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Kategorie: Products

Why Everybody Loves Our New Colour »Olive«

A few years ago, I was in Malta at this time of year. One day I visited the Gaia Foundation and their Peace Grove above Għajn Tuffieħa Bay. It was a windy day, and the gentle rustling of leaves in the wind could be heard all around, while the bright, already somewhat warm sun made everything feel more alive. I noticed several beautiful olive trees standing in the midst of all the greenery. The vibrant green hue of the leaves caught my attention, and I couldn’t help but think how great this colour would look in our acoustic fabrics.

And now, it gives me great pleasure to announce the introduction of the new colour Olive to our extensive range of standard colours for acoustic fabrics. Olive is a warm, inviting colour that exudes a sense of calmness and serenity while adding new, spring-fresh Mediterranean accents.

Gaia Foundation Peace Grove ner Ghajn Tuffieha, Malta
Olive trees at the Gaia Foundation Peace Grove ner Għajn Tuffieħa, Malta

We’ve carefully crafted Olive to perfectly complement a wide variety of other colours. It pairs well with wood and with earthy tones such as browns and beiges, and it also goes well with lighter shades such as blues and greys. It also creates a beautiful and harmonious contrast when combined with black. This versatility makes our sound-transparent fabric in Olive an ideal choice for designers and architects looking for a colour that can work with almost any palette.

Inspired by the natural beauty of the olive tree, our Olive colour captures the essence of the qualities associated with this tree: it’s beautiful to look at, enormously adaptable, and stands for timeless elegance in our fast-moving world. The olive tree is a symbol of peace, prosperity, and growth, and the richness of the colour adds a touch of sophistication to any space and is a perfect representation of the modern aesthetic.

Akustikstoff.com speaker cloth in Olive
Mediterranean freshness: Akustikstoff.com speaker cloth in Olive

With the introduction of the new olive colour, we are excited to offer our clients our speaker fabrics in a new colour that opens up new aesthetic opportunities. Whether you are looking for a bold statement or a subtle accent, Akustikstoff.com speaker cloth in Olive will help you achieve your desired look. So, why not embrace the natural beauty of olive and give your creations a fresh new look with a calming yet aesthetically sophisticated aura? Olive is available as Standard Acoustic Cloth, as water-repellent Acoustic Cloth 2.0, and as nonflammable Acoustic Cloth FR. Best use our individual sample service to obtain samples of the new colour right away.

Individual Speaker Fabric Samples

You’re not one hundred percent sure which of our 42 standard colours best suits your project? You don’t trust the colour reproduction of your computer screen because you know about the pitfalls of colour reproduction within digital systems that are not consistently calibrated? Or you’d like to receive speaker fabric samples in order to get a hands-on impression of our various types of acoustic cloth before you place an order? 

It always makes sense to take a close look at the original product before making a purchase decision. But this doesn’t always require a complete sample set. That’s why we’ve decided to provide the opportunity to order individual samples directly in our online shop. 

Individual samples of Akustikstoff.com speaker fabric
Choose up to 15 different speaker fabric samples

Select up to 15 different speaker cloth samples of your choice. Combine different fabrics, such as standard, 2.0 and FR, and different colours according to your particular requirements. This opportunity is the perfect basis for an informed decision. Click here to discover our new individual sample service.

Of course, you can still order our sample sets. They are unbeatable as a source of inspiration and remain the perfect reference for all resellers. 

»Color of the Year 2020« An Ageless Classic Blue

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Trust, hope, peace, and tranquility are properties that are traditionally associated with the colour blue. No great surprise, then, that the Pantone® Color Institute has made a very classic, neutral blue the „Colour of the Year 2020“. After all, our life feels considerably more turbulent than a decade ago: Megatrends such as digitisation, along with political and social upheaval around the world, are contributing to a general longing for harmony and security. 

