Through a series of recently performed laboratory tests, KEENE Building Products tested the hypothesis that the type of channel didn’t matter with the Cylent Assurance™ Clip installation. The new rubber grommeted isolation clip has been shown to dramatically improve IIC performance and consistently achieve luxury 60 performance. The testing pitted a number of popular products against the industry standard RC-Deluxe resilient channel. The resulting curves proved the Cylent Assurance Clip made the choice of channel unimportant. All channels performed at the same level and all achieved in excess of 60.
Over the years, much has been made over the type of resilient channel utilized in multi-family construction projects, and for good reason. The original RC-1 product was developed in the 1960’s and was the predominant RC channel used in multi-family for walls and floor/ceiling assemblies up into the 1990’s. This product underwent a great deal of acoustical testing during that period. However, also during that time many copycat versions were developed, but no extensive testing was ever done on any of these channels.
The rights to the RC-1 product were sold in the early 1990’s to Unimast. Today, Unimast makes an RC Channel in two varieties, RC-1 and RC Deluxe. The RC Deluxe is the closest to the original RC-1 design, which also has a product code of RCSD. The RC Deluxe is still the most widely tested and most commonly specified channel in the industry. So, for party walls and floor/ceiling assemblies (Not utilizing the Cylent Assurance Clip), it is still the most effective channel in terms of acoustical performance1.
In January of 2019 KEENE Building Products introduced the Cylent Assurance Clip. Unlike other Hat channel clip systems, the Cylent Assurance Clip was designed and touted to be used with any type of RC channel, with no noticeable difference in the sound performance.
Here are the results of KEENE Building Products recent tests of three different RC channel brands, over an open web system, utilizing the following components:
The testing was done with three different types of RC Channels:
- MarinoWARE®RC-Max
- ClarkDietrich RC-1 ProPlus™
- ClarkDietrich RC Deluxe™
All three tests yielded an STC of 62 and an IIC of 60.
Here is a graphical representation of those results:
These results mean with the KEENE Cylent Assurance Clip you can utilize a generic brand RC channel, saving half the cost of the traditional RC Deluxe, and a 40% cost savings over the Hat channel used with the other clip systems. When you are looking for the best sound performance and the most economical price, choose the Cylent Assurance Clip!
1Quantitative comparisons of resilient channel designs and installation methods(2009), John LoVerde and Wayland Dong / Veneklasen Associates, Santa Monica, CA 90404