Reflection Control Panel

Name: Reflection Control Panel
Brand: C-ATS
SKU: CA-REF-CP

A faceted, injection-moulded panel that redirects reflected sound away from the listening position.

Scatters: redirects reflected energy off-axis. It does not diffuse, and the word is not to be used. Diffusion has a specific meaning under ISO 17497 that this does not claim.

Price on application

Start your project

Time and labour saved: The ~300 mm layout tolerance: panels can move that far from the designed position without material performance impact, so the install does not need set-out precision. Plus whole-box quantities (1.44 m2) making take-off arithmetic trivial. Neither appears in any marketing.

What it replaces: Deeper competing scatterers that cost floor area; commodity foam used at reflection points, which is the wrong device for the problem; and doing nothing, which is the commonest alternative.

Specification

Physical

Face size: 300 × 300 mm
Depth: 50 mm
Area: 0.09 m2
Weight per panel: 0.339 kg
Panels per box: 16
Coverage per box: 1.44 m2
Box dimensions: 340 × 320 × 150 mm
Box weight: 6 kg
Face material: 3 mm injection-moulded ABS

Mounting

Fixing: Moulded countersunk holes
Fixings per panel: 4 × 3.5 × 25 mm bugle-head black drywall screws
Substrate required: Flat substrate

Acoustic

Measured as: Absorption coefficient
Test standard: BS EN ISO 354:2003
Test report: BSRIA 100241/1

How it works: A rigid faceted surface geometry, most active around 500 Hz, breaking up the specular reflection from side walls, rear wall and ceiling.
What it is for: First-reflection points: side walls between screen and prime seat, rear wall behind the heads, ceiling.
What it is not for: Absorption. It is a reflector, and treating it as an absorber is the misapplication to guard against. Not a bass or reverberation solution.
Limits: The lowest panel in a block should sit no higher than 30% of room height off the floor. Rooms over 3 m tall need proportionally more.

Measured absorption

Absorption coefficient by octave band

Type A, adhesive-bonded (recommended; modelling default) Legacy CATS Calculator, entry 3084
Type B, free/unfixed BSRIA test 6, plane absorber, 16 tiles, 1.44 m2, centre of room

Specifying it

Scope of supply: 300 x 300 x 50 mm panel, 0.09 m2 each; 16 per box = 1.44 m2; 3 mm injection-moulded ABS; moulded countersunk fixing holes.
Boxes and coverage: Every box covers 1.44 m2. Quantities round up to whole boxes: a dealer buys full boxes.
Configuration: One size. Two install types, and they are acoustically different.
Where it sits: Behind a stretch-fabric finish, concealed. Any fabric system works; Fabric Walls pairs well and is not a dependency.

Installing it

What it needs from other trades: A flat substrate; 4 x 3.5 x 25 mm bugle-head black drywall screws per panel; builder's adhesive if bonding; a concealing fabric layer if the room is finished.
The two install types: Type A, adhesive-bonded (recommended, and the modelling default): the adhesive bonds the panel centre and damps its resonance, so it absorbs less and works as a clean scatterer. Type B, screw-only: the panel is free to resonate, adding an absorption peak, so it absorbs more than the design assumed. An installer following instinct will screw it and skip the glue, and the room then behaves differently from the design. Highest-return documentation item in the range.

Evidence and claims

Test basis: BSRIA Report 100241/1, BS EN ISO 354:2003, BSRIA Bracknell, 210 m3 chamber. Tested 24 July 2019, reported 3 March 2020, free/unfixed mounting. Design-stage reference figures, not installed-effective values.
What is supported: Measured absorption per BSRIA Report 100241/1, BS EN ISO 354:2003; 50 mm depth; ~300 mm layout tolerance; scattering at first-reflection points.
What is not claimed: Diffusion, ever. No scattering-coefficient claim either: ISO 17497 scattering data has not been measured.