Port and are on site the same day. That is the practical reason a factory in India can compete here on landed cost and on timing.
- Build-to-rent party walls
Thousands of units built to the same separating detail. When that detail underperforms, it underperforms in every flat, so it is worth getting right on the drawing.
- Georgian conversions
High ceilings, lath and plaster, timber floors and protected fabric. Everything has to be done internally and shallow, and often reversibly.
- Late trading under homes
Pubs and venues now sit beneath apartments that were not there ten years ago. The low end and the footfall are what generate the complaints.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Church buildings, parish halls and school halls carry speech and music in the same hard volume.
- School and campus buildings
School buildings run hard floors and lay-in ceilings with long corridors, and sports halls are the worst rooms in the building.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Dublin briefs
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Reverberation time
Set against use. Speech and music want different numbers, and a dual use hall needs a decision. Containers land at Dublin Port and are on site the same day. That is the practical reason a factory in India can compete here on landed cost and on timing.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 1200 x 600 mm
- 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. Thousands of units built to the same separating detail. When that detail underperforms, it underperforms in every flat, so it is worth getting right on the drawing.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 20 mm
- 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. High ceilings, lath and plaster, timber floors and protected fabric. Everything has to be done internally and shallow, and often reversibly.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 400 kg per cubic metre
- 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 Dublin changes the material, not the target
Dublin is cool and damp, with long heating seasons and cold external walls, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Cold wall build-ups and long heating seasons mean interstitial condensation is a real risk behind any lining. PET felt is unaffected by damp air and will not feed mould where a fabric-faced mineral product would.
The failure we design against here is condensation behind linings in older, poorly insulated stock.
On a Dublin job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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Absorbing the whole room and losing the back rows
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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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
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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Treating it as a generic Dublin job
Containers land at Dublin Port and are on site the same day. That is the practical reason a factory in India can compete here on landed cost and on timing.
05 / Logistics
Getting it to Dublin, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Dublin Port, minutes from most city sites |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea into Dublin Port |
| 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 Dublin Port, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Dublin projects
What makes auditorium acoustics and soundproofing different in Dublin?
Church buildings, parish halls and school halls carry speech and music in the same hard volume. Containers land at Dublin Port and are on site the same day. That is the practical reason a factory in India can compete here on landed cost and on timing.
Where should the budget go first on a Dublin 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 Dublin?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Dublin. 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 Dublin site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Dublin Port, minutes from most city sites, 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
Drawings in, BOQ and a delivered date out
Send what you have. We will give you a layer by layer build-up, a bill of quantities and a date material lands, and we will flag anything in the brief that will not achieve what you want.