The calm, appealing, and confidence-inspiring deep blue colour of the year 2020 „lends itself to relaxed interaction. Associated with the return of another day, this universal favorite is comfortably embraced“ says Pantone, explaining the choice of the colour that is expected to shape fashion and beauty as well as interior design and the design of electrical and electronic devices worldwide for the next twelve months. At Akustikstoff.com the colour of the year is available as „Navy Blue“.

When it comes to loudspeakers, „Navy Blue“ spontaneously brings to mind JBL’s classic 43xx and 44xx studio monitors. These treasured vintage speakers still have a firm place in many studios and we have recently supplied the speaker fabric for countless refurbishment projects all over the world – evidence to suggest that blue speaker fronts will see a renaissance in loudspeaker manufacturing in 2020. 

Navy Blue, a particularly calm, balancing, and attractive hue, is a good choice for interior design purposes as well: It can be combined with black and white as well as with silver, gold, and numerous organic brown hues. 

Acoustic Cloth in Navy Blue is available as Standard speaker cloth (colour code 38), as water-repellent and stain-resistant Acoustic Cloth 2.0 (colour code 138), and as non-flammable Acoustic Cloth FR (colour code 238), which is particularly suitable for projects in public spaces.

Spray Adhesive as a Problem Solver

Many hifi enthusiasts have developed a great passion for the DIY refurbishment of vintage speaker cabinets. An update of the speaker grille with new Acoustic Cloth is one of the key elements in most of these projects, but it’s not always the easiest task. 

The JBL* LX55, for instance, a popular speaker among experts that is sold at increasingly high prices today, has a plastic frame with a relatively small edge to which the original speaker cloth is attached to. Moreover, the slot between the frame and the cabinet is extremely narrow. This construction makes it impossible to staple the speaker fabric to the frame (the method of choice with wooden frames) or to use of hook fastener tape instead. 

This is where our special spray adhesive comes into play. The adjustable nozzle of the container ensures convenient and economical application of the adhesive without any scattered spray mist and the high immediate adhesion of the adhesive provides for the easy and precise mounting of our sound-transparent fabric on such frames. It’s the perfect solution whenever you want to make speakers with plastic frames look like new.

JBL-LX-55-with-Akustikstoff-speaker-coth

»Your adhesive is really good for mounting fabrics. Very easy to use, no spill, and good adhesion. I used it for my JBL LX55 speakers with your grey cloth (colour code 14). I also refurbished a pair of Bose* 601 series 1 speakers with your beige fabric this year and I am perfectly happy with the result«, wrote Emmanuel D. from Digoin in France as he proudly sent us some photos of his speaker refurbishment projects. 

JBL-LX-55-and-Bose-601-refurbished -with-Akustikstoff-speaker-fabric

*All brand names are registered trademarks of their respective owners and are not in any way associated with Akustikstoff.com. 

Simply Great: Individual Speaker Cloth Pre-Cuts

Speaker cloth laser pre cuts by Akustikstoff.com.

Quiz question: What does our boss present in this photo? A new, even more sound-transparent speaker fabric? Nice try, but not even close! Such grids remain when we produce individual pre-cuts of our speaker cloth.
Manufacturers of consumer electronics, AV furniture, vehicle components, and even slot machines are increasingly relying on such laser-cut pieces of our speaker fabrics produced exactly to provided standard CAD data.
As required MOQs are extremely small and lead times are next to none, Akustikstoff.com pre-cuts are also worth thinking about for companies that only produce very short production runs: Any tedious – and in most cases little precise – cutting of the fabric on the shop floor is eliminated, the pre-cuts can be processed immediately. On request, we can even „engrave“ the speaker fabric, for example with a product name or a company logo.

