Corner Bass Traps - Always beneficial?
- Thread starter edorr
- Start date
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Like I've said before.... room treatments are not sexy and have very low WAF. They rather tout the latest cable or DAC acquisition.
Most room treatment would be applied in a dedicated room where WAF is not really a factor. I think part of the problem is except for real pro's most people applying room treatment are completely flying blind. You can try a new DAC and like it or not. You are not going to rip out your room treatment if results do not live up to expectations, and you don't have a good reference of what to expect to begin with. Messing with REW to measure impact of what you are doing is not everybody's cup of tea either.
Right now, I'm using a variety of Ethan's products, including bass traps in the corners, and some aborbers on stands on the back wall that i can move around- along with a little diffusion. Although I think the bass traps really helped, I'm clearly not competent to do this on a scientific basis on my own. The next room will be built to spec, using best practices with some professional help. But I want the flexbility to adjust the 'sound' of the room, if that makes any sense. I don't like overdamped rooms and am willing to spend the money to get the basic structure right. I'd like the ability to have the first reflection point absorbtion/diffusion moveable on tracks. Didn't studios used to do this? Have adjustable louvers for diffusion as well as moveable baffles (more for isolation, guess).
I personally find speakers moved very far into the room far more offensive to my asthetix sensibilities (especially large ones) than some panels on the wall / ceiling. I have not done any measurements yet, but unless moving the Evolutions Acoustics MM3 to far back into the corner completely destroys the LFE response curve, I am going to compromise a little on optimal placement for this reason.
This what my room looks like now - corner bass traps will be constructed this week end. Panels on ceiling probalby later.
The Vicoustic Varipanel is what you are looking for. These guys offer some of the most effective, attractive and reasonably priced treatment on the market. I just ordered a box of their multifuser DC2 for my ceiling.
The Vicoustic Varipanel is what you are looking for. These guys offer some of the most effective, attractive and reasonably priced treatment on the market. I just ordered a box of their multifuser DC2 for my ceiling.
Wow... these are gorgeoous. Cant be that cheap though....
Our stands can be used to mount most of our products, so they're easy to move as you experiment.
--Ethan
Those look cool. But, i'm thinking i'd like a defined range of variables, if that makes any sense- and aesthetically, I'd love the ability to slide panels or pull louvers, just like a window treatment, rather than manually sticking panels on the wall. Those do look nice.The Vicoustic Varipanel is what you are looking for. These guys offer some of the most effective, attractive and reasonably priced treatment on the market. I just ordered a box of their multifuser DC2 for my ceiling.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Yep, as i remember, it's been a while, Ethan, the panels behind the listening position that are on stands are the high frequency absorbers. I needed them because the 'back wall' for the high fi has a huge movie projection screen that is highly reflective. I do experiment with them, right now, rather than being parallel to the back wall about a foot out, they are on an acute angle with the apex behind me, slanting back and away from the sweet spot. I have left a gap between them, so i figure something is going on there, where the sound passes through the gap and may get trapped between the back wall and the panels. Again, I don't know the science here, other than in very broad strokes at best, but I tune by ear and right now, that's working best. You were pretty helpful in guiding me initially, and i provided you with a diagram, etc.
The next room will be purpose built though.
The mother of all multi purpose rooms. Audio / video, 2 channel and multi channel! Not without compromise, but good enough for me.
Sounding pretty good too right out of the box. This week-end will be setup optimization. Really curious to see how much the Trinnov DRC does. In the absence of a custom designed room. I probably need some digital help taming the bass response.
The Vicoustic Varipanel is what you are looking for. These guys offer some of the most effective, attractive and reasonably priced treatment on the market. I just ordered a box of their multifuser DC2 for my ceiling.
Happy to know you appreciate them - they are manufactured less than 100 miles from where I live, in a zone that is also known to manufacture high quality furniture.
---...But these "nice looking" acoustic panels; how truly effective (degree of performance) are they? :b
Primacoustic FlexiFusers are what you are looking for - we used them in a recent project to great effect. The client was skeptical until he heard them, but now he loves them!
Bingo, sorta. I was thinking of these as built-in architectural elements, but these might be the ticket. I don't even have a new place yet, and won't until we lock down the sale of our house in NY. That hasn't stopped me from getting started. I bought the big Equi=Tech wall cabinet already, and am gearing up!
PS. Thank you, Nyal!
Hi Ethan,
You are saying that real improvement with fewer traps is still possible. As a start, how effective do you think that just 4 regular Mondo Traps, plus 4 (2x4) FAT Mondo Traps (totaling 8 traps), would be in pursuing effective bass trapping?
I have been using standard 2" thick, 2x4' absorption panels for years across the corners, but I am way less than satisfied with the result.
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