I think I need more bass traps, where to place them??


Hi guys, I already have bass traps in all four corners of my room but I still have some pretty bad room modes resulting in big peaks at 60/120hz and dips at 80/160hz.

I spent hours and days messing around with speaker placement and my current setup is the best I can do in terms of matching my target room response curve aside from these modes.

So my question is...I assume I need more bass traps?  If so, what is next logical position for them?  Sidewalls?  Front wall between the speakers or directly behind speakers?  Back wall?  If the answer is yes to all positions, then where should I start?  Due to financial restrictions I would like to treat one area at a time.

Thank you!
128x128tboooe

Showing 3 responses by tboooe

Thank you for the post guys and sorry for not being more clear. As @onhwy61 mentioned my room is almost a cube at 10’ l x 9’ w x 9’ h. Note that the back wall behind me is 36" tall, above which the space opens up to my family room and kitchen. Because the room is almost a cube I cannot tell from which dimension the axial mode is coming from.

I know that my Right speakers has peaks at 60/120/180 and since I sit with my back right against the short back wall, I have to believe this is being caused by the length axial mode which has max volume of all the modes at the extremes. What I dont understand is if I want to try to address the length axial mode should the bass trap go directly behind the speaker or on the back wall behind the seating position?  Even though the back wall is only 36" tall, it is only about 2" lower than my ear height.  

@geoffkait I am not sure I understand what you are suggesting. I measured my room response only from my listening position so isnt this where the wave is?

@erik_squires and @bdp24 I do use EQ with REW. I found that peaks are dealt with effectively with EQ but dips do not improve much.
Thank you guys for the reply.  

This weekend I did some experiments with some extra GIK panels I had.. I put a 244 panel on the ground next to the speaker, a 244 on a Softfit bass trap at the first reflection point, and the Softfit was laid horizontally on the ground against the side wall at the midpoint. The interesting thing is I got better results with just the two 244 panels (removing the SoftFit on the ground) except for a deep null at 160hz which the Softfit on the ground seemed to do a much better job improving it by over 11db! I am wondering if using Monster Traps on the side would be better instead of my 244s and the Softfit on the ground.  I guess only one way to find out and buy some!
Thank you @erik_squires What I am realizing (at least in my room), is the floor to wall interaction has a bigger impact in terms of bass than the vertical room corners as is traditionally mentioned. I am thinking about getting the 12" x 48" Monster Bass Trap and laying that horizontally on the floor. Then placing my 244 panel on it so it is at the appropriate height to deal with the reflections.

Based on what I am hearing, I will definitely need to think about adding some traps at the ceiling/wall corners too. One small issue for me is that I have crown molding so I need to find a way around that.