Speaker cloth pre-cuts by Akustikstoff.com

Acoustic Cloth 2.0 for Italian High-end Sound Studio

»The Spheres« is a recording studio and events space in Pescara-Montesilvano (Italy) on the Adriatic coast, offering state of the art audio and video equipment as well as an active concert calendar. Without doubt, the studio, which also offers mixing and mastering services along with outstanding recording opportunities, can be considered one of the finest recording studios in northern Italy and even beyond – especially for classical, jazz, and world music. It is available to all labels, engineers, projects, and artists who want to benefit from the extraordinarily high levels of acoustic and technical standards that characterize the studio throughout.

Main room of

The studio was designed principally for acoustic music, but is versatile and welcomes all genres. It was rapidly constructed inside an adapted warehouse between November 2016 and May 2017. Planning and acoustic design was by producer, sound engineer, and studio owner John Anderson. The classical pianist, who runs the record label Odradek Records, holds two performance degrees from the Accademia Musicale Pescarese and a degree in musicology from the University of Oxford. 

Having had a look at samples of our Acoustic Cloth 2.0, John decided to use this stain-resistant, liquid-repellent, and B2 fire-rated fabric for the numerous wall and absorber covering purposes in the recording rooms and the control room of his studio. Altogether, 160 square metres of Acoustic Cloth 2.0 and 250 metres of our adhesive hook fastener tape were used in the construction of »The Spheres«.

Main room of

The main room offers 135 square metres of space and a diffuse sound field that is achieved with eight 2D QRD »Skywalker Sound« replica movable diffusors/gobos, and a further 144 2D QRD »BBC style« diffusors mounted on the walls. Every corner has a wedge bass trap from floor to ceiling, a column of 115kg per cubic meter dense rock wool covered with Acoustic Cloth 2.0, which help control the room’s bass build-up and modal distribution. The dropped ceiling is sound absorbent. The floating walls are insulated and isolated via rubber decouplers from the structural walls behind. The result is a silent, world class lively ambience with no boomy bass build-up confusion and silky-smooth highs with no harsh flutter echoes.

Control room of

The control room features 48 square meters with four-metre ceilings and has a separated machine room. It is a Tom Hidley »non-environment room«-inspired design with vertical and horizontal wave guides angled to capture incoming sound from their opposite side monitor. Sound is trapped by eight cm of dense rockwool behind. Unabsorbed energy is directed away from engineer’s listening position to create a reflection free space, ensuring accurate monitoring. The waveguides are completely covered by Acoustic Cloth 2.0 for an elegant finish.

Vocal booth of

If you want to get a more detailed impression of the construction process as well as the finished studio, have a look at their amazing construction book and visit the studio’s website.

Drum booth of

Play it Safe With Acoustic Cloth FR

We raise the bar for sound-transparent fabric again: Our new Acoustic Cloth FR is non-flammable and will fulfil the dreams of many architects, interior designers, stand builders, and PA techs.

It’s a speaker cloth the world has been waiting for: Flame-retardant, easy to work with and elastic, with excellent acoustic and aesthetic properties,  available off the shelf in numerous attractive colors. Our newly developed Acoustic Cloth FR makes the world of sound-transparent fabrics significantly better.

Akustikstoff FR ist nach NFP 92502 als nichtbrennbar (M1) zertifiziert.The renowned French test institute FCBA has certified Acoustic Cloth FR to be nonflammable according to the European standard EN 13773-1 as well as to the much more demanding French standard NFP 92503 M1. It puts an end to a notorious problem that bothered architects, interior architects, PA and event technicians day by day: So far, applicable fire protection regulations and the use of visually attractive, sound-transparent fabric in publicly accessible buildings didn’t go well together.  Sound-transparent, visually appealing speaker fabrics  are usually made of flammable plastic fibres. But building codes and other regulations—as well as technical guidelines that are part of many contracts—require fabrics to be certified at least fire retardant (FR)  according to EN 13773-1.

For the first time ever, this dilemma can be considered solved. Our non-combustible Acoustic Cloth FR combines optimal preventive fire protection and outstanding acoustic properties and is available in 42 different colours right off the shelf with no lead time. The nonflammable (M1) speaker cloth exceeds the fire retardancy requirements that are part of most tenders. According to the FCBA test results, it’s about as combustible as plasterboard.

