I just finished up making my first set of DIY acoustic panels on the weekend. They turned out really good however i may have gone a bit overkill in using the cheapest wood available which was framing timber so they are a little heavy.

 

Only problem i have is that i hadn't thought how i was going to hang them. 

 

Does anyone know of a cheap and easy way to hang them with a 2-3 inch airgap? Preferably with as few holes in the wall as possible as i am renting

Also i have 2 that need to be hung on a door so if anyone has any ideas for that as well that would be great.

What about making stands for them to stand upright (?)  then you can have your air gap without damaging the walls

This is what I made for 1st reflection point

Cut a 2-3 inch piece of wood to act as a spacer and attach it to the rear of your panels. Then lean your panels against the wall. If you need height, you could construct some stands. To stop them from tipping forward, you could use a 3M drywall picture hanger and attach your panels to some strings to keep it under tension. It won't be sturdy enough to resist a child pulling it, but it should be enough for accidental knocks. 

@Craigandkimthank you for the suggestion. yours looks good but i think im going to try hanging them as the room is small enough without stands intruding on the space even more

 

@Keith_Wthank you for the advice. i think i am going to try what you said with the spacer pieces with something like this and hang them on the wall.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/everhang-10kg-picture-hanging-kit_p3930467

 

What I said was to LEAN your panels against the wall, and NOT hang them on the wall! The hanger was there to resist small knocks, not to bear the entire weight of the panel. If you want to hang the panel, make sure you weigh it first. 

thanks. I weighed them and they aren't quite as bad as i thought. they are 6kg.

those hooks are rated at 8kg so it should be ok?

 

Best to make them moveable I'd say, and keep your landlord on-side at the same time.

 

Here's my first reflection point diffuser / absorbers. Free standing frames on old speaker stands, weigh 22.2Kg. 70 to 90mm of Autex Acoustics Quietspace® Panel then 84 blocks of rough wood shapes, bark faced wood, polished wood, quartered angle shapes, soft blocks, vibration squares, stone slab, Absorb-foam, oh! and horse brasses. Wooden't (gedditt) be without them now, definitely (maybe) tighten up the sound stage imaging without deadening.

 

 

 

 

 

22 hours ago, jonooo said:

thanks. I weighed them and they aren't quite as bad as i thought. they are 6kg.

those hooks are rated at 8kg so it should be ok?

 

 

I wouldn't bet on it. If they fall off, it will rip a nasty hole in the wall. Whenever I hang something heavy, I use a stud finder and screw it into the joist. 

Or if it's brick and plaster use a 25mm x 8g screw and red plug and hope the landlord is the forgiving type. ☺️

I am not sure if this will help - but I did not want to put a heap of holes in my walls either - so I had to come up with a plan.

So I shall share two ways I have done this:

 

On the wall behind my listening chairs I have four of  600mm x 600mm panels.

 

On the back of these they have a magnet to attach them to the wall, but that meant having to permanently put up other fixings to the wall to do so, also I have seen that the magnet system can fail and they can fall off so my OCD wanted a more secure plan.

 

So  I had a strip of craftwood cut for each panel to reach magnet to magnet and I glued the strip on to each magnet - then it was a simple thing to get a picture framing set and attach the fixings with wire on the back of the glued strip which that allowed me to hang each panel like you would a picture, on a single nail for each panel.

 

I had to get the bottom two perfectly level, then the two that sat on the top was easy - so all four are simply on one small nail each which leaves a tiny hole and easy to patch up should I wish to move them.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2025Nov 21 by April Snow

The panels I have on the wall behind my speakers - I worked out the height I wanted them - which in my case was to match the TV height & I had a small frame made up which I painted to match my wall colour - this allowed me to sit one panel on top of the frame and the acoustic panel  that sits on the very  top of that is also on a picture framing system like above. This panel was a little easier as it had a wooden back so easy to attach the picture hooks.

 

So on this wall I only have one tiny nail hole each side of the TV.

 

Hope all that makes sense?

 

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

Over the last week i've been playing around with panel placement and quantity and I have come to the conclusion i can get away with less panels than initially planned.

I think i might try hanging one panel and see how it goes. The others are in corners and can sit on stands for now.

 

BTW if anyone need a materials list and build guide i'll be happy to help.

The panels ended up being roughly 500*1200mm 6 kg each with the following specs as per the manufacturer of the insulation. 

The cost was under $300 for 8 panels.