Since the first entangled net sound mat was produced back in the mid 1990’s, there have been only minor enhancements to the product, none of which add to the sound performance, until the enhancement of Muffling Technology. With the introduction of the “MT” products, KEENE puts three to five IIC points in the performance of any application, without thickness and without added weight. The enhancement is the lowest cost way to improve assembly impact noise performance.
The MT technology is a high loft fabric laminated to the underside of Quiet Qurl® entangled net core. Once the load of the gypsum concrete is added to the top side of the Quiet Qurl, it compresses the high loft fabric into the entangled net, without adding any additional thickness and changing the acoustics in the sound mat air space. This baffled space creates the performance enhancement and will dramatically enhance the sound attenuating performance of the Quiet Qurl. It works by preventing the buildup of air pressure in the spring “entangled net” structure of the Quiet Qurl, which has a direct effect on the sound rating. This patented technology will allow a 1/8” thick sound mat to achieve the same performance as a 1/4” sound mat, and a 1/4” sound mat to achieve the performance of a 3/8” sound mat. It achieves this without having to increase the thickness of the gypsum concrete, saving thickness profile and cost.
Other systems on the market seek to reduce the thickness of the gypsum concrete, while increasing the thickness of the sound mat (using 3/4" of gypsum over a 1/4" sound mat). This methodology also requires the gypsum concrete to be poured with a wire reinforcement, which is much more expensive, and extremely difficult to install. By reducing the thickness of the gypsum typically required for a given thickness of sound mat, you will run the risk of cracking. The idea behind adding the wire mesh to the matrix, is to hold together the gypsum should it crack, which in this case it will. While you might increase the IIC performance for impact sound with this system, there is no history of how this will hold up over time, nor any actual test data on these types of systems.
Utilizing Keene’s Muffling Technology, will give you the same overall reduced thickness profile, allow the use of standard thickness gypsum concrete, all with proven sound performance that will last for the life of the building AND for a much more economical price. It is by far the best bang for your investment dollar.