Reflectix as soundproofing material?

[Ramses]

While visiting a local renovation store I came across this product called Reflectix. It is a double layer of bubble wrap sandwiched between two layers of aluminium and three layers of polyethylene, as portrayed in this stunning Colorama visualization:

(alu|poly|bubbles|poly|bubbles|poly|alu)

It is fairly cheap ($12 CAD for a roll large enough for 3-4 computers), is about 5/16" thick and reminds me of those car windshield sun protectors that prevent your parked car from turning into an oven... sort of... only thicker and less flimsy.




Its main goal is to reflect energy, heat mostly. It's meant to insulate. BUT it also claims to be usable as an effective sound barrier! The company actually suggests wrapping RV generators in this to muffle the noise. A local (dish)washer/dryer repair shop suggested buying this when I asked for electric household appliance's noise insulation material.

Has anyone ever used this to soundproof anything (walls, PC, spouse...)? Is it any good?

(Won't be able to give this a try for at least another week, waiting for in-transit computer parts...)

[Gooserider]

Interesting looking stuff, different from anything else I've seen, but I have some doubts about how it would work. It doesn't seem to fit into any of the categories of sound stuff I've seen previously.

It doesn't look like it would be heavy enough to function as a mass loading sound barrier (like roofing tape or dynamat)

It doesn't look like it would be good at absorbing sounds like acuoustic foams are - at least if it does, it works differently.

I'm guessing (NOTE: This is PURELY speculation as I'm not a sound engineer!) that it might work as a "noise reflector" that bounces sound back into the inside of whatever it's wrapped around so that the noise keeps bouncing around untill it either dissipates on its own, gets absorbed by some other material, or finds it's way out some other exit (maybe the back of the cabinet?) Not sure how good it would be for a PC, but it's cheap enough from your post to be worth experimenting with...

Gooserider

[halcyon]

I agree with gooserider myself.

I don't like hard surfaces for sound absorption. Porous sort materials usually have a better sound absorption ability for higher frequencies. Also, the material looks quite thin, which means that it can't really damp lower mid-frequency sounds as well as a thicker material can. Also, having almost nil weight, it's not going to dampen vibrations either.

But does it still work?

I highly doubt it, but there's only one way to find out, if you're really curious :)

[Ramses]

I now see how it could work a sound barrier/reflector instead of sound absorber. Since this stuff is not very thick (8mm), I was looking at perhaps layering it with other cheap proven solutions like cork sheets (4mm and 5mm) and roofer's tape (1mm). On an SLK3700 I could actually use multiple layers of each material (except for the right panel).

If using a sound reflector like Reflectix, which of these solutions would you trust more to quiet a PC?

A. [CASE PANEL] roofer's tape | cork sheets | Reflectix [PC INTERIOR]
B. [CASE PANEL] roofer's tape | Reflectix | cork sheets [PC INTERIOR]
C. [CASE PANEL] cork sheets | roofer's tape | Reflectix [PC INTERIOR]

[DryFire]

i think b would work best.

basically because what the cork does not absorb teh refletix will either absorb or bounce back to the cork and what the reflectix misses roofers tape shoud get.

maybe add some cork in between roofers tape and reflectix

Just my thoughts

[Zhentar]

it would be an interesting thing to test, if you've got that much time on your hands

[Gooserider]

If using a sound reflector like Reflectix, which of these solutions would you trust more to quiet a PC?

A. [CASE PANEL] roofer's tape | cork sheets | Reflectix [PC INTERIOR]
B. [CASE PANEL] roofer's tape | Reflectix | cork sheets [PC INTERIOR]
C. [CASE PANEL] cork sheets | roofer's tape | Reflectix [PC INTERIOR]

I would also go with B, however I would probably substitute either carpet padding or melamine foam for the cork

The roofers tape mass-loads the case panels, which gets rid of resonance amplification.

Presumably the Reflectix would bounce sound back into the case that made it past the sound absorbing layer.

The cork pads or other sound absorbing layer soaks up the vibrations of the sound waves and converts them into (minute amounts of) heat. I think the foam or carpet padding would be better than cork. From what I've seen either the cork was used as a mass loading layer with foam over it, or it was found to be not that effective.

Gooserider