Whether used as speaker fabric or in decorative applications that require acoustically transparent fabric: Acoustic Cloth FR enables optimum fire protection without compromising on sound transparency in architecture and interior design as well as in exhibition booth building, stage building, shop construction, advertising technology, and at exhibitions, concerts, and events—and last but not least in the entire catering sector.

}Leading the Colour Trend 2018: Speaker Cloth in Lavender

Akustikstoff in Perlviolett: Die Farbe des Jahres 2018 als Lautsprecherstoff - Acoustic Fabric in Lavender from Akustikstoff.com: The colour of the year 2018 available as speaker fabric

The „Color of the Year 2018″ is a dramatic violet that expresses originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking.

The blue-based „Pantone™ Ultra Violet“ already played a predominant role on the major catwalks around the world during this season’s fall fashion shows. As in previous years, it will certainly not be long before the „color of the year“ will be the prevailing design color in consumer electronics, shop and trade fair construction, and interior design.

Ready for next year’s colour hype with Acoustic Cloth in Lavender

Our colour  »Lavender« makes the colour trend of the coming year available in the field of ​​high-quality, acoustically transparent speaker fabrics. The colour, available  as standard Speaker Cloth (colour code 37) and as Acoustic Cloth 2.0 (colour code 137), sets awesome highlights wherever a trendy color is required in addition to excellent acoustic and technical properties. Lavender is even available as PA-Type Speaker Fabric (colour code 737). This extra-strong  fabric, reinforced with a unique top layer, has been specially designed for PA speakers, amps and combos.

Expert design tip: Lavender appears particularly lush and classy when combined with colours from our Metallic Line, especially with Gold, Rose Gold, Copper, and Brass, while it develops a pleasantly modest, natural elegance with dark natural shades such as Wine, Sandstone, Artichoke or Butterscotch. Best try it out yourself with our sample sets.

New: Transparent Spray Adhesive for Acoustic Cloth

Transparenter Sprühkleber - transparent spray adhesiveSpray adhesive is very popular with many of our customers, especially with the professionals, because it offers a quick and convenient method of fastening our speaker cloth.  Have a look at our our video tutorial on Youtube to see how it’s done.

Most adhesives are somewhat yellowish due to their composition, which sets certain limits to the bonding of speaker fabric on the visible sides of workpieces. Our new high-quality spray adhesive is completely transparent and provides excellent adhesion. It is virtually invisible, which is great when it comes to fastening speaker cloth directly on sound-absorbing styrofoam, such as Basotect, for instance.

The spray glue is now available in our online shop.

}B&O Beolab 8000 Speakers Looking Like New Again

Beolab8000-with-akustikstoff-acoustic-clothThe Beolab 8000 from Bang&Olufsen an iconic example of elegant styling and good performance . It was one of the most successful B&O loudspeakers ever, remaining in the range for 18 years without any major change. Many music and home theatre lovers still hold the Beolab 8000 in the highest regard and consider it a purchase for life—no wonder in view of the whopping £2940 you had to cough up per piece in 2010 , which was the last year of production.

 

But as the saying goes, nothing is perfect. In the case of the Beolab 8000, the delicate speaker grill cloth was a definite downside. It didn’t take long and the speaker fabric looked much older than it actually was, which compromised the design (and reduced the value) of the speakers considerably.

 

refurbishment-of-beolab8000-with-akustikstoff-acoustic-fabricLuckily, it is quite easy and inexpensive to return the speaker front to its former glory. Our standard acoustic cloth does a perfect job on the Beolab 8000. Even better, the readily available 42 colours of Akustikstoff.com speaker fabric provide the opportunity to achieve a totally new, individual visual appearance and adapt them to your personal taste in a very unique way.

