t.akustik HMF-60 absorber review

t.akustik HMF-60 absorbers: What is it?

The HMF-60 is the latest room treatment from Thomann’s t.akustik range and having tried a number of their products over the last year we now have a pretty good feel for what they’re all about.

The HMF-60 is a 60cm square, 8cm deep polyurethane foam wall or ceiling absorber. It incorporates a 3mm board fascia with an abstract cutout, and the cutouts incorporate a soft flocked material. There’s no mention as to why it has chosen this particular pattern, but from a functional standpoint as a diffuser, it should generate multidirectional reflections. 

Having said that, as the front fascia is only 3mm deep we can’t imagine it creates much diffusion. Nevertheless, it does look pretty striking and with three finishes (white, oak and white wood) you can choose one that fits your colour scheme.

The panel’s absorption component is 25kg/m3 hardened foam, which is the same material as two other t.akustik products we’ve tried - the Print Panel and Desktop Absorber. This is reasonably pliable and quite light (each panel weighs 1.6kg), but it does limit the lower frequency absorption. As you may have guessed from the HMF naming, these panels are targeting the high and mid frequencies only. 

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t.akustik HMF-60 absorbers: Performance and verdict

The panel construction is very simple. There’s no frame as such and the reasonably rigid foam coupled with the front fascia panel creates a flat uniform shape. That said, the corners are pretty vulnerable and the veneer is easy to chip before you get the panels installed. 

In terms of installation they are designed to be glued, and Thomann sells its own contact adhesive (t.akustik Contact Glue), although we would have thought any non-solvent grab adhesive would do the trick. That said, and given the hard fascia, we would still be very cautious glueing these panels directly over seating positions. 

Thomann sent us 6 panels to test, and we used them in a variety of positions around the test environment.

Bear in mind with mid and high-frequency absorption, you’re not really looking for specific points in the way you are with bass traps and this means you can aim for positions that are a bit more aesthetically pleasing. 

Given that clear hard wall surfaces generate a lot of reflections, adding six of these panels to our compact space made a noticeable difference. In particular, the residual flutter normally heard when clapping hands was substantially reduced. 

Beyond this, the sound of the room was slightly less lively in general so when we got stuck into some mixing, we were more focused on our monitors and less on the overall room sound. That said, and as expected, the panels only influenced the higher frequencies. 

Thomann pitches these panels at a broad range of customers, and given their high and mid-frequency capabilities they’re good for taming clatter in all manner of work and domestic spaces.

In a studio environment, you’d be looking to use a few of them in conjunction with broadband panels and bass traps to get a more balanced room acoustic. Nevertheless, once again Thomann and t.akustik deliver a good value acoustic product that’s well made and easy to install.

MusicRadar verdict: These attractive high/mid frequency absorbers offer great value and can be used in conjunction with other absorbers as part of a balanced room treatment.

t.akustik HMF-60 absorbers: Specifications

• Pack: 2 panels
• Colour: choice of 3 finishes - white, white wood and halifax oak
• Absorber Material: hardened polyurethane soft foam
• Front Material: 3mm HDF board with CPL laminate veneer
• Bulk Density: 25kg/m3
• Flame retardant: meets DIN 4102 B3
• Size: 600(w) x 600(d) x 80(d) mm
• Weight: 1.6kg each