 

 

 

Beolab8000-with-akustikstoff-acoustic-cloth   Beolab8000-with-akustikstoff-acoustic-cloth

Speaker refurbishment of B&O Beolab 8000 with black Akustikstoff.com acoustic speaker cloth.

Wall Unit With Value Added

}Mit Metal-Line-Akustikstoff von Akustikstoff.com zum Phonomöbel aufgewerteter SchrankKurt Büchler used our acoustically transparent Metal Line Speaker Cloth with its elegant metallic shine for a pretty smart DIY solution to turn his living room cabinet into a highly attractive phono wall unit.

The speakers are nicely hidden behind the silver speaker fabric, the cabinet appears much more elegant and has turned into a piece of true phono furniture that suits the room well and provides value added.

Add a Touch of Individual Colour!

akustikstoff-custom-as-colourful-as-natureSpring has come and is getting us all in the mood for fresh and vibrant colours. We’ve drawn on the colour explosion around us to come up with something as diverse as a flowerbed: Acoustic Cloth Custom, the acoustic fabric dyed in the colour of your choice. 

Forget about colour limitations when you’re looking for a quality acoustically transparent fabric for speaker grilles as well as for AV furniture and wall panelling in sound studios, showrooms, and exhibition booths! Simply have the fabric dyed in the colour your design concept requires.

Our Acoustic Cloth Custom meets the needs of any studio designer, exhibition stand builder, and interior designer: The fabric makes it possible to design rooms and exhibition booths in the clients‘ corporate colours without any compromise, because Acoustic Cloth Custom is dyed according to your colour specifications.

Acoustic Cloth Custom is the speaker fabric that perfectly suits your individual colour and design concept for all speakers, absorbers, diffusors, and acoustically transparent panels. Wherever an acoustic fabric of outstanding quality  is required, Acoustic Cloth Custom ensures a unique and harmonious appearance – with all the beneficial properties that characterise our products. When you choose Acoustic Cloth 2.0, the fabric is even stain-resistant, water-repellent, and flame-retardant.

All Pantone™ TC and TCX colours can be applied – making it possible to reproduce virtually any colour. And even better: Your individual colour is available from as little as a single roll of 46 metres. 

Plain Elegance in the Wink of an Eye: AV-Furniture With Akustikstoff.com Acoustic Fabric

}AV board with speaker cloth from Akustikstoff.comKeeping receiver, BluRay player and other AV equipment hidden from the eye makes your AV setup look top stylish and much less cluttered. That’s exactly what our customer Marno Panis from Den Dungen in the Netherlands did with the help of a piece of our acoustic fabric in soft grey. „The result is beautiful“, he wrote happily.

A clear advantage of our acoustic cloth is its permeability to infrared light. It ensures that your remote control will work flawlessly even when all the equipment is hidden behind the handy speaker cloth, which also comes in convenient pre-cut pieces.

Of course you can also make a center speaker or a soundbar „disappear“ to achieve a much more harmonious appearance of your AV furniture and equipment.

By the way: It only takes basic handicraft skills, some bits and pieces from the DIY shop, and our acoustic fabric to turn any run-of-the-mill shelf into a decent piece of AV furniture.

Perfect fixation of your acoustic cloth

Once in a while I’m asked by custumers how to fixate acoustic cloth. I’ve no idea why people keep asking the same question and there is no universal answer. In my FAQ section in the online shop, it seems, the answer for the fixation of acoustic cloth is only sketchy, thus, I will try to deepen this topic.

To create a clear overview, the different possibilities of fixation are divided into categories that I will describe one after the other. I will describe each category in an own section to describe the different possibilities of fixation in detail. All of the descriptions and tips are useful for the acoustic cloths available in my shop, and of course, I don’t claim them to be complete or impose a demand on rightness.

  1. glueing
  2. stapleing
  3. hot-melt adhesive
  4. fixation with velcro
  5. Covering (e. g. frames, doorboards, etc.)

 

-Rüdiger-